Recent ciee items

Enabling Technologies Development Grant Program: Final Report

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Enabling Technologies Development Grant Program addressed 3-5 year and 5-8 year energy-related research objectives. The specific public interest goals were to develop enabling technologies that can

-Improve the reliability/quality of California’s electricity by reducing service interruptions through expanded service options and new system-wide capabilities.

-Maximize market connection by reducing the installed cost of energy-related information, communication, and control technologies.

-Improve the energy cost/value of California’s electricity by providing real-time information and a means to automatically respond to supply-side problems.

The University of California, California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) managed the program and was responsible for proposal solicitations, pre-proposal screening, organizing proposal technical reviews, and presenting selected proposals to the Energy Commission for approval. CIEE was...

Super-GX Scale Grid-flexible Supervisory Control for Multiple Commercial Buildings and EV Charging (poster presented at the CEC EPRI Electrification Summit 2026)

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

California has a statewide mandate to double demand response and load shifting capacity to 7,000 MW by 2030. Large commercial buildings have Demand Flexibility potential, but adoption is slow.

The goal of the Super-GX research project is to demonstrate and scale demand flexibility (DF) in large commercial building Distributed Energy Resources (DER).

The objectives are to

1)demonstrate and evaluate a market-ready demand response supervisory control,

2)exhibit coordination of load shedding and shifting among buildings and EV chargers to support the electric grid,

3)validate using open standards, standard semantic tagging and protocols to improve interoperability; contribute novel demand flexible strategies to open libraries, and develop tools/guidelines to encourage adoption; and

4)work with communities to promote value to end-users, provide education and training to building owners, facility managers, building operators, and software...

The Oakland EcoBlock Phase 2: A Zero Net Energy, Low Water-Use Retrofit Neighborhood Demonstration Project (poster presented at the CEC EPRI Electrification Summit 2026)

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This poster describes the EcoBlock pilot project, which proposed block-level energy retrofit, including energy and water efficiency, fuel switching away from fossil fuels to electricity, and rooftop solar PV. The project leverages economies of scale and the neighbor-to-neighbor conversations to address affordability as well as recruiting hard to reach customers.

The poster describe activities, the milestones achieved to date, the challenges, the lessons learned, and the City of Oakland policy lessons for neighborhood-scale decarbonization

EcoBlock Water Improvement Final Report

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The EcoBlock Water Improvement project leverages the existing California Energy Commission-funded Oakland EcoBlock project (https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/). Led by UC Berkeley, EcoBlock assessed the issues (social, legal, financial, technical) associated with, and the potential of neighborhood-scale retrofitting to increase resilience and rapidly, equitably, and affordably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The pilot involves renovation of an urban block with energy efficiency, electrification, and shared ownership of rooftop solar. Since the block abuts Sausal Creek, this EPA-funded project adds stormwater mitigation.

The EPA program’s goal is to protect and restore waterbodies, such as Sausal Creek, which flows into the San Francisco Bay. In cooperation with the City of Oakland, this water resilience element to the Oakland EcoBlock project provided a pilot case of reducing flow and contaminants entering Sausal Creek, and thus the Bay.

The objective of...

Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Advanced Energy Communities Phase 1 Projects: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities

Fri, 8 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This report synthesizes the planning-phase experiences of twelve Advanced Energy Community (AEC) projects funded under the California Energy Commission’s EPIC Phase I program. Conducted between 2020 and 2022, the study compares approaches to technical design, financing, community engagement, and regulatory challenges. It highlights early lessons and common barriers in support of more equitable, resilient, and locally driven energy transitions.

Accelerating the Deployment of Advanced Energy Communities: The Oakland EcoBlock - A Zero Net Energy, Low Water Use Retrofit Neighborhood Demonstration Project

Tue, 8 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This report describes the design development process and recommendations of a Community-Scale Zero Net Energy Master Plan for a residential block in Oakland, the Oakland EcoBlock. The recommended master plan includes an integrated system of energy efficiency retrofits, a direct current solar/storage/electric vehicle microgrid, alternating/direct current houses, and water efficiency retrofits with rainwater capture. The recommended master plan is projected to be close to zero-net energy (95 percent) for homes, reduce carbon emissions by 65 percent at the block scale (including transportation), and reduce water use 60–70 percent.

The integrated system of energy efficiency and a direct current solar/storage/electric vehicle (EV) charging microgrid is the first of its kind at the residential block scale. This breakthrough because the deep energy efficiency retrofit savings free up enough capacity in the solar supply and storage to enable residents to switch from natural gas...

