Resource Library
Strategies for local agencies to gain community feedback during COVID-19. High and low tech options.
Does it feel like you’ve been asked at least once a week how to best design and deploy funding over the last few years? I’m with you. In the various roles I’m lucky to play, including the Statewide Best Practices Coordinator for the California Climate and Energy Collaborative (CCEC) and consultant on several tribal initiatives, I often find myself in the space in between local and tribal communities and California State and federal agencies. I have participated in countless conversations and comment periods about how to get the right funding to the right places, people, and programs. All levels of government want to get it right, especially given the windfall of climate investments since 2020, and recent reality checks that we need much more investment to curb climate effects as quickly as possible.
At some point over these years, agency questions started repeating and solutions and themes started emerging. I needed a single place to track ideas that were being shared with units of every relevant agency, but not usually shared between them or used beyond a single grant program. And as calls for equity grew, the diligence on meaningful engagement grew. Somehow, great intentions for better engagement became unrelenting RFIs, listening sessions, and comment periods that none of us could keep up with and still do our day jobs, let alone actually apply for all these great funding opportunities. I’m not complaining – I remember the days when there were few external dollars available to address climate needs and fewer opportunities to work with agencies to shape programs. To ease engagement fatigue, address statewide barriers and solutions, improve program awareness, and ultimately help shape effective programs, CCEC created Local Energy Resources Network (LERN) and State/Local Energy & Climate Coordination (SLECC) meetings in collaboration with agencies like Strategic Growth Council, California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board. These meetings allow us to facilitate regular homes for more streamlined and sustained collaborative conversations (rather than one-way, single issue engagements) between local and State/federal governments.
The great news is that some funding programs are improving, both in dollar amount and accessibility, and agency staff are continuously trying to develop better practices to streamline engagement, understand/address community needs, and reduce application burden. But it can be hard for State and federal staff to work beyond their own agencies. Meanwhile, bigger, bolder questions have occurred to me like: how much strained local and tribal capacity are we losing across the State in engaging in and pursuing these competitive funding opportunities (often unsuccessfully)? And: are small tweaks to programs enough? What other vehicles are there to deploy funding outside of cumbersome competitive grants? It became clear that there is more we can do as communities to help move things along more systematically.
After years of supporting State and federal agencies, listening to and advocating on behalf of communities, facilitating discussion between levels of government, reviewing hundreds of grant solicitations and guidelines, reading dozens of smart papers on how to improve funding, and compiling lots of ideas, I started to playfully threaten to release an emerging “manifesto” I have begun to refer to as Better Funding. So, here it is in working draft form.
It currently includes over 50 recommendations (with known best practice examples) for State and federal agencies to drive energy and climate action through more effective investment in local and tribal governments. In it, you’ll see operationable ideas that range from basic to bold for improving program design engagement, applications from the State on behalf of tribal and local governments, applications from tribal and local government, and post-award processes. It’s in draft form because this dish is admittedly not fully baked, and I’d love more thoughts on the solutions I classify as “Better,” “Better Yet,” “Better Still,” under the current paradigm of grant funding deployment, and “Ideal” where I suggest piloting a new, user-oriented vehicle for funding deployment.
A Sampling of Ideas in Better Funding:
| If revising a recurring program, seek to get feedback from past applicants or awardees, as well as those that started the process (e.g. Notice of Intent) but didn’t ultimately submit an application Allow at least 120-day solicitation windows, and avoid holiday deadlines. Local and Tribal governments often have to receive approval from Council and it can take a long time to get onto a hearing agenda. Applications requiring complex consortiums of partners or technical design details may need even longer. Create solicitation summary pages with key grant details and an indication or score of difficulty level and probability of award to make it easier for potential applicants to decide whether or not to apply Direct dollars towards regional technical assistance providers for project scoping/grant TA where possible, which already have the proximity, local knowledge, and relationships to best serve local needs Allow teaming. Local and tribal governments don’t want to compete against each other if avoidable. Being allowed to apply as a coalition (or under a non-public entity) can be a very powerful way to leverage the collective assets of multiple agencies, minimize administrative redundancies, and scale up impact. Offer phased grants to help communities ramp up from the concept stage and prepare technical details needed for scopes of work for implementation funding. Small concept design grants can be a good fit for “start up” programs Avoid requiring cost share/match for disadvantaged communities. If match is required, allow greater flexibility where legally feasible in meeting match requirements, such as allowing pre-award costs, equipment, travel, or other federal/State sources Develop a single cross-agency application portal with profiles for local and Tribal governments to standardize and store core application and T&C information across agencies so it doesn’t have to be reevaluated or repeated Hire a user experience consultant to review and streamline State application processes from the applicant’s perspective Provide assistance to non-awardees to strengthen projects and match with other opportunities or partners Pilot a new approach to funding deployment to gather and incrementally fund local and Tribal government energy and climate projects on a rolling basis (a funding queue) and provide regional-based project scoping TA support. A summary table of all ideas can be accessed here. |
I invite you to review this draft, offer additional ideas and best practices, request to sign on your support, or vehemently disagree with any of it. You can do so by emailing me (ahacker@civicwell.org), attending the March 14 State and Local Energy and Climate Coordination meeting on this topic (local and State government reps only), or attending my related presentation to the American Society of Adaptation Professional (ASAP) Policy Practices Member Group on April 5. Or you can invite me to present it to your network. I can’t promise this is the engagement to end all engagement, but you’d better believe I’ll be submitting this evolving single platform the next one hundred times this kind of input is requested of communities. Because there is one thing I now know for sure: fixing local and tribal funding is one of the most impactful things we can do to unlock our unique ability to protect communities from climate change.
Moderated by the Statewide Best Practices Coordinator, this session features experts that will review changing trends in relevant energy/climate funding sources, eligibility, and selection criteria and provide tips for how to write a competitive proposal to advance your organization’s strategic goals, including a live demo of how review a solicitation for “fit,” “deal-breakers,” and “score-boosters.” The Statewide Best Practices Coordinator will also share CCEC’s new Funding Resources website and database that can help you identify new ways to pay for your initiatives.
As cities and states work toward meeting ambitious climate action goals, addressing emissions from the buildings sector remains a significant challenge. Building codes and reach codes help ensure that new buildings are efficient and free of natural gas-fired systems, and we are now beginning to see similar regulations come into play for existing buildings. Building Performance Standards (BPS), which have been adopted in a handful of cities, counties, and states across the U.S., require existing buildings to meet increasingly stringent energy performance or emissions standards over time. BPSs have the potential to significantly drive down carbon emissions in the buildings sector, but there are challenges ahead, especially for small buildings.
Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV) is working with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) on a comprehensive effort to better understand some of the key BPS compliance barriers that owners of small commercial and multifamily buildings (~75k sf and below) may be facing. Small buildings tend to be family or small business investments, and their owners often lack the time, resources, and expertise to navigate complex regulations. They are also notoriously hard to reach, but it’s critical that they’re not left behind. In this project, we are leading a robust stakeholder engagement process to learn from small building lenders and service providers, better understand the current financing landscape, profile the capabilities of software tools that can support BPS compliance, and help Berkeley’s Haas School of Business gather feedback on their new Value-at-Risk Model. Findings from this broad set of research will ultimately help inform LBNL and the Department of Energy’s Technical Assistance Program for BPS jurisdictions.
What we’ve learned so far is that small building owners are facing real challenges accessing reliable information, finding credible service providers, and pulling together the capital needed to comply with the BPS in their region. There’s a clear need for educational resources and technical assistance from trusted sources to help owners figure out where to start and to answer critical questions about what is in their buildings and what upgrades can be most impactful. This is a key opportunity for local governments to play a role in helping their building owners overcome these barriers, whether or not they currently have a BPS in place.
ProspectSV is tackling decarbonization from multiple points in the process, from research and planning, to demonstration and implementation. We’re exploring how innovative building technologies and systems can accelerate decarbonization efforts by connecting them to the market through key industry partnerships. For example, this Summer, our team will kick off two California Energy Commission grant funded demonstrations of an advanced CO2 heat pump at Berkeley Lab’s FlexLab for commercial building HVAC, and at the Straus Family Creamery for industrial refrigeration.
On the challenge of decarbonizing small buildings, we’re sure of a few things: achieving rapidly approaching climate and energy goals will require deep collaboration, innovative thinking, and smart investment by building owners and those that support them. Local governments play a vital role in this future.
