CURRENTS is the Local Government Commission’s free quarterly newsletter providing local elected officials and staff with current information on energy issues affecting California local governments.
The 12th Annual CCEC Forum is done. What did we learn and what do we do now?
Almost 600 people registered to participate in the 12th Annual CCEC Forum, which took place over three weeks in August 2021. The 20 sessions focused on this year’s forum theme “Transforming Tomorrow Together: weaving recovery, equity, and public health into local energy and climate work.” In the planning of the Forum, organizers and advisors were clear that they didn’t want to marginalize important topics like equity into its own tract, but rather to showcase how local organizations are integrating these priorities meaningfully into their energy and climate work, from implementing EV infrastructure to designing reach codes. If you missed any of the sessions, we encourage you to watch the recordings and check out the CCEC Best Practices Database, which was populated with over 60 new best practices and case studies shared during the Forum.
Brisbane’s Toolkit for a Building Efficiency Program
The City of Brisbane launched the Building Efficiency Program to address energy and water use in existing buildings to help make them more efficient, thereby saving owners money, improving the safety and comfort of our building stock, and reducing emissions that are driving climate change.The City of Brisbane launched the Building Efficiency Program to address energy and water use in existing buildings to help make them more efficient, thereby saving owners money, improving the safety and comfort of our building stock, and reducing emissions that are driving climate change.
Every city is unique, from differences in building stock to electricity supply to local political inclination, and that’s why the toolkit aims to share why Brisbane made the decisions we did and point out where others may want to take a different approach.
City of Cloverdale is the second utility to join BayREN’s new Water Upgrade $ave program
On August 11, the Cloverdale City Council voted to join the Bay Area Regional Network’s (BayREN) Water Upgrades $ave program, becoming the second utility to enroll in the regional program. Water Upgrades $ave is a water efficiency program for Bay area residents in eligible water districts. Since enrolling in May as the program’s first utility, City of Sebastopol has completed 32 residential indoor projects that will reduce annual water use by 119,677 gallons. In addition, the program is gearing up to offer outdoor and commercial food programs this fall and winter!
City of Torrance “One Mile, One Charger” Project
The City of Torrance continues to experience both residential and commercial growth, which further increases the demand for publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. The “One Mile, One Charger” project sought to increase access to publicly accessible EV charging in the City of Torrance, thereby supporting existing and future EV ownership. Through public engagement, efficient resource allocation and dynamic communication using GIS and story mapping, the City of Torrance has been able to achieve the main goal of the project, which was to never be more than a mile from a publicly accessible electric vehicle charging station within the City’s boundaries, as 98.6% of the City is now within one mile of a charging station.
SoCalREN’s Workforce Education & Training Programs
Did you know that SoCalREN offers a program dedicated to supporting contractors pursuing energy efficiency work? SoCalREN’s Workforce Development Program offers contractor development and capacity building for small, minority, and women business owners in the energy efficiency sector. Check out SoCalREN’s Workforce Development program offerings in this article!
Energy Efficiency Workforce on the Central Coast
The Tri-County Regional Energy Network is dedicated to a continued understanding of the energy efficiency workforce on the Central Coast to grow, diversify, and upskill the region’s workers. To this end, 3C-REN in partnership with In Balance Green Consulting established the Higher Performance Building on the Central Coast series. This series began by looking at strategies to address how to design and build for safety, health, and cost savings on the Central Coast while moving to electric construction.
Being well connected to the masterminds who educate much of the energy efficiency industry on the Central Coast, 3C-REN interviewed Andy Pease, Principal at In Balance Green Consulting about local workforce education and the importance of bringing series like Higher Performance Building on the Central Coast to the region.
Local Government Electrification Interest Form
The Empower Procurement team is developing resources to help local jurisdictions electrify their existing building stock. We invite you to fill out this interest form letting us know what resources would be most helpful to support your planning and implementation efforts. We seek to use this information to develop resources and frameworks that will cater and take into consideration your feedback. Fill out the form!
You can also find more information on our website at https://empowerprocurement.com/