Accelerating the Deployment of Advanced Energy Communities: The Oakland EcoBlock - A Zero Net Energy, Low Water Use Retrofit Neighborhood Demonstration Project (Appendices A-N)

Tue, 8 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Unlocking the Potential Eco-Makeover of Urban Residential Neighborhoods

Wed, 2 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The goal of the EcoBlock research project is to explore strategies for resilience and the rapid, equitable, and affordable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through urban block-scale retrofitting. This involves identifying and managing social, legal, financial, and technological challenges. We will develop a prototype EcoBlock in order to demonstrate the technical feasibility of renovating a residential block with efficiency, electrification, and shared ownership of a community solar microgrid.

Smart Thermostats Plus Heat Pumps: Incompatible? Or Just Need Counseling?

Tue, 7 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Advanced, colorfully-graphic touch-screen thermostats entered the market over ten years ago, providing a much-needed improvement to the control of home heating and cooling systems. And in the last few years, climate change mitigation concerns and rebates from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have accelerated heat pump installations in homes across the U.S. But the relationship of smart thermostats to typical air source heat pumps (ASHP) has been rocky at best: ASHPs with variable speed drives require a deeper integration with a thermostat, and most third-party smart thermostats have step-level staged control. Proprietary thermostats that come with the ASHP units are typically not as easy to understand and use as the popular smart thermostats on the market. Moreover, heat pumps with supplemental electric resistance heating require a different control approach that respects the lower temperature/long cycle heat transfer of heat pumps and understands the impact on the electrical...

When Smart Thermostats Are Dumb: Lessons Learned from Evaluating Eight Advanced Thermostats

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

When Smart Thermostats Are Dumb: Lessons Learned from Evaluating Eight Advanced Thermostats

Confronting challenges together

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In What If We Get It Right?, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson outlines an optimistic, actionable approach to addressing climate change, highlighting the importance of community, cultural shifts, and systemic change. The book integrates interviews and essays from a diverse group of experts, reinforcing the idea that meaningful change is possible if we harness our individual strengths and collaborate across disciplines.

Unveiling complementarities between mangrove restoration and global sustainable development goals

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Indonesia, renowned as the most mangrove-rich nation, has committed to extensive mangrove restoration policies, but the effects of these policies have yet to be systematically evaluated. Our study conducts a comprehensive network analysis to investigate the synergies between mangrove restoration policy and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievements by exploring their interactions. This investigation follows the ‘product space’ method in economics and creates the ‘Mangrove-SDG space’ to assess each metric pair's co-occurrence and comparative advantages with validated stability. Our analysis unveils a tripartite structure, encompassing socio-economic and environmental clusters, each significantly contributing to global sustainability and a distinctive mangrove cluster tied to land attributes. At the Goal level, mangrove loss showcases robust synergies with SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Change), and mangrove metrics such as tropical...

Case Study: Adaptive LED Wall Packs

Thu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is a case study for the State Partnership for Energy Efficient Demonstrations (originally UC/CSU Energy Efficient Campuses) project (contract number 500-10-049), conducted by the California Institute for Energy and Environment. The information from the SPEED project contributes to the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER)'s Buildings End-Use Efficiency Program.

Case Study: Adaptive Parking Lot Lighting

Thu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping the lights on: the Oakland EcoBlock community electrification and microgrid improves health, comfort and resilience in an urban neighborhood

Tue, 9 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

How can cities efficiently and affordably undergo effective and dramatic decarbonization of buildings and vehicles? Can these strategies promote equity and scale across the urban environment worldwide? The EcoBlock in Oakland, California seeks to answer this urgent environmental, social, and technical question by designing, testing, and deploying community-scale energy and water systems. These innovative systems combine energy and water efficiency and electrification at the building scale with an electrical system that integrates rooftop solar, block-scale storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and a smart microgrid that optimizes supply and demand at the block-scale.

This paper presents the approach and strategies when moving from design to implementation deploying this novel prototype toward industrializing city-wide, residential microgrids that generate their own clean, renewable power for homes and EVs. Scaling retrofits requires coordination from evaluation, product...

