Huntington Beach Greenlights LED Streetlight Upgrades 

On September 15, 2014, the City of Huntington Beach unanimously approved to upgrade approximately 2,600 city-owned streetlights, safety lights, lighted street name signs and outdoor lights to LED and to partially finance the $2.5 million project using Energy Project Lease Financing, a financing product offered exclusively through The Energy Network. 

Authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and designed exclusively for public agencies, Energy Project Lease Financing addresses challenges agencies face when trying to fund energy efficiency, water saving and renewable energy projects. This flexible low-interest lease from a private lender can be used in conjunction with other financing, rebates and incentives. Huntington Beach funded their project in part by utilizing Energy Project Lease Financing; the rest of the project was funded using internal funds and incentives.

The new LED streetlights are expected to save Huntington Beach roughly $4.6 million in energy costs and 516 metric tons of carbon emissions over a 20-year period, according to a City staff report. In addition, the LEDs require less maintenance and provide better, more
uniform lighting for Huntington Beach's streets.

"Energy efficiency is great because it saves the taxpayers money," Councilwoman Connie Boardman said. "Not only that, but the LED lights will be a better-quality light for our residents in the evening hours."

In addition to providing access to financing, The Energy Network helped Huntington Beach inventory their existing stock of light fixtures in order to better scope their project and will continue to provide assistance in submitting utility incentive applications totaling $310,000.

Authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2012, The Energy Network provides free services for qualifying agencies which include identifying energy-saving measures and working side-by-side with agency staff from designing performance specifications through construction to help accomplish cost-effective upgrades to public facilities faster than was previously possible. 

To learn more about The Energy Network's services for Public Agencies including Energy Project Lease Financing click HERE or contact Project Manager Nathalie Nestor. 

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is the New Black

Rising energy costs, dwindling supplies and a number of California-specific initiatives aimed at supporting the CPUC's Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan have many SoCal Public Agencies taking action; realizing that they can't manage what they can't (or don't) measure.  

No longer an elective, benchmarking and energy-use disclosure is now a requirement in California. AB1103, passed in 2007 - and eventually enforced January of 2014, mandates energy benchmarking and disclosure for all non-residential buildings covered by specific transaction, size and occupancy-type triggers. Additionally, entities utilizing Prop 39 funds are required to conduct deeper energy-analysis utilizing benchmarking data.  AB758, passed in 2009 and undergoing a Draft Action Plan revision this year, will identify data-driven roadmaps, including tools and protocols for cities to better categorize and track their energy-use and building data.  Several California cities are leading the pack by implementing Green Building ordinances including the City of Los Angeles, the City of San Francisco and the City of Berkeley.  

Energy-consumption benchmarking helps agencies put energy-use, audits and efficiency upgrades into perspective. Simply put, benchmarking helps agencies answer two core questions "How are we doing?" and "How do we know?"  Benchmarking allows comparison of a building's performance against its own historic performance, or even nationally against "similar" structures using a set of indicators. The DOE has launched the Buildings Performance Database (BPD) as the largest energy data clearinghouse to put these benchmarking scores into local perspective. While 100% of local benchmarking and disclosure ordinances require Portfolio Manager, The Energy Network builds on this type of data to generate a targeted comparison of all municipal facilities within their portfolio, giving agencies the power to view the entire energy picture and make cost-effective, strategic decisions based on comprehensive data. The Energy Network's unique tool, the Comprehensive Energy Analysis (CEA) bridges the gap between facilities staff and financing staff - allowing for asset management across departments.  The CEA is completed with the full support of an Energy Network Project Manager, working in collaboration with each enrollee at every step. Using these no-cost resources, enrolled agencies become in-house energy experts, equipped with a targeted energy efficiency road map and able to make informed decisions about what buildings to audit and ultimately upgrade, adding long-term value to each and every project.

To date, The Energy Network has completed 38 municipal building audits and has launched projects impacting 175 SoCal facilities and 17,000 street lights. The Energy Network's combined enrolled agencies have an estimated electric savings potential of over 48 million kWh. As local governments consider their own benchmarking, audit, rating or retro-commissioning policies, The Energy Network is helping cities lead by example as hands-on examples of accountable energy communities.