Saving energy in your home is simple with the Energy Upgrade California program from the Regional Climate Protection Authority. Energy Upgrade provides a comprehensive consumer resource to identify energy efficiency opportunities in buildings so you can save energy, money, and the environment.
PG&E incentive whole-house energy upgrades produce maximum savings with a science-based approach.
Reduce your project costs with rebates and incentives; find financing to meet your project and budget needs.
Find participating contractors who are State-licensed, trained, and participating in a quality assurance program.
Are you a local contractor? Learn how you can join the Energy Upgrade California program.
RCPA is leading two pilot projects to help promote energy efficiency efforts in Sonoma County.
Learn how it all began.
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To maximize your energy savings, Energy Upgrade analyzes all the building systems to provide you with a whole-house energy plan that includes a prioritized list of upgrade opportunities. This prioritized list shows you specific ways your home or business loses energy including air leaks, poor insulation, duct-system leaks, inefficient heating/cooling equipment, and old appliances and lighting — in order of cost-effectiveness. Known as “loading order,” this scientific approach helps you increase your energy savings and get more for your upgrade investment.
The Energy Upgrade California program provides two incentives for using the “whole-house” approach:
The Energy Upgrade incentive is only available through Energy Upgrade contractors who meet the PG&E Participating Contractor requirements and have a portion of their projects inspected for quality and energy savings results. For a list of qualified contractors in the PG&E service territory, click here.
The City of Santa Rosa's Clean Energy Advocate program provides additional assistance to homeowners.
Limited-Time Offer / 100-percent HERS II Energy Analysis Rebate: This is an expansion of the existing Energy Analysis rebate from the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program. The new rebate amount covers 100-percent of the analysis/HERS rating cost for the following options based on an average single-family home: (1) test-in only/HERS II rater — $700; (2) test-in/test-out/HERS II rater — $1,000; and (3) test-in/Participating Contractor and test-out/HERS II rater — $1,400; for larger homes, the rebate amount is calculated on a square-foot basis and additional funds are available for multiple HVAC systems (for details visit the SCEIP webpage)
Limited-Time Offer / Regional Whole-House Incentive: Participating Contractors may now offer a regional incentive to Energy Upgrade whole-house customers. You can offer your Basic Upgrade Package customers a $1,000 regional rebate in addition to their Energy Upgrade incentive ($2,000 total); Advanced Upgrade Package customers can receive $2,000, a flat amount not tied to energy savings, in addition to their Energy Upgrade incentive (up to $6,000 in rebates). The $2 million regional whole-house fund is available to Participating Contractors through the Bay Area.
Both rebate programs are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which runs through March 31, 2012. These are limited-time offers available on a first-come/first-served basis while funds last.
Visit the California Energy Commission’s Energy Upgrade California Web portal.
Energy 101: Home Energy Assessment
YouTube Videos of Homeowner Stories:
With your energy plan, you can choose energy upgrades that fit your goals, access a range of rebates and incentives to reduce total project cost, and identify a financing program that meets your needs.
Based on your energy plan, your Energy Upgrade participating contractor will help you identify applicable rebates to reduce your project cost.
Cost-cutting rebates include:
After you and your contractor determine all the cost-cutting rebates, it is time to find a financing option that meets your needs. There are several options available including:
For more information, visit the California Energy Commission’s Energy Upgrade California Web portal.
Energy Upgrade’s contractors are certified in the whole-house approach and participate in the Energy Upgrade quality assurance program.
Every Energy Upgrade contractor must meet the PG&E Participating Contractor requirements, that is, hold a current contractor’s license, meet program insurance requirements, enroll in the Energy Upgrade quality assurance program, and complete an Energy Upgrade certification training and/or hold a Building Analyst certification from the Building Performance Institute, the national authority on building energy performance standards and techniques.
The Energy Upgrade certification program is designed for effective consumer protection by providing a list of qualified contractors, quality assurance monitoring, and consumer support services.
Find a participating contractor.
For more information, visit the California Energy Commission’s Energy Upgrade California Web portal.