American climate migration (Review of On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America)

Wed, 3 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Currently, less than 1% of Earth is too hot to support human life, but researchers estimate that by 2070 nearly 20% of the planet’s surface will be outside humanity’s comfort zone. The “bubble of unlivability” could include up to a third of the people on Earth, and existing inequalities will likely increase conflict. In the United States, vulnerable populations will be prone to disproportionate risk. On the Move, by journalist Abrahm Lustgarten, is a poignant and meticulously researched exploration of climate change and both its imminent and long-term effects on human migration in the US. Through analysis, personal narratives, and projected future scenarios, Lustgarten unveils the stark reality of a world on the brink of massive demographic shifts driven by an increasingly inhospitable climate. Lustgarten begins with a personal account of the moment he recognized the climate crisis as a reality that no region will escape. His usual view of the San Francisco skyline was replaced...

Advancing California's microgrid communities through anticipatory energy resilience

Mon, 1 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Given the uncertainty around climate change and the need to design systems that anticipate future needs, risks, and costs or values related to resilience, the current rules-based regulatory and policy frameworks designed for the centralized system of large-scale energy generation and delivery may not be ‘fit for purpose' for smaller scale local installations centered on community microgrids. This research examines regulatory challenges and potential impediments to implementing a multi-customer community-based microgrid in California through discussion of lessons learned in current pilot projects supported in part by initiatives of the California Energy Commission's Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC). The extent to which regulation has the flexibility to anticipate future needs and risks and support experimentation is evaluated in light of the state's complex and evolving energy system requirements. To illustrate challenges, two case studies of EPIC-supported projects are...

Life‐Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Electricity Generation and Storage Technologies and Common Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural Building Technologies

Mon, 1 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We have conducted a study to review and synthesize the current state of data availability for cradle-to-grave life-cycle emissions from major building technologies and electricity generation and storage technologies as specific to California as could be found. Results from 280 building technologies (120 unique) were organized across 9 categories and 27 subcategories. Many of the technologies in the list are common building materials, appliances, and process equipment used in the construction and operation of agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. Target electricity generation technologies covered the GHG emissions from natural gas, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and storage technologies for the California context. The search for relevant environmental impact data was in the form of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) (if available), peer-reviewed journal articles, and publicly available reports from government and industry for each technology....

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Mon, 1 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Climate change, young people, and the IPCC: The role of citizen science

Mon, 1 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This commentary suggests that undertaking citizen science research with young people has the potential to play a significant role in contributing to the IPPC and related UN research and policy processes around climate change. Further, citizen science engagement can educate and empower children and young people in and through research by involving wider communities and groups in data collection, communication, and engagement. A persuasive body of literature suggests that children and youth can be and ought to be included in citizen science projects and that young people ought to and can have a greater say in their environmental and climate lives and futures. There is acknowledgment that certain populations, including young people, have been excluded from participation in citizen science, and strategies need to be developed to be more inclusive. Moreover, through inclusion of youth, there are opportunities for intergeneration collaboration leading to potential solutions. Our commentary...

The Future of California Consumer Energy Finance

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Based on program analysis, literature review, expert interviews, and an October 2022 expert roundtable, this report identifies a set of conclusions and recommendations for California policymakers. We offer recommendations in distinct but overlapping areas:

• Expanding consumer energy financing programs

• Addressing the needs of lower- and moderate-income residents

• Accelerating building decarbonization toward California’s 2045 goal

• Ensuring equity in program revenue sources

• Improving program design through learning

These recommendations all reflect a core insight developed from the research and outreach process: that the enormous size of California’s building decarbonization need calls for significant infusions of private capital, and financing programs can be a mechanism to attract some of this capital. However, consumer energy finance programs are not yet operating on a scale that matches the challenge. Even at their most robust and...

Teenagers as Energy Conservation Stewards: The Dial Down Challenge

Fri, 2 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We conducted an experiment to explore how teenagers can become energy conservation stewards at home. In this experiment, called the Dial Down Challenge, we equipped adolescents with knowledge about electricity and water conservation behavior during a six-week online program with guided activities to be completed at home. We tested whether teenagers could transfer this knowledge to other members of their household and induce attitudinal and behavioral change. We found that knowledge, awareness, and motivation for saving energy increased among both teenagers and their parents. We also found that participants’ perceptions of their agency increased across teenagers and parents. In terms of intergenerational exchange, we found that parents increased their reliance on the information provided by their children but reduced their perception of their children’s agency in changing energy conservation practices at home. In other words, participants...

