ABAG's BayREN helps organization look toward decarbonized future
April 2, 2021
Courtesy Rising Sun
Energy Efficiency
Environment
ABAG/BayREN program helps residents score homes for energy efficiency
February 11, 2021
BayREN is now assisting residents understand energy efficiency in their homes with a goal of saving energy. Read More
ABAG
Bay Area Energy Atlas now online
November 20, 2020
ABAG’s BayREN program has launched the Bay Area Energy Atlas. The tool, developed by the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, in partnership with BayREN, is a large database of PG&E account-level electricity and natural gas consumption linked spatially to building characteristics and sociodemographic data. Read More
Sustainability
The power of saving power: BayREN gets boost from state agency
October 25, 2019
Residents in the Bay Area and across the state will have more access to energy-saving programs after the California Public Utilities Commission issued a proposed decision this month expanding Regional Energy Networks. Read More
ABAG
Affordable Housing Boosted by BayREN Energy-Savings Program
October 8, 2019
Bay Area multifamily housing affordability issues have been eased for some through BayREN's multi-family energy rebate program – known as BAMBE. Read More
Transportation
"Dirty Dozen" vehicles noted by energy group
February 6, 2019
Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. Alexander Migl via Wikimedia Commons.
Yesterday, we shared the top Top 10 "greenest" vehicle list produced by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Now here's the group's "meanest" in terms of impact on the environment for 2019 — the "dirty dozen." Read More
Services
BayREN: Regional Energy Efficiency with a Local Touch
February 7, 2018
As the San Francisco Bay Area’s council of governments, ABAG supports regional planning and cooperation among the 101 cities and nine counties that make up the region. Generally, this has meant research, planning and projects related to land use, housing, environmental and water resource protection, and disaster resilience.
What is perhaps not as well-known is that this broad portfolio of work also extends to energy and energy efficiency. Enter the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN), a collaboration of the nine Bay Area counties led by ABAG that implements energy saving programs on a regional level. BayREN draws on the expertise of Bay Area local governments to (1) Promote healthy and efficient buildings, (2) Reduce carbon emissions, and (3) Build government capacity.
Started in 2012 as a first-of-its-kind pilot program, BayREN is funded by California utility ratepayers under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission, as well as through grants. One of only two Regional Energy Networks in the state, BayREN represents 20 percent of the state’s population. Read More