Environment

BayREN annual report highlights its green impact on Bay Area

BayRen

Led by the Association of Bay Area Governments, BayREN (Bay Area Regional Energy Network) is working to support a greener Bay Area, focusing on energy, water and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Its annual report is now available.

The report highlights accomplishments of BayREN in 2022, the 10th year of implementation. For the past decade, direct funding and technical assistance for renters, property and business owners, realtors, and local governments has improved buildings’ energy efficiency and reduced their carbon footprint, while also helping to build the green workforce.

Critically, BayREN’s programs also help to advance the state’s goals of doubling energy efficiency in existing buildings by 2030 and reducing emissions from existing buildings by at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Since 2013, BayREN has saved the Bay Area the amount of energy used by 47,357 homes, provided more than $66 million in incentive payments to residents, and avoided 156 million tons of carbon emissions. Initially approved as a pilot, in 2019 BayREN became a permanent energy efficiency program administrator.

Among the accomplishments noted in the annual report:

• The Bay Area Multifamily Enhancements (BAMBE) program encourages energy efficiency measures with health, heat resilience and/or bill reduction benefits in communities that potentially experience disproportionate environmental harms and risks.

• The Single Family program reached new audiences through partnerships with Spanish and Chinese language media channels.

• BayREN’s Business FLEXmarket program launched to support energy efficiency upgrades in small commercial buildings in disadvantaged communities.

• The Resilient Libraries Network Pilot launched with the goal of transforming libraries into Community Resilience Centers.

• The Green Labeling program received a Department of Energy (DOE) Home Energy Score (HES) Partner innovation award. BayREN’s Home Energy Score lets homeowners and renters understand the energy efficiency of their homes on a 10-point scale and provides customized recommendations for upgrades that help to increase the score.

The Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) is a regional collaboration between the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. For more information, visit: www.bayren.org.

Submit your comment

In order to receive a reply to your comment, please provide an email address.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.