Programs to Support Local Jurisdictions that Promote Energy Efficiency and Greenbuilding

With growing national attention on energy and climate change issues, an increasing number of local governments are encouraging, or even requiring, California housing owners and developers to incorporate energy efficiency into their new developments or rehabilitations. There is no doubting the Greenbuilding trend and local governments have the opportunity to play a key role in influencing their communities’ energy use. Though all components of Greenbuilding are important, energy savings have the greatest impact on the homeowner or tenant through reduced energy bills and increased comfort while also having the greatest impact on greenhouse gas reduction.

Increasingly, more jurisdictions are adopting Greenbuilding or energy efficiency requirements, but most are promoting energy efficiency by providing information on incentive programs or offering a benefit for high-performance buildings. Ratepayer funded programs are designed to help planning, building, housing, and redevelopment departments promote energy efficiency and Greenbuilding by working directly with developers. Not only do they help to support city codes and regulations, but they also provide a higher level of assurance that projects within local jurisdictions are energy efficient.

Depending on the city or county’s level of commitment, there are a number of ways to promote these programs including:

• Inserting program summaries in newsletters
• Incorporating an ‘advisory condition’ in their permitting process alerting developers to consider these programs
• Offering various permitting benefits such as fast-tracking through the permitting process or reduced fees
• Placing program brochures at planning and permitting counters
• Hosting developer meetings where incentive and assistance programs are presented
• Hosting developer trainings where presenters provide the basics (or more) of energy efficient building design
• Providing a list of projects in the design/permitting phase to the programs for them to approach

These programs are a free public service funded by California ratepayers through their energy bills that offer free energy efficiency design and technical assistance as well as incentives for new construction and retrofit multifamily projects. To best influence the buildings and minimize costs, they target developers early in the design phase.

As California’s population grows, the efficient use of energy will become even more important. Increasing demand, fluctuating processes, and limited supplies mean finding ways to reduce energy use is critical to everyone’s future. Listed below are brief summaries of these public service programs. Local governments, builders, designers, and architects interested in benefiting from these programs are encouraged to contact an HMG representative as early as possible in the design and building process.

For more information, please contact Julieann Summerford at 760-436-7002 or summerford 'AT' h-m-g.com or visit www.h-m-g.com/multifamily.

Many of the public goods charge (PGC) programs for the 2006-2008 funding cycle are winding down. Check the investor owned utilities’ web sites soon to access current programs. New PGC programs are scheduled to start in January 2009.

Pacific Gas & Electric: pge.com

San Diego Gas & Electric: sdge.com

Southern California Edison: sce.com

Southern California Gas Company: socalgas.com

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