ProspectSV, a long-time partner of CivicWell, works across industry and the public sector on both building and fleet decarbonization efforts. For more information, contact Carolyn Weisman, Senior Project Associate.
In this June 2021 recording, Angie Hacker, the CCEC Statewide Best Practices Coordinator, interviews Shayna Hirshfield-Gold, Climate Coordinator with the City of Oakland, which is doing groundbreaking work to advance equity as part of its climate action efforts. As many in the State move forward from just counting carbon and kilowatts, we invite you to listen to a timely conversation on how to thoughtfully expand local climate work to effectively engage environmental justice voices and ideas and consider impacts and opportunities for historically underserved or marginalized communities. Shayna shares personal experiences and advice on pitfalls, best practices, and successes. Thanks to Oakland and Shayna for providing a leading example that other local governments can certainly learn from. https://www.youtube.com/embed/e7zpgFZ65cI?feature=oembed
The Governor’s OPR will soon release the HIgh Road Just Transition Roadmap, which aims to incorporate economic diversification, industry planning, safety net updates, workforce development and regional collaboratives in the process of transitioning justly into a sustainable California with principles rooted in equity, inclusivity and good quality jobs.
Funding for the transition will come from CERF and divided into:
– High road transition collaboratives ($50 mill for regional grants)
– High road transition implementation pilots($50 mil in Diversification grants)
– High oad transition Implementation Grants ($500 mil on economic development – job creation)
Local governments wishing to be involved in the process are encouraged to engage by getting involved with collaboratives and by engaging in sustainability activities and economic development plans within their jurisdictions. They are also encouraged to join the OPR Just Transition listserv to receive updates from this program.
California’s buildings produce a quarter of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making homes and businesses a major contributor to climate change. Taking a variety of actions to reduce GHG emissions is known as decarbonization. There are many steps that building owners and renters, builders, and local governments can take to decarbonize buildings cost-effectively and support transportation electrification.
The information, guidance, and best practices shared here are intended to assist in overcoming barriers to decarbonizing buildings and installing electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment in residential and commercial buildings.
An overview of building electrification technologies and common barriers and opportunities for scaling up implementation.
The Building Energy Benchmarking program requires owners of large buildings to report energy use to the California Energy Commission (CEC). These resources will help building owners and managers achieve higher building energy efficiency.
3C-REN’s Building Performance Training is tailored for current and prospective building professionals—with expert instruction, technical trainings, soft skills development and certifications on the latest energy efficiency methods and measures. Building Performance Training is available to designers, contractors, building and safety staff ,realtors and more. Learning units and certifications on various topics such as building science, energy code, decarbonizing technologies, passive house and more are offered through this program. To date, Building Performance Training has trained over 1,200 individuals and is currently exploring how to extend the program’s offerings to younger people and people going through career transitions.
California City used 0% on-bill financing, from Southern California Edison, to pay for a well pump retrofit. The improvement resulted in new infrastructure and $16,000 in annual energy savings, paying for itself in just three and a half years.
This fact sheet provides an overview on using CHP to protect critical infrastructure, and how CHP can help create a more resilient and modern grid that keeps communities safe and protects businesses in the event of a large-scale power outage.
The COVID-19 outbreak has created a “new reality” in many sectors, including public participation. Ensuring inclusive public participation is more challenging than ever because of the digital divide, language needs and learning curves. Join the Institute for Local Government to learn innovative strategies for using high-tech and low-tech virtual platforms to engage residents around energy, climate, land use planning and pollution reduction without meeting face-to face. Many of these tools and techniques, while essential in this time of physical distancing, also have the potential to engage new, hard-to reach segments of the community, and will be useful beyond this current crisis.
Founded in 1989, SPURR is a California joint powers authority (JPA) whose mission is to operate cooperative procurement programs to help public agencies reduce utility costs.
With over 300 public agency members, SPURR aggregates purchasing power and expertise for thousands of facilities across the state of California. SPURR currently operates cooperative buying programs related to natural gas, electricity, solar and energy storage, LED lights and energy conservation, Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits, vehicle electrification infrastructure, telecommunications and networking, and utility data management.
Created in 2014, SPURR’s Renewable Energy Aggregated Procurement (REAP) Program is an innovative aggregated solar and energy storage buying program that leverages the collective purchasing power of SPURR’s large membership to secure pre-negotiated solar and energy storage project pricing and terms through a highly competitive statewide RFP process. The goals of the REAP Program are as follows:
To date, over 75 California cities, counties, and school districts have utilized the REAP Program to contract for over 265 MW-DC of solar projects and 80 MWh of energy storage projects at hundreds of sites across the state.
SPURR recently completed another statewide competitive process for its REAP Program and will be announcing a winning vendor in September 2024. Upon award, the winning vendor will enter into a master contract with SPURR which will include pricing, favorable terms/conditions, and standardized contract documents that public agencies can utilize for their own solar and energy storage projects.
For any public agency that is looking to explore the feasibility of a project, the awarded vendor will provide interested parties with a feasibility study, savings analysis, and full proposal at no cost or obligation.
For more information regarding the REAP Program please visit www.spurr.org or contact Kevin Flanagan at solar@spurr.org.
In 2016, the California Energy Commission (CEC) launched its Advanced Energy Communities (AEC) challenge to fund the design (phase I) and implementation (phase II) of projects across the state (Lew et al. 2023). This paper is a case study of the Bassett Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community (BAAEC) project’s implementation phase, which builds on the work from its initial design phase (Federico, Pincetl, and Fournier 2019). BAAEC was one of four phase II awards granted by the CEC and the only project to address community-scale retrofits of low-income single-family homes. BAAEC is a competitively awarded project that follows the EPIC 2018-2020 Triennial Investment Plan, specifically subtheme 2.4: “Incentivize Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Adoption through Innovative Strategies at the Local Levels.” The project funding for implementation (phase II) is part of a competitive solicitation (CEC GFO-15-312) from the CEC and builds from a previously competitively awarded design grant (Phase I). BAAEC focuses on low-income and under-resourced communities to support equity and justice in the energy transition. By putting people at the center of the project design and incorporating new clean energy technologies, financing, business models, policy considerations, and a holistic view of community transformation, the project has overcome barriers and identified best practices for scalable energy solutions.
BAAEC’s project design contrasts with traditional incentive programs, where a small portion of the cost of a single technology is incentivized. The traditional incentive-only approach makes funds available after a project is completed and does not fund the total cost or the soft costs of an energy project. BAAEC’s approach is to cover all project costs and fund meaningful community participation in community outreach, education, and engagement. The project is an example of how to invest in a community and provides a case study for the federal Justice40 Initiative.
As of early 2024, communities are still waiting for funding and full benefits from the Justice40 Initiative, in which the federal government committed to have “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution” (The White House n.d.). California has some of the country’s most generous state incentives for clean energy. Still, while stimulating the general market, incentives are insufficient for low-income homeowners and the renter population.
As an example, the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) deployed 5,784 general market residential batteries in 2022 but only 21 under the equity category for low-income residents. In the first half of 2023, 2,758 SGIP battery deployments went to the general market, with only 61 of them going to low-income households (SGIP 2023). Some pilot programs funded by ratepayers and administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), namely the Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) Building Electrification (BE) pilot program, offer no-cost building electrification to low-income homeowners. Still, pilot programs like ESA alone cannot drive low-income residential electrification at the speed and scale needed to meet state policy goals. Even with these types of programs available, it is difficult for the average resident to navigate multiple applications and contractor interactions to complete comprehensive home energy retrofits.
This paper shares best practices and recommendations based on years of BAAEC implementation and numerous design iterations. Based on our experiences, we recommend wraparound services, case management support, and a multidisciplinary and multi-benefit approach to the energy transition. Our findings are organized into four chapters: (1) our community-based approach to project design and structure, (2) a deep dive into why we believe decarbonizing single-family low-income homes should be the cornerstone for community transformation in the energy transition, (3) an overview of the features that make up an advanced energy community, and (4) conclusions and recommendations for replicating successful strategies from the Bassett Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community project.
Chapter 1: Community-Based Approach
The BAAEC project is a story of local nonprofits and community-based organizations working to achieve an equitable energy transformation for low-income families. BAAEC’s implementation partners developed a community-based approach that is driven by the following principles: (1) communities are active participants engaged both early and throughout programs and projects, (2) diverse but coordinated clean energy strategies are optimized for both community and personal benefits, (3) community-based organizations are implementation partners who are adequately compensated and supported so they have sustainable capacity, and (4) workforce development is embedded throughout with an emphasis on economic development and shared prosperity for all.