We need you. If you are a licensed Sonoma County-based contractor, please visit the PG&E Participating Contractor Web Page to find out how you can become an Energy Upgrade vendor.
Enrolling in the Energy Upgrade program includes access to training in the Basic Path package, access to training support for the Advance Path Building Performance Institute Building Analyst training, a listing on the Energy Upgrade contractor database, and the ability to offer your clients the PG&E Whole-House Incentive totaling between $1,000 to $4,000 per project. Participating contractors will receive a Contractor Handbook during enrollment, which contains an overview of the Energy Upgrade in Sonoma County program and benefits for participating contractors.
Training for Real Estate Professionals Feb 16, 17, 2012 in Santa Rosa: help your clients understand green features, make cost-saving decisions, and navigate rebate programs. Our course focuses specifically on existing homes in the California marketplace, helping you navigate statewide energy efficiency rebate programs like Energy Upgrade California.
http://www.builditgreen.org/en/cev/445.
If you are already a Participating Contractor, Build It Green has a new web portal to submit projects for PG&E rebates: https://www.builditgreenutility.org/
For more information on upcoming Energy Upgrade contractor enrollment events, contact Chris Cone, ccone@climateprotectioncampaign.org or (707) 889-1328 or Mike Sandler, RCPA Climate Protection Program Manager at msandler@sctainfo.org or (707) 565-5379.
RCPA is implementing two pilot programs through the Countywide Building Retrofit Program’s Better Buildings Program grant: On Water Bill financing, and the Whole Neighborhood Approach.
On Water Bill financing assists water utilities in allowing residents to finance pre-designed packages of water (and perhaps energy) efficiency improvements on a cash-neutral or better basis through a tariff (line-item) on their water bill. The water customer implements the package of water-efficiency measures, and the program applies those savings into the tariff. Ideally, the water savings reduce the customer’s water bill by more than the tariff, so the customer saves money, water, and energy. Another important element in the program is a third-party capital provider, which provides financing.
Reductions in end-use water consumption can save cities from future capital expenditures for new water supply facilities and wastewater treatment costs. It can also save energy used for water pumping and end-use water heating, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. RCPA and its sub-contractors will be working with Sonoma County water departments to design this pilot program in late 2010 and early 2011. The Town of Windsor is participating in the pilot under the name Windsor Efficiency PAYS®
. RCPA is working with the Town to engage several entities to implement the program Program Design. (PDF:532 kb) Relevant Requests for Proposals may be found at the SCTA/RCPA RFP page
The Whole Neighborhood Approach pilot will encourage economies of scale by focusing on particular neighborhoods where multiple houses of similar design can be upgraded using the same upgrade packages, with minor differentiation. This should present opportunities for streamlining the purchase of equipment and materials, and in mobilizing installation crews. In addition, as the crews install the same measures multiple times in the same house designs, they should pick up speed and improve their productivity.
RCPA and its subcontractors are developing GIS maps, called “hot spot maps,” of Sonoma County using market research obtained from the RCPA’s Retrofit Bay Area State Energy Program grant and County building data to identify neighborhoods with key characteristics needed for a successful result. The demographic criteria include percent of homeownership, household income, family size, neighborhood crime rate, and presence of homeowners association; the building criteria include single-family, age, size in square feet, limited number for floor plans, built within a two-year period within a 1.5-mile radius, and including 100 or more homes constructed by the same builder. A preliminary run of the whole neighborhood approach (WNA) hot spots map identified 80 neighborhoods with all or most of the preferred characteristics.
