The Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) hosted their first quarter regional forum on March 30th. The theme of the forum focused on household electrification to achieve zero net energy in buildings.
The forum began with a presentation on ZNE goals for the 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards from Chris Meyer of the California Energy Commission (CEC). Meyer explained that the upcoming 2019 standards will be paving the way to full ZNE by focusing on three strategies: 1) building envelope, 2) appropriately sized PV systems, and 3) grid harmonization. Additionally, the CEC will be focusing on the Energy Design Rating tool to provide a simplified method to measure how close a home is to the ZNE target.
Building on the forum’s ZNE/electrification theme, Russ King of Benningfield Group, Inc. discussed heat pump technology in electric water heaters and the increased efficiency that can be achieved in comparison to gas and electric only water heaters. He also summarized the advantages and selling points while recognizing potential drawbacks.
Sean Armstrong of Redwood Energy provided the final presentation of the day highlighting the benefits of electrification in multifamily housing projects. Several case studies were presented showing the savings achieved with cost-effective all electric appliance building retrofits that achieved ZNE.
Click here to find all recorded presentations and links to addional documents from BayREN