Market Structure and Energy Efficiency:The Case of New Commercial Buildings

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Why aren’t commercial office buildings more energy efficient? Several decades of energy efficiency programs have resulted in some gains, but overall increases in the energy efficiency of buildings have fallen far short of the 30 to 50 percent improvement that many efficiency advocates believe is possible (DOE 2000).

The purpose of our research has been to consider this “why” question by empirically examining the dynamics of new commercial building markets. Our intent is not to provide prescriptive or programmatic answers, but rather to develop knowledge about the market sufficient to support strategic interventions in it.

Traditionally, energy efficiency research and development (R&D) and demand-side-management (DSM) programs aimed to modify new buildings by encouraging the adoption of better technologies or improved design. Programs were based on a rather simple understanding of the market. Attention centered on building designers (architects and engineers)...

Potential bill impacts of dynamic electricity pricing on California utility customers

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The rapid growth of renewable generation is creating challenges for the California grid in the form of the duck curve, with increasingly steep generation ramping requirements and growing curtailment of renewable resources. In response, there has been increased discussion of promoting dynamic electricity tariffs that vary with conditions on the grid in near-real time, which could incentivize customers to shift consumption and help flatten the duck curve. Dynamic tariffs may raise concerns about financial impacts on utility customers, bill volatility, and equity issues arising from potential cost shifting among customer groups. In this report, we leverage smart meter data for more than 400,000 California utility customers to assess potential customer bill impacts arising from a multi-component dynamic tariff that is conceptually informed by the “California Flexible Unified Signal for Energy” (CalFUSE1 ) tariff structure that has recently been proposed by staff at the California...

Behavior-Based Energy Efficiency: A Case Study of the Oakland EcoBlock Final Project Report

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Oakland EcoBlock is a whole-systems urban sustainability project that aims to prototype a pathway to affordable urban decarbonization by means of block-scale retrofitting that can reduce more than 50% of home energy usage. Considering the behavioral dimension of the energy retrofit process is key to understanding how household decision-making can enhance the adoption and performance of building efficiency measures – particularly in the EcoBlock, where low-to-moderate income constraints may limit accessibility to energy efficient upgrades. This study uses two survey instruments to explore key drivers of energy efficient technology adoption and operational behavior amongst EcoBlock residents.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Additional Energy Storage Procurement

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

California has ambitious goals for reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the State’s electricity system as a cornerstone of efforts to decarbonize the State’s economy more broadly. Electricity decarbonization efforts are codified by Senate Bill (SB) 100 which seeks to have 100% of retail sales of electricity by the year 2045 provided by eligible zero-carbon resources with an interim target of 60% of retail sales of electricity provided by eligible renewable resources by the year 2030. This policy contributes to a broader goal of achieving economy-wide carbon neutrality in the State by 2045, codified by Executive Order B-55-18.

Planning studies were undertaken to determine how California should proceed in terms of electricity generation and storage resource rollout to meet these goals, such as the Senate Bill 100 Joint Agency Report [1], which highlights the need for rapid renewable resource and energy storage buildout. Energy storage is typically selected...

Measured Performance Case Study: Science & Engineering Building I, UC Merced

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The University of California at Merced (UC Merced) is one of the first new research universities to be developed in the 21st Century. UC Merced aims to be a model for environmental stewardship and sustainable design, with its facilities serving as a living laboratory for the interdisciplinary study ofresource conservation and engineering. As the tenth campus of the UC system, UC Merced will be one of the most laboratory-intensive campuses, with up to 35% of the buildings used for laboratories and other scientific services. Opened in 2005 with just 1,000 students, the campus is plannedfor growth of up to 25,000 students over the next few decades. This 21st century campus responded to the pressing environmental concerns of climate change by setting a goal of using 50% less energy than other California state campuses. This ambitious aim has driven many aspects of the design, construction and operation of all buildings on the Merced campus. The campus pursued LEED1 silver for all...

Development and Testing of an Information Monitoring and Diagnostics System for Large Commercial Buildings

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Large commercial buildings generally do not operate at economically achievable levels of energy efficiency. Performance monitoring projects have shown whole-building energy savings of 20% or more through improved operation and maintenance practices. The opportunity for O&M savings is related to systemic problems associated with the lack of feedback available from current Energy Management and Control Systems (EMCS). Today’s EMCS are designed for control, with limited capabilities in sensing, archiving, data analysis, diagnostics, and data visualization. This paper discusses a multi-year, multi-institutional project to develop and demonstrate an Information Monitoring and Diagnostics System (IMDS). The system is designed to address common O&M problems and the needs of office building owners and property managers to address these problems. The IMDS includes about 50 points of whole-building and cooling plant data, plus a set of standard diagnostics plots to evaluate key...