BAAEC is in the unincorporated Los Angeles County neighborhoods of Bassett, Avocado Heights, and adjacent cities. The project area’s east Los Angeles community is 84% Hispanic, has a median annual income of $60,000, and is surrounded by freeways, commercial warehouses, and the only lead-acid battery recycler in the western US. BAAEC’s programs and projects were informed by community planning during the phase I planning grant. In phase II, the implementation grant, communities actively participated via a community survey and a Community Advisory Committee. The project team built community trust by engaging the local community choice aggregator (CCA), the school district, community-based organizations, and local government leadership. Input from these stakeholders complemented the 74 BAAEC community outreach events to build community trust. We found that establishing trust and collaborative governance for a community-based approach was slow but necessary for success. Despite the need to speed up and scale the energy transition, investing time in authentic engagement and tailored solutions for each community is the only way to ensure an equitable transition. Moreover, the approach is a blueprint, as depicted in Figure 2, that community stakeholders can adopt for scalable transformation.
Chapter 2: Decarbonizing Low-Income Single-Family Homes
One component of BAAEC was the Advanced Homes project, which aimed to install a suite of electrification and onsite distributed energy resources in low-income single-family homes. Advanced Homes included rooftop solar panels, battery storage, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, energy efficiency, weatherization, and grid services to participating households. The project was designed to offer electrification and DERs at no cost and with zero debt for participating customers.
The BAAEC Advanced Homes project launched during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which created an outreach and enrollment challenge. Still, project partners worked to establish trust within the community via authentic and ethnically sensitive outreach strategies, as depicted in Figure 3. Soon after launch, BAAEC recognized that effective engagement would require a case management approach: BAAEC’s lead implementer, a nonprofit organization, coordinated every DER installation and served as a constant resource for homeowners from initial screening through commissioning, education, and training on every technology installed in participating homes. Even though BAAEC provided a no-cost direct install offering, home upgrades like those in the BAAEC project can require a significant investment of residents’ time. We believed it was unrealistic to expect that low-income households would have the time to review and understand all the details or have the resources to hire experts for personal guidance—in fact, this is true for the majority of residential customers. The key to successful enrollment was BAAEC’s community-based organization (CBO) partners, Active San Gabriel Valley and Day One, who were engaged in the project in Phase I. These familiar faces were the appropriate stakeholders to communicate the benefits of clean energy technologies and were able to provide families with wraparound support for other social and health services.
BAAEC’s outreach strategies generated 535 leads, of which 46% were nonresponsive, 38% were ineligible, and 9% responded with a firm “not interested.” A total of 38 households (the roughly 7% remaining) moved forward with enrollment. The high customer acquisition cost is a consistent challenge with residential DER deployment and its decentralized nature. BAAEC’s 7% enrollment conversion shows that even no-cost offers are not easy to “sell.” If we exclude people who were disqualified because they were outside the project area, the conversion rate is slightly better than the solar industry standard (based on discussions with solar providers). Only 9% of leads were “not interested,” but willing customers faced barriers to participation beyond their control, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Top Four Reasons for Ineligibility and Corresponding Percentage
Community outreach for BAAEC’s Advanced Homes project prepared participants for a 12-month journey, from the initial screening to completing installation and reaping the benefits of all their home upgrades. Typical time requirements for intake processes, contracting, site visits, installations, inspections, and closeouts were combined to create a one-year program. Nothing happened faster than expected. And, while the average installation period was around 16 months, completing all the homes in the project’s portfolio will take years, given that few projects can be done in parallel due to the implementation capacity of trade partners.
Table 2 shows where most of the delays have occurred.
From the start, the project set out to leverage existing incentives to maximize the impact of the CEC funding and maximize customer benefits. We stacked funding sources and combined multiple incentives. Table 3 lists the incentives that were combined to make Advanced Homes a no-cost offering for participating homeowners.
Table 3. Layering of State Incentives Used in BAAEC’s Advanced Homes Program
Beyond the CEC funding and state incentives listed in Table 3 above, two additional grants supported Advanced Homes electrification measures.
To make Advanced Homes available at no cost and with zero debt to the customer, the team cataloged all applicable programs and determined which ones allowed overlapping funding.Table 3 lists successful statewide programs that have been and will likely continue to be re-funded in years to come. BAAEC leveraged these programs and learned to align with their equipment and contractor requirements. It is imperative that new funding opportunities strive for standardization and simplification to make this process less cumbersome for future advanced energy community projects.
As an industry, we are committed to GHG-reducing strategies and work tirelessly to speed up and scale up the clean energy transition. However, solar + storage and electrification is costly, especially for single-family households. Upgrading BAAEC’s low-income homes to Advanced Homes required an average CEC investment per home of $28,000, not including incentives, other grant funding cited above, and match funding from implementing partners. This cost included two Tesla PowerWalls for whole-home backup, an average solar array size of 3.93 KW, an average cost for roof replacements of $16,700, and $5,300 for main service panel upgrades. It is also important to note that smaller-sized projects are more expensive on a solar-per-watt basis.
The industry needs innovative ways to achieve healthy and resilient homes for everyone. Through our experiences on the BAAEC project, we discovered the following key insights for increasing access and affordability of Advanced Homes for low-income homeowners:
These strategies, in combination, are highly recommended for state energy offices, program designers and implementers, and industry stakeholders to consider when planning for equitable decarbonization. If clean energy incentives continue to ignore the ancillary costs of decarbonization for low-income households, and if the industry does not move towards covering upfront costs and maintenance, low-income communities will miss out on the savings, health benefits, reliability, and resiliency of the clean energy transition.
Chapter 3: Clean Energy Strategies of an Advanced Energy Community
The Advanced Homes project was just one component of the BAAEC project. BAAEC also included community solar, a resilience center, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and zero- emissions shared mobility to complement single-family home retrofits. Together, they are clean energy strategies that come together to create an advanced energy community.
Advanced Energy Communities go beyond just clean energy strategies. The BAAEC project includes air quality monitoring to connect environmental and health concerns to local clean energy projects. Advanced Energy Communities must also include grid support services. As we decentralize the grid and increase its size via electrification, DERs will offer grid support services and demand flexibility, critical to keeping rates low for everyone and to building in-home reliability and resilience to protect against heat and power outages. An advanced energy community builds community identity and engagement to increase access, awareness, and adoption of clean energy technologies. Studies show that community identity and engagement in community activities increase motivation for sustainable energy initiatives (Goedkoop et al. 2022). Using a community-based approach for sustainable energy initiatives brings community identity and early and consistent participation. Figure 4 is a visual of these elements that come together to create an advanced energy community—showing how a community can mobilize around clean energy to achieve equity outcomes.
3.1 Community Solar
Community solar provides program participants with access to decentralized clean energy and discounts on utility bills. Community solar is not exclusively beneficial to low-income households; it is a great solution for the 44% of California residents who rent, do not have homes suitable for solar, or cannot afford rooftop solar (Davalos, Kimberlin, and Mesquita 2021). BAAEC built a front-of-the-meter rooftop community solar project within the community, with Clean Power Alliance (the local CCA) as the off-taker and scheduled for CAISO market participation as a Distributed Energy Resource Aggregation (DERA). This project is the first of its kind in California. It is the first time CAISO has worked with utilities to aggregate generation resources under 500KW. Under the CPUC’s Community Solar Green Tariff (CS-GT), the project will serve 340 residential customers who will subscribe and receive their electricity from 626 KW of rooftop solar across two sites in nearby self-storage warehouses. Community solar is expected to grow in California with the passage of Assembly Bill 2316, enhancing existing programs and creating a new market across the state. To successfully replicate this project, consider BAAEC’s challenges and recommendations.
Community solar challenges included (1) changes to the project site, (2) utility delays due to interconnection approval and required site infrastructure delays, (3) having to submit the project to the utility solicitations twice since the utility interconnection approval was delayed the first time, and (4) the learning curve for new aggregation processes at CAISO because of the small nature of the project. Based on BAAEC’s experience, the industry should prioritize the following recommendations:
3.2 Resilience Center
BAAEC is developing a resilience center equipped with 103 KW carport solar and 125KW/496kWh (4-hour battery) of energy storage, capable of islanding and maintaining critical load operation in the facility when the electricity grid goes down. Community input identified ten potential sites, two of which went through technical and financial feasibility analysis, and based on the analysis, one project site was selected: LA County Bassett Park. As islandable solar + battery storage microgrids, resilience centers align with extreme heat, reliability, resilience, climate-readiness, and emergency preparedness local policies. They are great at hardening public-serving infrastructure. However, public agencies like school districts and local governments do not generally have the resources or expertise to support these projects. BAAEC approached the local Bassett Unified School District with a proposal to site a resilience center at one of the schools, but they declined. The new project site is at a Los Angeles County Bassett Park. BAAEC obtained buy-in from the County in December 2021 and has conducted ongoing collaboration to design and secure necessary development milestones like utility interconnection and an SGIP battery rebate. However, as of February 2024, the resilience center project is not yet under contract. Microgrids are an essential solution to increasing demand flexibility to keep the lights on when the grid is constrained (CEC 2023), and they are also paramount for community resiliency (Lou 2020).
