Connecting Data Point Dots: Using Data Tools to Develop Effective Reach Codes and Energy Policies
The Local Energy Codes team participated in the 16th Annual California Climate and Energy Collaborative Forum this month in San Jose, as panelists for the Connecting Data Point Dots: Using Data Tools to Develop Effective Reach Codes and Energy Policies session on July 9. The 90-minute session offered an overview of four building data tools, including strengths and weaknesses of each, together with a demonstration of how to access and use the data from the tools for a specific city.
Panelists included JoAnna Saunders, California Energy Commission, who provided an overview of the statewide benchmarking program; Jasmine Krause, Policy Studio, who presented the Local Energy Codes tool the Cost-Effectiveness Explorer; Spencer Mathews, California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, who introduced BayREN's Energy Atlas tool; and Emily Miller, Arup, who offered an overview of BayREN's Existing Buildings Decarbonization Study and Dashboard. Additional panelists Misti Bruceri, Local Energy Codes Program and Karen Kristiansson, BayREN, provided a look at how each of these tools would work for a specific jurisdiction; in this case, the City of Antioch. Moderator Kelly Cunningham, Pacific Gas & Electric, handled a lively Q&A.
California’s Energy Benchmarking Program
Since 2018, this mandatory statewide program requires commercial buildings greater than 50,000 ft2 and multifamily buildings greater than 50,000 ft2 with 17 or more units to report energy use annually to the California Energy Commission (CEC). All reporting is done through the US EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®. The CEC provides a wide range of the reported building data to the public, including the building address, vintage, property type, ENERGY STAR score, monthly and/or annual site energy use by energy type and more.
Cost Effectiveness Explorer
This no-cost web-based tool is designed to help accelerate reach code adoption and support better data-driven decision-making for California city and county staff. The tool aggregates findings from statewide cost-effectiveness studies and estimates building stock and future construction forecasts for each of 500+ California cities and counties.
Bay Area Energy Atlas
This tool is a large, interactive database of account-level electricity and natural gas consumption, linked spatially to building characteristics and sociodemographic data. First released in 2020, Energy Atlas enables users to explore consumption by parcel use type, building size, and building vintage as well as explore statistics such as per capita energy use and energy use intensity (EUI).
BayREN Existing Buildings: Decarbonization Study and Dashboard
This effort gathers data on existing buildings by jurisdiction, providing information including building type, vintage, total square footage, ownership, energy and carbon estimate per subcategory, and the impact of various energy conservation and electrification measures on energy and carbon. This helps inform development of policy and incentive programs to hit local decarbonization goals.
Putting It into Practice
Using these tools and the City of Antioch as an example, the panel was able to identify some important trends as well as a range of impactful policy options. The panelists concluded the workshop with some valuable recommendations:
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Spend some time working with each tool
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Focus on patterns and trends rather than exact numbers
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Review tool documentation or help files (and/or reach out to tool sponsors or developers with questions)
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Reality-check everything with local information:
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Local planning or building departments may have better information for some of these items
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Check local sources and use to supplement or correct regional or statewide tools as appropriate
Download the presentation slides here.
