Winter 2010

Updated Draft Energy Aware Planning Guide Available

The Energy Aware Planning Guide, developed by the California Energy Commission in 1993 and updated in 2009, is a comprehensive resource for local governments seeking to reduce energy use, improve energy efficiency and increase usage of renewable energy across all sectors. Wiser use of energy resources can lead to cost savings for local governments, residents, and businesses; reinvestment in the local economy; improved quality of life and public health; increased compliance with state and federal goals; and a more secure future. Additionally, strategies to reduce energy consumption promote progress towards aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals laid out in Assembly Bill 32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act.

The Energy Aware Planning Guide presents a menu of strategies and best management practices to help local governments improve energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption through transportation and land use and enhance renewable sources of energy. Strategies explored include: transportation and land use changes, optimizing water use, building improvements, and other strategies. Each strategy section contains general plan language ideas, implementation ideas, case studies, and resources. The Energy Aware Planning Guide also contains supporting information and references to help local governments organize strategies into an energy action plan and estimate the likely energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction impacts of their strategies.

The Local Government Commission helped write both the original and updated versions of the Energy Aware Planning Guide. The draft Guide is available at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/energy_aware_guide/

The California Energy Commission staff will conduct a workshop on February 18th to present the Energy Aware Planning Guide and to solicit feedback from interested stakeholders. The objective is to provide greater continuity with on-going planning efforts and to further improve the applicability and content of the document.

The Energy Commission’s Public Adviser’s Office provides the public assistance in participating in Energy Commission activities. If you want information on how to participate in this forum, please contact the Public Adviser’s Office at (916) 654-4489 or toll free at (800) 822-6228, by FAX at (916) 654-4493, or by e-mail at PublicAdviser@energy.state.ca.us. If you have a disability and require assistance to participate, please contact Lou Quiroz at (916) 654-5146 at least five days in advance.