Linda Hardesty writes on the Energymanagertoday website about the new sustainable city plan that has been published in Los Angeles and the importance the plan is giving to energy efficiency in buildings.
Los Angeles – LA Sets Building Energy Efficiency Goal
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled the Los Angeles Sustainable City Plan, a document that covers diverse environmental topics related to housing, to transportation, to waste & landfills. The document also includes a section on energy-efficient buildings.
Within that section, the plan calls for long-term reductions in energy use per square foot below a 2013 baseline – for all building types – by at least 14 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2035.
The plan also sets a goal to use energy efficiency to deliver 15 percent of all of LA’s projected electricity needs by 2020, including through rebates, incentives, and education.
For near-term outcomes, the plan calls to:
- Avoid cumulative 1250 GWh of energy use between 2014 and 2017 due to efficiency programs;
- 12,500 homes retrofitted with residential PACE financing;
- Expand Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge to 60 million square feet;
- Create a benchmarking policy to monitor and disclose building energy use; and
- Develop a policy package (e.g., audits and retro-commissioning) to address energy consumption in the city’s largest buildings (public and private).
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 