The resilience center challenges include (1) local government capacity and resources to approve and support solar + storage projects, including unfamiliarity with contracting for the project, (2) utility delays, (3) siting the battery and switchgear within the facility, and (4) creating economically viable projects. Based on BAAEC’s experience, the industry should prioritize the following recommendations:
3.3 Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargers
BAAEC is adding electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the project area, which is an EV charging ‘desert.’ We will significantly improve access to public charging infrastructure in the area by installing thirty Level 2 chargers across three Bassett Unified School District (BUSD) school sites, with ten ports at each site, and two additional Level 3 (Direct Current Fast Chargers) ports at a fourth school site. Under-resourced communities are falling behind on EV charging infrastructure, which hinders access to charging for low-income households. Since BUSD could not contribute financially to these installations, BAAEC found a way to provide turnkey support for the district through a third-party-owned (TPO) model by EV charger network provider.
Challenges with BAAEC’s EV charger installation include (1) hosts without the ability to contribute financial resources to the project, (2) as the early adopters in their community, hosts did not have a strong financial motivation to provide EV chargers (i.e., not enough EV drivers in the area yet to regularly use the new chargers), (3) incentives that only partially cover costs, (4) host concerns around maintenance, (5) paying for added utility costs, and (6) uncertainty in charger utilization. Based on BAAEC’s experience, the industry should prioritize the following recommendations to increase EV charging infrastructure in low-income communities:
3.4 Shared Mobility
While electrifying transportation gets internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles off the road, we must also work to reduce the total number of cars on the road—whatever their power source. BAAEC was unsuccessful in establishing a vanpooling program or a microtransit service to address the shared mobility component of Advanced Energy Communities. Finding people within the BAAEC area with similar work destinations was a barrier. Then, when an existing carpool group was identified, the use of the medium-duty electric van was a dealbreaker; they did not want to deal with charging or driving and parking a larger vehicle.
Based on thirteen interviews with BAAEC-adjacent city transportation departments and local transit authorities, BAAEC sought to prioritize creating a microtransit offering as part of our shared mobility efforts. However, there were no viable partners who could comply with CEC budget and grant terms. As of March 2023, BAAEC is working with a car-sharing program operator and will seek CEC approval. Challenges with shared mobility for BAAEC were (1) the restricted project geography, (2) grant-related constraints like budget and payment terms which were impossible for partners to comply with, and (3) the limited existing charging infrastructure. Based on BAAEC’s experience, the industry should prioritize the following recommendations:
3.5 Air Quality
BAAEC performed hyper-local outdoor ambient air quality monitoring to measure levels of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), methane (CH4), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC) at 1-second intervals in ~100- meter segments. We monitored Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) out of exhaust tailpipe emissions in a heavy-duty fleet of vehicles that provide consistent services to the community. BAAEC also monitored PM2.5, NO2, CO, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the kitchens of Advanced Homes participants. The ambient air quality can help identify concentrated hotspots of pollutants, the tailpipe monitoring can help make the case for prioritizing the electrification of truck fleets, and the indoor monitoring can help justify the gas-to-induction stove retrofit transition. While creating a quantifiable impact on air quality at a local level is difficult, awareness and customer education are part of accelerating the switch to clean energy technologies. At the time of this paper, BAAEC is finishing the air quality analysis and has not developed community-facing information. Our goal is to develop educational information and raise community awareness regarding the source and type of pollutants affecting air quality and what mitigating emission reduction strategies they can consider in their homes and the broader community.
3.6 Grid Services
As we electrify end-uses and decentralize the electricity grid, we will become more reliant on carefully dispatching DERs and using bi-directional flows of electricity. With these strategies, we can make demand flexibility a predictable energy supply resource to the grid. We currently do not see low-income and disadvantaged communities participating in bring-your-own-device virtual power plant (VPP) programs or demonstration projects because they do not have the funds to purchase these technologies themselves. But, perhaps the CEC’s solicitation (CEC 2024b) to fund demonstrations of community-based virtual power plants (VPP) means that people are beginning to notice the need to design more inclusive programs. BAAEC is exploring customer-centered grid services by (1) partnering with the local CCA (Clean Power Alliance) in a load-modifying VPP, (2) with Southern California Edison in the CPUC’s dynamic rate pilot, and (3) developing a smart local energy simulation. In each case, we intend to explore the benefit to the customer in participating and helping the grid. Our working hypothesis is that there is a model to help low-income people access renewables and DERs via advanced tariff design. Advanced tariff designs may include dynamic and transactive energy to optimize grid services without sacrificing bill savings. We will also explore the concept of local energy markets. Using BAAEC’s signature customer and community-based approach, we will find the business, financial, and regulatory models that can support an equitable energy transition for all. If we do not intentionally design models for inclusivity, low- income people will not have the opportunity to purchase and benefit from local renewable energy and DERs.
Because BAAEC is in the early stages of this feature of an advanced energy community, we do not yet have challenges and recommendations to share.
Chapter 4: Conclusion
Despite its challenges, the BAAEC project is a cause for optimism. We have learned how to authentically engage with community to bring low-income homeowners the resilience, cost- savings, and climate benefits of participating in the clean energy transition. Across the features of the BAAEC project, we’ve co-developed and iterated on project designs and outreach strategies to develop a community-based approach that can be replicated to realize an equitable energy transition for all. Using our lessons learned and the capacity built through the BAAEC project, the project team secured $22M from the Strategic Growth Council for a similar community transformation project in another community (California SGC 2023). Our work continues in Bassett, Avocado Heights, and other communities. Ultimately, our goal is to replicate BAAEC’s insights and help stakeholders build capacity to create Advanced Energy Communities and forge solutions to systemic challenges. As we help community stakeholders transform more communities into advanced energy communities, solutions to the challenges BAAEC faced with things like financing, braiding of incentives across income-qualified programs, shared mobility, and transportation electrification will become widespread: a positive feedback loop for continuous improvement that can influence policy and future programs. Our collaborative governance approach will ensure the needs of each community are addressed as advanced energy communities spread. With this approach, we can reach the scale and speed necessary to meet our climate and equity goals while supporting a shared prosperity for all.
This report was originally published and presented at the 2024 ACEEE Summer Study Conference. The original publication, with complete list of original citations, can be downloaded here.
Steps to success: Benchmark/audit, Prioritize, Track Progress
Empower Procurement is excited to launch their new E-building Procurement Initiative. This program aims to tackle six initiatives: energy efficient products, expert energy services contractors, fuel switching resources: planning and installation, targeted specifications for low-energy building systems, new approaches to procurement operations, and training on organizations benchmarking and procurement metrics. The goal of this initiative is to build a collaborative network with local governments that provides opportunities for streamlined and cooperative procurement, while identifying challenges for electrification – particularly in existing government buildings. The product of this initiative will be represented in developed resources and best practices that are useful to the network.
The E-Fleet Accelerator offers school districts, higher education, governments, and select fleet operators support for the transition to electrified fleets. Transforming asset classes represents unique procurement barriers for institutional buyers. Fleet electrification is a prime example of this, and this PI will focus on addressing common gaps to improve the adoption of electric fleets for various purposes across diverse sectors. Our team provides customized insights to identify new opportunities to adopt electric fleets, and ensure successful fulfillment of electrification plans.
This Initiative provides free assessment to troubleshoot procurement processes. You will find tailored resources to help with procurement barriers. It has streamlined access to DERs product information as well as guidance on technology solutions to help make informed DERs purchasing decisions. The Products Procurement Initiative is designed to provide an opportunity for buyers to learn more about energy-efficient products and possible opportunities for cost savings.
Reach codes that exceed state standards, either voluntary or mandatory.
