California Climate & Energy Collaborative

Incorporating Energy Efficiency-Driven Pollution Reductions into State Implementation Plans – Apr. 20

Sarina Soor
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Energy efficiency is a valuable resource that achieves low-cost, multipollutant reductions in states across the country. However, while state air regulators can rely on energy efficiency to meet specific pollutant reductions required under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), many states are missing out on this opportunity. Click here…

Saving Watts to Save Drops: Inclusion of Water Efficiency in Energy Efficiency Programs

Sarina Soor
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“Energy production and consumption require water, and water transport and treatment need energy. Researchers and practitioners are increasingly interested in designing integrated programs to manage energy and water in tandem. Utilities typically do not focus on the avoided costs and indirect energy savings from reduced water consumption. Doing so would help them reduce expenditures and…

Report: Using Intelligent Efficiency to Collect and Analyze Non-energy Benefits Information

Sarina Soor
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A new report from Residential Network member the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) looks at how information technologies and communication networks are enabling new ways of tracking and analyzing the benefits of saving energy beyond cost savings. Researchers suggest that new technologies, such as smart thermostats, lighting, and appliances, add convenience that could be more important to…

Stories behind the rankings: These successes reveal benefits of saving energy

Sarina Soor
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“Residents and businesses across the country are saving energy and money thanks to smart state policies. Their stories help explain why some states climbed in our 2017 State Scorecard or maintained strong standings. This year for the first time, we included stories of individuals and communities in our state-specific score sheets. We found schools that improved lighting and…

ACEE: How to Talk about Home Energy Upgrades

Sarina Soor
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From ACEE: “How can home energy assessments lead to more energy efficiency upgrades? Using a behavioral science approach to answer this question, we conducted an online experiment with nearly 2,000 American homeowners and explored the latest research on motivators and barriers to investment. We learned that financial motivators are part of the equation, but not…

Local Policy Benchmarking Toolkit from ACEEE

Sarina Soor
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Multifamily property owners and managers are often unaware of how their buildings’ energy performance compares to that of similar buildings. This lack of information can make them reluctant to invest in energy efficiency and, more broadly, can lead to the undervaluing of energy-efficient buildings in real estate appraisals. To address this market failure, localities across…

Unlocking Ultra-Low Energy Performance in Existing Buildings

Sarina Soor
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ACEEE finds that although the intensity and the cost of retrofits can vary significantly the technology exists to bring ultra-low energy (ULE) performance to existing buildings. ULE designs for existing buildings may need to rely more heavily on the installation of super-efficient equipment and the use of sophisticated energy management and controls. Additionally, greater emphasis…

Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs: A Baseline Assessment of Programs Serving the 51 Largest Cities

Sarina Soor
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ACEEE addresses the key questions and challenges around low-income programs for single-family homes. Of the total spending on residential energy efficiency programs in 2014, 18% of electric efficiency expenditures and 34% of natural gas efficiency spending went toward low-income programs. Particularly for electricity expenditures, there is a need for more equitable spending on efficiency programs…

PG&E leads California on energy efficiency scorecard

Sarina Soor
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Ranked third in the country, PG&E led California as the top-placed utility in the state for energy efficiency. In the ranking, PG&E also placed third in each main category, quantitative savings and spending performance; program diversity and emerging areas; and savings targets, business models and evaluation, capturing 75 percent of the total 50 available points.…

New standard practice manual for cost-effectiveness is an indispensable resource

Sarina Soor
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National Efficiency Screening Project has released a comprehensive manual on cost-effectiveness evaluation for energy efficiency resources as an update to the California Standard Practice Manual. The authors of the report argue that although the California Standard Practice Manual (last updated in 2001) has “served as a prevailing resource,” the tests provided in the manual have not…