How did California become an Energy Efficiency leader in the US?

 

California ranks 2nd in Energy Efficiency in the U.S.

 

WRITTEN BY ANGELICA SYIEMIONG PEREIRA ∙ TORONTO, ONTARIO

 
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A few decades ago, California began its endeavour to tackle the country’s ever increasing electricity and natural gas demands. The Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act (Senate Bill 350),  which finally passed in California in October 2015, laid out a plan for the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to double statewide energy efficiency savings by January 1, 2030 relative to 2015 (1). 

With the visionary Assembly Bill 802 which focuses on meter-based savings, brings existing buildings from their existing condition up to code, and provides access to data and benchmarks for building owners and policy makers and SB 350 California launched its ambitious plan to achieve its Energy Efficiency (EE) goals. 

California has reduced its per capita energy consumption by 10.2% since 1990 and has also kept its per capita electricity consumption nearly the same over the last 40 years, while per capita electricity consumption continued to rise across the rest of the country according to Next 10’s 2019 California Green Innovation Index report (2).

Energy Efficiency Standards for Buildings and Equipment

Every three years the California Energy Commission, which was set up to oversee Publicly Owned Utilities (POU), strengthens the statewide building efficiency standards that are adopted into the California Code of Regulations. The 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards passed requires new homes in California to all have solar photovoltaic systems (3), a major improvement from the 2016 standard. 

California was the first state in the US to introduce appliance standards in 1978. A nation wide appliance standard was introduced after based on California’s standards, requiring manufacturers to meet these efficiency standards and helping them overcome market barriers they may face. More than 60 appliances and equipment have to achieve an energy efficiency standard in the US (3), enabling a country wide reduction in energy use even with a significant increase in sales. Last month, California repealed against the federal government's proposal for the rollback of light bulb efficiency and is pushing for an increase in energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs (4). 

Transportation Policies

The Pavley Bill (AB 1493) in California paved the way for states to address GHG emissions from vehicles, 14 states followed after California took the lead. The state has been a leader in vehicle emission reduction, setting its own vehicle emission standards that includes GHG emissions. The sale of battery electric, and fuel-cell vehicles is slated to increase between 2018-2025 in order to reduce GHG and pollutant emissions through the updated Zero-Emission Vehicle program. These vehicles made up 1.5% of all registered on-road vehicles in the state, an increase from 1.1% in 2017 (2).

Utility led Market Transformation

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) oversees EM&V for all Investor Owned Utilities (IOU) energy efficiency programs that are funded by rate payers, verifies their savings, sets program goals and approves spending as well. California’s EE programs are being revamped to identify opportunities through the market transformation approach (5). POUs have been administering customer programs as well and ensuring that the states energy goals are met. Every two years the CPUC updates the IOU’s savings targets. New market transformations have allowed IOUs to build partnerships and harness innovations in technology to meet its targets. 

Residents Taking Action

Through the use of MyEnergyXpert, EnergyX’s online audit, residents of the City of Colton, Azusa and Imperial Irrigation District can reap the benefits of the success of California’s energy policies and laws by instantly taking action to make changes in their home. An analysis of their usage provides them recommendations to change the equipment in their homes and improve their building envelope, helping them abide by state laws and regulations. 

Together, these efforts have allowed the state to achieve deeper savings. California is vibrantly growing it’s economy while tackling the challenges of climate change.

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