In March of 2024, Angela Hacker, the CCEC Statewide Best Practices Coordinator, presented alongside Marilyn De La Cruz, City of Rancho Cucamonga, at the 2024 Energy & Infrastructure Sector Showcase, hosting a discussion on regional energy policy/priorities/resources, and other insights to help connect the dots with regional energy policy and resources as they pertain to the need for growth within the green workforce sector.
This fact sheet on engaging elected officials was presented as part of the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative (SEEC) Best Practices Forum on June 19, 2014 in San Diego by Liz Yager from Sonoma County.
As the Energy and Sustainability Program Manager at the County of Sonoma, Liz works with elected officials from both Sonoma County and each of the nine cities within the county implementing energy related program across the region. As a Division manager Liz oversees the Sonoma county Energy Independence Program, the Sonoma County Energy Watch local government partnership with PG&E, in addition to her responsibility for internal utility and sustainability programs in County operations. SCEIP is one of the most successful and long running PACE financing programs in the country. Because energy efficiency programs are complex and historically have not been a core function of local government, Liz and her team lave had to learn how to properly engage elected officials on the topics in order to retain support for these programs. Her years of experience working with elected officials coming from different jurisdictions with different agendas are reflected in the fact sheet.
To date, the community facing aspects of the SCEW and SCEIP programs together have been responsible for over $70 million in local investment activity and have created or supported over 900 jobs.
After the last major economic downturn, the federal government adopted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which provided stimulus funding for priorities including energy efficiency retrofits through the DOE’s Better Buildings Initiative. In California, three regions received millions of dollars to support new building efficiency incentive and assistance programs that targeted privately owned buildings and spurred economic opportunities for the hard-hit building trades. Twelve years later, those regions are now operating as Regional Energy Networks, with stable ratepayer funding authorized by the CPUC to continue offering services like BayREN’s Business programs. Recognizing that incentives and other financial mechanisms are critical for making the investment in energy efficient infrastructure more affordable and accessible to businesses, the BayREN Business program offers rebates, financing, and one-stop-shop technical assistance to ensure small and medium businesses can leverage all available energy saving programs and minimize out-of-pocket expenses. While this is an old example, it may help local governments consider how to take advantage of major State and federal stimulus efforts to create long-lasting support for building retrofits that also strengthen economic recovery. They may also consider how to design new or increased upgrade incentives for small or distressed businesses.
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) is dedicated to breaking the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy families. Formerly the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, GHHI replaces stand-alone housing intervention programs with an integrated, whole-house approach that produces sustainable, green, healthy and safe homes. Through this model, Marin County is improving health, economic and social outcomes for low income eligible families across the country.
It is important for local governments to raise awareness about the current programs available to conduct energy updates. BayREN has identified that interagency collaboration is the key to navigate the complex landscape of programs offered by many organizations. We recommend LG’s should aspire to have successful guidelines that include knowledge sharing, a seamless user experience, and scaling for constituents. BayREN identified that useful tools to share knowledge include meeting people where they are at, partnering with complimentary programs, identifying your target audience and determining the best method of outreach based on their needs. This, followed by partnerships to present various EE programs from varying agencies will make for a seamless user experience. Finally, BayREN recommends combining rebates and financing to achieve savings greater than monthly payments so constituents can implement energy savings and reach renewable goals.
This interactive session will give CCEC Forum participants a chance to reflect on what they have learned during the 12th Annual Forum and key takeaways that will advance local and state clean energy and climate actions. Together we will highlight what is on the horizon for local governments as they lead the way in a promising new era for climate, equity, health, and prosperity. This event will feature roundtable remarks by LGC and REN representatives, breakout discussions, and a facilitated listening session where you can share insights and help drive what we do next.
Energy efficiency in California is a hot topic, and constantly evolving. Some things local governments may want to keep track of include:
Electric vehicles have received more attention than ever in California in recent years and are continuing to gain more market share in the U.S. auto industry, with ripple effects on the energy industry. To support greater EV adoption, local governments are transitioning their own public fleets to EV while targeting EV infrastructure investments towards the populations and locations that need them. This session will feature a moderated panel of local EV experts that will share thoughts on the current progress and opportunities for EVs in California, and innovative approaches to planning, procurement, and implementation of local EV initiatives that can effectively curb emissions and drive equity.
ILG’s Beacon Program provides recognition and support for California local agencies that are working to build more vibrant and sustainable communities. Beacon honors voluntary efforts by cities, counties and special districts that are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saving energy and adopting policies that promote sustainability.
SOMAH in increasing access to solar jobs. 50% of participants in their training programs are either local hires (living in the community that the project is in) or a targeted hire (affordable housing residents, women, BIPOC, justice-impacted, single parents, facing barriers to employment). SOMAH provides a wage floor of 1.4x the local minimum wage and provides career development resources and workshops for trainees.
Join us for an exciting panel featuring SoCalREN’s regional partners, South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG), High Sierra Energy Foundation (HSEF), San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) and San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization (SJVCEO). Our panel speakers will share how they are matching SoCalREN resources with the unique needs of their region, including disadvantaged and rural communities. Specifically, they will discuss the recent shift towards virtual services and how it may actually benefit these hard-to-reach communities.
Our communities need cheaper, cleaner, more reliable electricity. With the increased frequency of power shutoff events and other power outages, communities need backup power resources. And with energy rates continuing to climb and shift, communities need resources that can help them control their energy costs and save money. When paired with solar, batteries can provide both backup power and cost savings benefits. In this virtual event, David Burdick & Ali Chehrehsaz of TerraVerde Energy will be sharing their team’s experience supporting California public agencies with solar and battery energy storage projects. We will discuss how changes in energy reliability and rates are impacting communities, the latest on funding & programs for these projects (including the fast moving SGIP incentive program, and a new solar refi program), methods for assessing the Economic Value of Resilience, and how local governments can take action in lowering energy costs and increasing energy resiliency.
Join the Empower Procurement Program for an exciting and collaborative workshop which will tackle the challenge of electrification strategic planning through the lens of DERs procurement. Along with fellow local government representatives, participants at various stages in their journey will have an opportunity to share best practices and gain access to valuable planning resources designed by subject matter experts. This session is intended to kick start a coordinated and networked support system to enable local governments to work together to meet this challenge in California. Empower Procurement is a CEC EPIC-funded program including partners from Energy Solutions, Prospect Silicon Valley, the Local Government Commission and others.
Heat pump water heaters (HPWH) offer significant energy savings compared to traditional water heaters, and can help meet California’s goals to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So, can local government jurisdictions support the adoption of this highly efficient technology? TECH Clean California is trying to help jurisdictions do just that!
TECH Clean California already offers incentives for eligible customers pursuing HPWH projects and recently completed a Permitting and Installation of Heat Pump Water Heaters Final Pilot Report. In partnership with the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN), the pilot aimed to support California building departments by building awareness and providing resources and support to achieve simple, streamlined and one-day permit approvals for HPWH. The pilot found that additional resources for building departments can support permitting and provided resources and recommendations for building departments to leverage.
Heat pump water heaters are a game-changer in the realm of residential and commercial water heating. Unlike conventional water heaters that rely on fossil fuels or electricity generated from non-renewable sources, HPWHs utilize heat transfer technology, making them significantly more energy efficient. By extracting heat from the surrounding air and transferring it to the water tank, these systems can deliver hot water with remarkable efficiency, reducing energy consumption and utility bills while lowering carbon emissions.
In California, where stringent environmental regulations and ambitious climate goals are driving the transition to clean energy, HPWHs offer a compelling solution to reduce the state’s carbon footprint. According to the California Energy Commission (CEC), residential water heating accounts for approximately 18% of the State’s total residential energy consumption. By promoting the adoption of HPWHs, California can make significant strides towards achieving its energy efficiency and climate objectives outlined in the landmark SB 350 legislation, which aims to double the energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by 2030.
TECH Clean California wanted to understand if the permitting and installation process poses a significant hurdle to their widespread adoption.
The pilot team performed a quantitative permit data analysis on projects that applied for a TECH Clean California HPWH incentive between December 2021 through February 2023. The pilot team determined that the statewide average time to heat pump water heater permit issuance is 5.9 days, significantly longer than a standard water heater permit.
The pilot also performed qualitative interviews with select building jurisdictions. The interview led to pilot findings including:
In effort to streamline HPWH permitting processes, the pilot created the written resources to assist building department staff and permit applicants:
These resources are available for local building departments to download and share with installers and the public.