Monitoring-Based Commissioning: Early Results from a Portfolio of University Campus Projects

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Investor-Owned Energy Utilities are collaborating in an innovative new program to retro-commission campus facilities with the assistance of permanently installed energy monitoring equipment and trending capability. This monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) effort spans 25 campuses, with nine projects for plant systems and 37 projects for buildings. Half of the buildings include laboratory or other energy-intensive space. The program is a part of the implementation of the UC Green Building and Clean Energy Policy, the similar CSU policy, and the California Investor Owned Utility (IOU) customer funded Energy Efficiency Program.

Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx) employs remote energy system metering with trend log capability to identify previously unrecognized inefficiencies in energy system operations, facilitate the application of diagnostic protocols, document energy savings from...

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Air Distribution Systems in New California Homes

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Thermal distribution systems represent the most promising opportunities for cost-effective energy savings in residential new construction. This paper describes the results of an unusual but on-going collaboration between the building industry, the environmental community, the research community, and the regulators to develop cost-effective, implementable procedures for improved heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) duct system design, fabrication, and installation.

The procedures were developed and their incremental costs and benefits were estimated. There are immediate heating and cooling energy savings of 12% or more obtainable from duct sealing alone at an incremental cost of approximately $250 per home. This incremental cost can decrease to zero with experience and competition.

Electricity Price Communication in California and Beyond

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As California seeks to meet its ambitious goals for carbon reduction and support of an electric grid with high levels of renewable energy supply, there is a growing need for large amounts of flexibility from the demand side. This report outlines a system architecture and technology infrastructure to enable dynamic pricing to be used to finely tune coordination between the grid and its customers. Taking a cue from the success of internet architecture, this system — Price-Based Grid Coordination — emphasizes simplicity and universality. It enables a wide variety of ways for prices and other signals to pass from the grid to individual flexible loads and other devices, including multiple possible locations for the intelligence that combines price signals with device functional needs. The report includes a reference data model to knit together information at the utility level, communication protocols, and customer devices, to be independent of any particular protocol. The report also...

Deliverable Report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Additional Energy Storage Procurement

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The present project aims to provide information on the preferred configuration of energy storage technologies for supporting a decarbonized California electricity system. Energy storage technologies have been identified as critical for enabling compliance with California’s electricity decarbonization goals. While lithium-ion batteries are currently the leading option for meeting energy storage needs, particularly in the near term, a diverse array of other commercial or near-commercial energy storage technologies are available that have characteristics better suited to meet the particular needs of a future electricity system.

In this context, the present project aims to determine which energy storage technologies are best suited to serve different functions required to operate a future, decarbonized electricity system in California and elucidate how energy storage technology characteristics map to their suitability for different applications. This will be accomplished...

Citizen Science for Conservation: Towards a Cleaner, Greener China

Mon, 1 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Citizen Science for Conservation: Towards a Cleaner, Greener China

Mon, 1 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Citizen Science for Conservation: Towards a Cleaner, Greener China

Anticipatory Regulation: Lessons from fracking and insights for Greenhouse Gas Removal innovation and governance

Mon, 1 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Anticipatory Regulation: Lessons from fracking and insights for Greenhouse Gas Removal innovation and governance

Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program Final Project Report: State Partnership for Energy Efficient Demonstrations 2012-2014

Mon, 1 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is the final report for the State Partnership for Energy Efficient Demonstrations (originally UC/CSU Energy Efficient Campuses) project (contract number 500-10-049), conducted by the California Institute for Energy and Environment. The information from this project contributes to PIER’s Buildings End-Use Efficiency Program.

From 2004 through 2014, the State Partnership for Energy Efficient Demonstrations (SPEED) accelerated the market adoption of energy-efficient technologies. This Public Interest Energy Research Buildings End-Use Efficiency Program supported effort included lighting technologies and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) technologies. This collaboration with industry, public entities, and utilities focuses on field research, beta testing, demonstrations, and activities facilitating technology deployed by California energy-efficiency programs. This report highlights technologies and projects, and summarizes and indexes technical...

A Comparison of Tree Growth in Two Sites near Schefferville, Quebec

Mon, 1 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A Comparison of Tree Growth in Two Sites near Schefferville, Quebec

ActiveRFID: Towards a Self-Powered Wireless Sensing Platform