The RCPA team has identified two neighborhoods to for the pilot commencing Summer of 2011: Copperfield Neighborhood of Santa Rosa and “D” Section of Rohnert Park. Homeowners in those two neighborhoods have the opportunity to participate in an exclusive, lower-cost energy-efficiency program that helps you save energy, save money, and improve the comfort of your home. The Energy Upgrade Neighborhood Challenge includes a personalized Home Energy Analysis, a Whole House Energy Upgrade, and guidance on rebates and financing. For more information, check:
www.energyupgradesonoma-neighborhood.org
Statewide, RCPA is chairing a committee of six WNA pilots being conducted around the state through the Retrofit California program; statewide partners include City of San Jose, City/County of San Francisco, County of San Diego, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and the County of Los Angeles. RCPA chairs a committee of the Retrofit California partners, which is coordinating pilot design and implementation to test a range of concepts and techniques and compile best practices for a replicable WNA model. The committee is currently preparing WNA program design manuals and implementation plans for each partner.
In 2005, all ten local governments set a countywide greenhouse gas reduction goal — 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2015 — and work began on a countywide climate action plan to meet the goal. In 2008, the Climate Protection Campaign, which led the GHG goal setting process, published the Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) that provided analysis of local GHG emissions and a set of proposed solutions. The CCAP showed that buildings emitted 40 percent of the county’s goal GHGs through their use of electricity and natural gas. In 2009, the Climate Protection Campaign (CPC) and the newly founded Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) teamed up to look for a way to meet the GHG goal for building, which the CCAP estimates will require making energy upgrades to 80 percent of Sonoma County buildings to an average 30 percent reduction.
Initial discussions with local government representatives, consultants, and community leaders resulted in a unique collaboration: The County of Sonoma and cities of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and Petaluma each tithed 10 percent of their American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funds to underwrite a local building energy upgrade program to meet the GHG emissions goal for buildings. In August 2009, RCPA conducted a consultant selection process and the firm of Bevilacqua Knight Inc., (BKi) was chosen to design and implement the energy upgrade program to serve residential, multi-family, and commercial properties.
Led by BKi principal Brian Gitt, BKi launched an aggressive campaign to obtain additional ARRA funding and, in conjunction with RCPA and CPC, succeeded in winning two additional grants: State Energy Program grant for comprehensive residential retrofitting and a U.S. Department of Energy Better Building Program grant for two Sonoma County-based pilot programs — yielding a total of approximately $3 million.
The State Energy Program grant includes seven adjacent counties and is led by the Association of Bay Area Governments; the Better Building Program grant includes four large metropolitan areas (i.e., Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles) and is led by the County of Los Angeles.
Because of the funding provided by its local Block Grant contributors, the RCPA program was one of the first jurisdictions to initiate program design activities and became a model for its partner jurisdictions in the State Energy Program grant. The RCPA program design manual was officially adopted by the RCPA Board of Directors on June 14, 2010 (PDF: 11.3 MB).
The program design manual, which describes the program’s contractor credentials, eligible measures, and loading order was reviewed the RCPA’s Energy Upgrade Advisory Committee made up of representatives from a wide range of community interests including local government, business, utilities, contracting professionals, solar professionals, real estate professions, community groups, finance, supply chain, workforce development, and commercial buildings. In addition, a group of nearly 90 additional stakeholders participated in a series of meetings and forums to review and provide feedback on the program design. This stakeholder process is the most rigorous of any program in the State.
A key value of the Energy Upgrade program design is building partnerships with existing groups and providers to avoid duplication of effort and leverage local resources. To that end, the RCPA has been collaborating with the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program to provide a seamless one-stop-shop experience for local property owners, providing energy upgrade incentive and rebate information, a list of certified contractors, and financing options in one convenient package. In addition the RCPA, in conjunction with the Climate Protection Campaign, is working with other local partners to ensure the program services are readily available to all citizens.
To support workforce development, the RCPA program is also working with the Sonoma County Workforce Investment Board and local building performance training organizations and trade groups to provide an on-ramp to local contractors into the building performance field and meet the program’s job creation goals.
For more information on upcoming Energy Upgrade contractor enrollment events, contact Chris Cone, ccone@climateprotectioncampaign.org or (707) 889-1328 or Mike Sandler, RCPA Climate Protection Program Manager at msandler@sctainfo.org or (707) 565-5379.
For more information, visit the California Energy Commission’s Energy Upgrade California Web portal.