If you are interested in learning more about the TECH Clean California program or the Streamlining Permitting and Installation of Heat Pump Water Heaters, please contact Nancy Barba, Frontier Energy, on behalf of TECH Clean California.
LGSEC is a statewide membership network representing local government interests to state agencies such as CPUC, CEC, and CARB. Together, LGSEC members advance sustainable energy and climate solutions to meet California’s climate and energy goals through knowledge exchange, targeted learning opportunities, and statewide collaboration. Sustainability staff can maximize staff capacity by becoming a member of the LGSEC to engage and represent their jurisdictions in statewide regulatory energy policy.
During technology development, Local Governments can serve as excellent partners for pilot or demonstration projects. It is a good best practice for local governments to partner with technology providers when they are applying for EPIC grants through the CEC. There will soon be a call for places section of the Empower Innovation website to help create connections for project partners.
Wildfires, power shut-offs, and other climate effects are driving the critical need for energy resiliency across California communities. Local government and institutions are taking the lead on microgrids in many areas to ensure their residents continue to receive critical services and back-up power. Given the technical complexity and range of possible microgrid models, local governments can best benefit by learning from one another and working together to implement a sustainable future for us all.
This panel session will feature diverse local experts, each with a unique perspective on developing innovative, resilient microgrid solutions across the state:
Presenters will discuss the goals and multiple benefits their microgrid projects address – from resiliency to carbon reduction, reliability, and government operations. They will explore the process and funding sources they have leveraged to develop studies and designs. And they will highlight the stakeholders and partnerships behind many of their microgrid projects which have been critical to their success. Finally, presenters will share important lessons learned and recommendations from their experiences for other communities eager to explore similar opportunities.
There have been great advances in technology and data access in the last ten years, but local governments are still struggling to get the data they need for greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and other climate action planning and implementation. The City of Chula Vista has been trying to get data for our GHG inventories and experienced confusing roadblocks with little ability for anyone to explain to us what data restrictions are applicable to the data we are requesting. Specifically, we are looking for annual, aggregated and anonymized electricity and natural gas data for our public GHG inventories. We used our utility’s Energy Data Access website but the Termes of Service (TOS) we are required to sign prohibits us from sharing the data we receive with the public, as we do with our GHG inventories. The utility from which we are requesting the data, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), said they were “not authorized to interpret the Terms of Service” and could not provide a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) contact for someone who could answer questions about the TOS. After months of engaging with SDG&E, the CPUC and the City’s legal team we will be moving forward with the data request based on the assurance that no utilities have taken action against local governments for publicly sharing the data we are requesting. This confusion and additional step adds needless cost and time to the process of requesting data. Data required for Community GHG inventories should be freely available for public reporting by local governments, like it is for zip codes, and the organizations providing the data should be able to answer questions about the requirements of accessing and using the data.
Since the CPUC data access discussion in 2014, there have been a lot of advancements in data access. Like the state’s adoption of an “open data policy” in 2019 to “take full advantage of its information resources by promoting more accessible, discoverable and usable data to propel innovation, improve the delivery of public services and empower the people of California while protecting privacy”. This state policy acknowledges the value of having public access to data and during a climate crisis this data is too important to be behind confusing barriers that restrict access to non-sensitive data. Planners and program implementers are also looking for more detailed data that does have privacy concerns and solutions like the California Energy Commissions Energy Data Analysis program could improve data access. But we should not treat all data requests the same and require local governments to contract with a consultant to receive simple data for GHG inventories. This increases cost and time required for basic climate planning.
What we learn in our efforts to provide better data to local governments should also be used to increasing data access for others like Community Choice Aggregators, Regional Energy Networks and community-based organizations. These organizations play an important role in advancing the clean energy transition and providing them with better data access will empower them to be more effective at what they do. This will be a key issue in upcoming efforts to support targeted and zonal electrification, affordability, demand management and meeting the stat
2019 was a watershed year for California’s local jurisdictions taking action on achieving strategic climate action and greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals. More than 25 jurisdictions developed and adopted local energy ordinances. In January 2020, the Energy Commission approved its 100th reach ordinance, noting the milestone by observing “… generally we are heading, as a state per the Executive Order, towards carbon neutrality by 2045. And we need local partners to get there.” Since January, 16 more reach code packages have been approved.
Statewide, regional and local organizations offer tremendous potential for maintaining this momentum through collaborative partnerships in sharing resources, best practices for outreach, stakeholder engagement and consensus building, model language and cost analyses assets, and more.
This webinar gathers experts from local jurisdictions, statewide programs and Energy Commission staff to explore some of the most effective ways to collaborate as well as understand the needs attendees present from their own jurisdictions. The two panelists from the cities of Palo Alto and Chula Vista will be able to share actual and valuable lessons learned from their own experiences. Each of these cities is at a different point on the reach code development timeline and have quite different local variables; the insights they offer will be extremely valuable to participants from all regions of the state.
The session will begin with a short series of introductory comments from each panelist (approximately 5 minutes/panelist), followed by an open discussion using the Zoom chat capability to propose questions and managed by the session moderator. Panelists will use slides for presenting resources, posting prompt questions or sharing dense information sets. For instance, city representatives may share specific reach code resources their teams have used successfully, while the Energy Commission representative and the Statewide Reach Codes team may provide insight into specific statewide resources available at no cost.
This webinar maps the energy efficiency measures, climate planning, and local partnerships that form the basis of energy efficiency implementation efforts in the San Diego region.
Local jurisdictions in the San Diego region have been supported in their climate planning and implementation efforts by a range of organizations including planning agencies, utilities, and nonprofits. Mapping regional planning and energy efficiency efforts provides a unique opportunity to identify gaps, opportunities for further programming, and to highlight areas of success for replication.
Panelists from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) will outline the planning that happens at a regional level and the partnerships in place to inform and support local climate change and implementation plans. The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative will introduce its new ESRI Story Map which provides a unique, interactive overview of climate planning and maps how individual jurisdictions are taking action on energy efficiency. The City of Carlsbad will then share their own experience developing their climate action plan and implementing energy efficiency ordinances.
It is through collaboration and sharing knowledge and best practices that organizations can work to bridge the gap between climate planning and energy efficiency implementation. Understanding key trends and the needs of individual communities can also help frame the discussion as we look to the next stage of supporting local communities in meeting their energy needs and adapting to climate change challenges.
A diverse group of presenters will share a case study and best practices on leading-edge approaches to region-wide energy resiliency programs that maximize economic, climate, and reliability benefits.
Resiliency programs leveraging distributed energy resources (DERs) are increasingly recognized as a solution to address multiple goals, including: increased reliability for residents and businesses during Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events and/or natural disasters; increased reliability for the grid; reduction of GHG emissions; and the creation of economic value for both program participants and implementers.
COVID19 underscores the urgency and necessity of creating resilient systems. California could be in a position to experience PSPS events that push those who’ve been sheltering-in-place into crowded critical facilities, where COVID19 can more easily spread. This makes resiliency efforts even more necessary, especially for vulnerable populations
The presenting panel includes a Community Choice Aggregator (MCE), a policy-focused climate non-profit (The Climate Center), and a clean energy advisory firm dedicated to public agencies (TerraVerde Energy). The panel discussion will be moderated by the Manager of Commercial Solar Project Development for GRID Alternatives. GRID Alternatives is the largest nonprofit solar installer in the nation, and a leading voice driving results in low-income solar policy. Through its mission to make renewable energy technology and job training accessible to at-risk communities, GRID brings equitable solar solutions to families and non-profits throughout California, Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic region, and tribal communities nationwide.
MCE will share a case study demonstrating their best practices for most effectively targeting critical facilities, prioritizing high-needs residents, encouraging/incentivizing program participation, and leveraging funding from different sources to support program implementation.
TerraVerde will provide an overview of the opportunities, challenges, tools and best practices for intelligently designing and effectively deploying resiliency programs that result in the best environmental and economic outcomes. One of the tools that will be shared is the NavigaDER software, made publicly available with funding from the California Energy Commission. NavigaDER runs analyses on DER resiliency program scenarios, identifying optimal program participants for maximized economic value, environmental impact, and regional job creation.
The Climate Center will discuss the policy drivers accelerating the needs and opportunities for energy resilience and GHG reduction programs, including current relevant pending legislation and regulatory proceedings.
A New York start-up LO3 Energy leveraged group purchasing to fund the Brooklyn Microgrid network, which allows individuals to buy and sell renewable energy in a peer-to-peer network. This both increased community resilience to frequent power outages and supports local economic development while reducing the community’s carbon footprint.
