Building resilience: Highlights from BayREN’s Municipal Facilities Forum

With wildfires, heatwaves, and other extreme events becoming more frequent, local governments are exploring solutions that make public facilities more resilient—such as energy efficiency and electrification upgrades, solar and battery storage, microgrids, and resilience hubs—so these buildings can keep serving communities, especially during emergencies.

Last month, BayREN hosted an interactive in-person forum on enhancing resilience and energy efficiency for municipal buildings. The event brought together city and county staff with energy experts for a morning of learning, sharing, and connection. The forum opened with case study presentations of municipal building upgrade projects. Highlights included:

• Contra Costa County’s Strategic Energy Management Plan, which serves as the County’s roadmap for municipal energy projects and focuses on infrastructure, financing, and policy, as well as staff engagement.
• Oakland’s reimagining of the Lincoln Square Community Center into a Resilience Hub including the strong community involvement.
• Sonoma County’s energy and resiliency upgrades at the Santa Rosa Veterans Hall and how the County utilized creative sources to fund the project.

Each case study showcased the creativity and commitment driving these efforts.

"This forum provided attendees with concrete examples from around the Bay Area of how local governments are improving the energy use and resilience of their facilities despite several challenges through strategic planning, internal and external partnerships, and leveraging the many programs available to support these kinds of upgrades,” said Sean Youra, Manager and Program Lead for BayREN’s Integrated Energy Services program.  

The second half of the forum featured a Resource Fair, offering a wide range of programs and resources for municipal energy upgrades. BayREN’s Public Programs and PG&E shared technical assistance and financing resources, while others, including the California Energy Commission, MCE, and the San Francisco Environment Department highlighted opportunities in areas like energy efficiency, electrification, and EV charging infrastructure. Whether participants were exploring financing pathways, learning about new programs, or diving into microgrid solutions, they left with practical tools to support both current and future projects.

Beyond presentations and resources, the forum fostered meaningful conversations and collaboration. Over coffee, local government staff connected with peers facing similar challenges, sparking new ideas, and building relationships that will continue beyond the event. 

Kellen Dammann, Program Coordinator with Marin County, shared, “It was great seeing such a large turnout of local government sustainability professionals meet in person to learn from each other and discuss potentials and challenges with creating more energy efficient and resilient public buildings and infrastructure.”

BayREN’s forum underscored that resilience isn’t just about infrastructure — it’s about people, partnerships, and proactive planning. As communities across California adapt to a changing climate, gatherings like this help local governments stay informed, share knowledge, and plan for the future.