This Pacific Coast panel will discuss the latest in decarbonization policy in Brisbane, San Francisco and the State of Washington. From small cities like Brisbane, to dense urbanized cities like San Francisco, to the Evergreen State of Washington, we will discuss how to address any scale of policy creation to meet big bold climate goals. With less than 5,000 residents, the City of Brisbane is an unlikely hero in California’s journey to decarbonization, but in 2019 it passed the most comprehensive benchmarking and auditing ordinance in the country. San Francisco has recently launched an innovative approach, helping commercial asset managers plan for decarbonization, to better connect their local ordinance to the city’s Climate Action Plan. Lastly, the State of Washington will discuss their Clean Building Act, which aims to lower costs and pollution from fossil fuel consumption in existing buildings through a performance standard and incentive program.
Local governments and regional organizations are seeking to encourage building decarbonization through a range of innovative policies. Electrification-focused action plans, reach codes, rebates, incentives, and other strategies are critical to supporting cities progress. This webinar will feature diverse local experts—each with a unique perspective on developing, adopting, and implementing effective local policies in California communities.
Panelists will share details on the creative policy strategies each has considered and/or implemented through a lively exchange. They will explore the benefits, challenges, similarities, and differences between the policies. They will also explore partnerships and community engagement has been central to successful adoption. This session will hold important lessons learned and practical applications for other jurisdictions considering similar decarbonization policies.
Power disruptions and changing energy usage patterns in the past several years have underscored the urgent need for reliable energy. More than ever, local, State and federal governments are looking for the best ways to actualize commitments to economic recovery in ways that also advance climate action, energy assurance, and environmental justice. Through thoughtful load, feasibility, and financial analysis, local governments can strategically implement solutions like solar microgrids, battery backup, and coordination with utility providers to maintain critical public facilities and services. Plans can also identify programs and policies to encourage private property owners to implement these solutions and target attention where vulnerable populations may be being left behind. This session will highlight the latest energy reliability news, planning case studies, and financing best practices from communities across California to help local governments as they consider their own energy reliability or microgrid initiatives.
While many cities have begun the transition to decarbonize new construction through electrification ordinances, the conversion of existing buildings from mixed fuel to all-electric must consider the implications for low-income, disadvantaged, and historically under-invested communities. This session presents a facilitated discussion with the parties involved in the recently completed City of Berkeley Existing Building Electrification Strategy, which serves as a guide to an equitable transition of existing buildings from fossil fuel reliance to primarily renewable electricity by identifying the policy, funding, and regulatory processes which must be addressed. The City of Berkeley strategy is a first of its kind document which combines a parcel level cost and energy assessment of electrification options, funding mechanisms for the electric building transition, and a thorough evaluation of the equity impacts on the community. To develop the strategy, the project team conducted extensive and targeted outreach to Berkeley’s marginalized communities and received substantial feedback that guided the goals, timeline, and associated actions. The discussion panel will address topics relevant to their expertise and development of the strategy, including the detailed analysis of existing residential buildings, extensive community engagement, equity considerations, regulatory constraints, and electrification policy development.
The Center for Sustainable Energy has prepared a Sustainable Incentives Best Practices Assessment for the Port of San Diego, released April 2016. This is a great resource for local governments considering green leases and landlord-tenant energy efficiency solutions. The full Port Best Practices report is available here.
California’s energy landscape has been evolving for the better part of a decade, with regional energy networks (RENs) playing a pivotal role in shaping its future. Launched in 2013 after a complex CPUC regulatory process, RENs began as pilot programs aimed at delivering energy retrofit solutions, while offering education and outreach, incentives, financing, and workforce training across the state. The Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) and the Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCalREN) were among the first to pioneer this locally led approach to energy efficiency program administration.
Today, RENs are much more than experimental initiatives. They have become integral components of California’s energy strategy, providing energy efficiency programs that benefit our diverse local communities. RENs, under the guidance of local governments and authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), understand regional needs, serving as administrators for energy efficiency programs across California. Their ability to adapt and meet the unique challenges faced by hard-to-reach1 and underserved communities2 has cemented their role as invaluable contributors to California’s energy future.
In recent years, the reach of RENs has expanded significantly. BayREN and SoCalREN are joined by the Tri-County Regional Energy Network (3C-REN), Inland Regional Energy Network (I-REN), and the newest additions: the Central California Rural Regional Energy Network (CCR-REN), Northern Rural Energy Network, and the San Diego Regional Energy Network (SDREN). Collectively, these RENs now serve a vast majority of the state’s population, encompassing 94% of California’s residents.
At their core, RENs provide a vital service by delivering energy efficiency programs tailored to the needs of their specific regions. They work where energy utility programs often fall short, filling the gaps left by large Investor-Owned Utility (IOU) programs.
What sets RENs apart is their ability to offer a holistic approach to energy efficiency that focuses on equity and ensuring that no one is left behind in the clean energy transition. RENs can leverage additional funding to enhance and complement other energy programs, bringing additional value to communities. Their localized approach allows them to deeply understand and address the unique needs of their jurisdictions. RENs also foster transparency and affordability by ensuring residents are informed about all available program offerings, allowing them to make the most of energy efficiency initiatives.
RENs are not only focused on reducing energy use but are also instrumental in driving economic benefits. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to reduce electricity bills, and by implementing such programs, RENs help reduce energy demand, lower overall system costs, and create jobs in local communities. As California continues to experience growth in energy demand—driven by the electrification of transportation, data centers, and other sectors—RENs’ work becomes even more critical in developing the needed workforce, managing that load, and keeping energy affordable.
REN programs provide measurable benefits in affordability, economic growth, job creation, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Despite the undeniable value of these programs, the measurable benefits often get lost in the conversation due to incomplete and limiting cost-effectiveness metrics. In reality, RENs provide shared economic benefits for Californians, fostering a positive impact that extends beyond the direct participants, while also contributing to improved public health outcomes.
RENs know that California’s rising electricity rates are a significant concern that require solutions. However, a misconception has emerged in some energy affordability policy discussions that energy efficiency programs cause electricity rates to rise. In fact, the opposite is true: energy efficiency programs are funded through Public Purpose Program (PPP) funds, constituting about 1.5% of a customer’s electricity bill, a number that has not grown in recent decades.3 A report just released by the CPUC in response to the October, 2024 Executive Order from the Governor concludes that increases in electricity rates and the associated erosion of electricity bill affordability are largely driven by factors such as executive salaries and guaranteed shareholder profits, grid infrastructure expansion and upgrades and replacement costs (which EE helps to reduce), and wildfire mitigation and liability costs.4
Not only is energy efficiency a minimal cost, but it also lowers overall usage and helps customers save money. In fact, California boasts the most cost-effective energy efficiency programs in the nation, and these programs have kept electricity load growth flat for the past 25 years. The California Energy Commission recently released a report confirming that “California’s energy efficiency programs are highly cost-effective to ratepayers and have long been key to achieving affordable bills and meeting the state’s energy and environmental goals.”5
In 2023 alone, California’s energy efficiency programs generated $5 billion in benefits to ratepayers.6 For every dollar invested, the state saw a return of $8.49 in avoided energy costs, avoided peak capacity needs, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Over the decades, these programs have saved California over $100 billion and have reduced peak electricity demand by nearly 700 MW—enough to power over 200,000 homes.
Despite rising electricity rates in California, the state’s energy efficiency programs have kept the energy burden relatively low. While rates may continue to increase due to factors like infrastructure upgrades and wildfire mitigation, energy efficiency remains a crucial tool in keeping costs manageable and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, another priority for California and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, another priority for California. Reducing or eliminating funding for energy efficiency programs would be counterproductive, as it would drive up costs and hinder the shared goal of making energy more accessible and affordable.
As California continues to face challenges such as increasing energy demand and rising electricity rates, RENs will remain at the forefront of driving effective, affordable, and innovative solutions that benefit all residents. Their role is vital in ensuring that California’s energy future is not only more sustainable but also more accessible and equitable for everyone.
As California recovers from the pandemic and prepares for forthcoming effects from the climate crisis, local clean energy workforce development programs will play an essential role in sustainable recovery efforts aimed at “building back better.” Local agencies help people obtain skills and good jobs and, therefore, can be strategic about increasing the number of skilled workers needed to achieve a vision for efficient, decarbonized, and resilient buildings in the future. This session features speakers from local and regional workforce development programs that demonstrate innovative approaches to putting people to work in the energy and building trades. Join us to learn what these programs are doing to boost skills and job opportunities, how they were developed, what lessons they’ve learned, and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead.
Reducing natural gas usage by analyzing various building types and establishing reach codes across the region. Awareness, availability, assuredness, and affordability.
Regional partnerships provide energy engineering, regional climate action, and climate program support. It takes a village to move the needle and evolve work to support the region. Collaboratives provide an umbrella for everyone to come together to progress forward and explore activities, funding, and innovative techniques that LGs aren’t in the position to do alone. Facilitating and sustaining relationships can go a long way.
Resilience Hubs, Spaces and Blocks are community-driven gathering places which are demonstrations for climate solutions, and serve to coordinate & exchange communication, distribute resources, and support community programming during emergencies and year-round. The Northern California Resilience Network, the cities of San Leandro and Oakland and the Disability Justice Culture Club based in Oakland are all working to help build more resilient neighborhoods and robust resilience hubs. Part of this effort was a Resilience Hubs Leadership training held between February and September 2021.
To make progress toward carbon neutrality goals, many jurisdictions in San Mateo County have adopted climate action plans that call for rapid and equitable greenhouse gas emissions reductions in new and existing buildings. Meeting emissions reduction targets in the building sector requires dramatically reducing the use of fossil fuels in our residential and commercial buildings. This “building decarbonization” involves replacing gas appliances with electric models, improving energy efficiency, and installing solar and backup battery technology.
The San Mateo County Sustainability Department is launching a Building Decarbonization Strategy (Here) to support San Mateo County jurisdictions and the unincorporated communities in making this transition. The Strategy includes five initiatives being implemented in collaboration with other agencies and organizations. County staff are leveraging the Regionally Integrated Climate Action Planning Support (RICAPS) collaborative and relationships with the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County, Peninsula Clean Energy, Bay Area Regional Energy Network, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and community-based organizations to implement these policy development, program delivery, and communications efforts.
The multi-pronged initiative involves the following policy and program components:
The Sustainability Department is undertaking these projects with the aim that the research, community engagement, and policy recommendations can inform and guide efforts across numerous cities and advance the community of practice region wide as well. For updates on these projects please see this website.
After enrolling in late 2013, the Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) worked alongside the SoCalREN Public Agency Program to identify and implement several energy efficiency projects.CVUSD is benefiting from the positive impacts these energy efficiency projects have had on their facilities, as well as the people who inhabit them including the nearly 19,000 students currently enrolled. By implementing efficiency upgrades, the District models smart energy behaviors while creating a learning environment where students and teachers can thrive.
This session will present a framework for collaboration between county, regional, and state agencies that provides a continuum of support for constituents to improve their energy efficiency. With many energy-focused programs and resources available statewide, it can be difficult for constituents to navigate the options and overcome barriers to making energy upgrades. Collaboration across multiple agencies is key to raising awareness about available support for efficiency and sustainability improvements at the local level. The webinar will begin with an overview of available rebates and financing that can be used together by constituents undertaking energy upgrades, followed by a panel discussion about how the three presenters work together to streamline the complex energy retrofit landscape for constituents. Participants will learn about available energy efficiency resources for their constituents, how to pair them together to provide continuity of support, and best practices for interagency collaboration to raise awareness in their community.
Local governments throughout California have been making tremendous progress towards State goals to increase energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build a more resilient future for all. While the adoption of new technologies is on the rise – from electric vehicles to microgrids, local agencies are increasingly under pressure to respond to new threats to their communities such as Public Safety Power Shutoffs and COVID-19. However, ambitions to achieve local and State goals still remain high as these challenges underscore the importance and highlight the urgency of creating a clean energy future.
The SEEC Virtual Forum launches with a panel discussion featuring state leaders who will speak to the forum theme of Promising Solutions for a Clean Energy Future. Participants will hear from leading key State agencies, such as the California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, and more. This webinar will include a brief moderated discussion and quickly pivot to take questions from the audience to provide opportunities to engage with California’s energy leaders in this time of urgency to create a clean energy future.
The Willdan Smart Cities Working Group will share 5-7 case studies illustrating how to phase, scale and finance smart cities solutions. The panel will include interactive discussion with representatives from the City of Irvine, City of Long Beach, and City of West Hollywood who will share tips, tactics and tools for implementation of smart cities strategic planning efforts. The panel will also include valuable examples of how to fund smart cities infrastructure with input provided by experts in New Markets Tax Credits, Opportunity Zones, and traditional forms of Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding.
TerraVerde’s defensible accounting methodology for quantifying the financial benefits of having solar + battery backup power resources. The Economic Value of Resilience equals the avoided costs of an otherwise applicable solution (i.e. equipment & installation, operation & maintenance, fuel costs, permits) plus the avoided cost of power interruption (i.e. business interruption costs, electrical equipment damages, IT system damages, productivity losses, and spoilage).
The Clean Coalition has created a standardized VOR that will allow all stakeholders to effectively consider VOR when analyzing microgrid economics — making microgrid economics far more favorable. The increased valuation, in turn, will accelerate the proliferation of microgrids throughout the country and well beyond.
Local government leadership is truly the best driver for transformation to a clean and democratized energy economy. Regional Energy Networks (RENs) and Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) are leading the charge and have deep and expanding roots in climate program deployment. They are crafting unique programmatic solutions to address local risks, including energy resilience, climate change mitigation, and workforce preparedness. Panelists representing RENs and CCAs will provide a peek into pilot efforts, programs, and partnerships offering community-focused initiatives with the potential to scale up and spark innovation in this era of renewed national commitment to climate change work. This session celebrates the change-makers and initiatives harnessing the power of local mobilization and engagement to shepherd in a cleaner, environmentally just energy future—one that succeeds by increasing access while building community equity and resilience.
The HES is about gaining knowledge and information about your home. It’s an assessment process that helps you make better decisions about potential upgrades.
An assessor uses a formula developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to score your home’s energy use on a scale of 1 to 10. It estimates home energy use, associated costs, and provides energy solutions to cost-effectively improve your home’s efficiency.
A group of climate change practitioners convened in 2019 and again in 2021 to develop a collective statement regarding the State of Local Climate Planning. Released in May 2021, this Statement found that local climate action planning had reached an inflection point, and progress has become stagnant. In order to achieve the rapid transformational GHG reductions needed, the field must identify lessons learned from the last decade and move beyond traditional climate action planning processes to prioritizing implementation. The work ahead does not live with a single organization or small group of people: we hope these observations support reflection, spark dialogue, and fuel an appetite to work in a new direction with new partners. This session will be a facilitated discussion to support this reflection towards the goal of shifting practitioners and practices to implementation and action.
Best practices implemented: understand local market conditions; define and locate hard-to-reach customers and target programs accordingly, as appropriate; conduct sufficient market research.
The Institute for Local Government is celebrating Beacon Award winners virtually this year, in conjunction with the virtual Statewide Energy Efficiency Forum. For more than 11 years, the Beacon Program has encouraged, supported and recognized voluntary action by local governments throughout California to address climate change, promote energy innovation and foster more vibrant communities. Beacon participants are leaders in creating communities that have cleaner air and water, more efficient transportation options, and a healthier use of natural resources. Join us in a virtual award celebration, featuring recorded remarks from Former State Senator Fran Pavley, honoring 36 award-winning cities from across the state that have taken significant steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, implement sustainability best practices, and so much more.
Another SEEC forum is in the books and the SEEC program as we’ve known it is sunsetting after a decade of success. Join us to celebrate all we’ve learned together and help us think into a promising new chapter for CA local government energy efficiency collaboration. This event will feature updates from each SEEC NGO, IOU representatives, new tools to help you access useful information, and a listening session where you can help drive what we do next.
EE improvements may be integrated into existing capital planning – EE improvements may also paired with clean energy installs or a campaign to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by implementing an employee carpool program.
If you’re looking for data on the most cost-effective project to start with, it may be a good idea to benchmark your buildings first and learn what buildings are using what amounts of energy. For more information on benchmarking, visit the Benchmarking Resources page. Looking for benefits of benchmarking? Check out this post.
Some local governments may prefer to start leading by example by implementing a program to encourage energy-efficient employee behavior (e.g., encouraging turning off the lights, using energy efficient computer setting, or low hot water usage). For best practices in implementing successful behavioral programs, see this post.
ll of these types of activities are actions promoted under the CPUC’s California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan.
For numerous examples of what actions local governments are taking, check out Local Government on the EE Strategic Plan.
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