January 5, 2023
BayREN Through the Years
From providing home upgrade rebates to residents to piloting resilience programs for local libraries, BayREN has been up to a lot in the past 10 years! Scroll through our slides to read the accomplishments.
2013
Filling Gaps in the Bay Area
BayREN was approved as one of the first Regional Energy Networks (RENs) in California. RENs have unique directives to fill gaps that utilities are not serving, develop programs for hard-to-reach communities, and pilot innovative and scalable initiatives.
2014
Success in Numbers
In just two years, BayREN launched five programs serving residential, commercial, and local government sectors. These efforts upgraded nearly 10,000 homes and provided $8 million in rebates.
2015
Launch of Commercial PACE Pilot
The Commercial PACE program was launched to increase the uptake of financing options for energy efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings. Through this program, BayREN provided advanced contractor training, education, and project development support with the intentions to respond to the barriers of PACE in the Bay Area.
2016
Home Efficiency for Renters
Approximately half of Bay Area households rent their homes. Providing energy efficiency upgrades to multiunit buildings allows BayREN to cater to a vast Bay Area population. In 2016, the BayREN’s Bay Area Multifamily Building Enhancements program provided $15,000,000 in rebates for completed projects in over 20,000 units.
2017
Design Assistance for Municipal Buildings
BayRENs Municipal Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Technical Assistance Subprogram provides design assistance to construct buildings that use as much energy as they produce. In 2017, BayREN worked on six projects for various municipal building types, including recreation centers, animal shelters, youth centers, and emergency dispatch center.
2018
Reaching Milestones
After 5 years, BayREN helped to upgrade 39,000 housing units and disperse $40.4 million in incentives through residential rebate programs. BayREN began offering Home Energy Score Assessments to help residents understand their home energy use, costs, and provide solutions to improve home efficiency. By upgrading building components such as heating and cooling we can reduce emissions and provide energy and water savings, which contribute to healthy, happy people and resilient communities.
2019
Fuel Substitution Measures
BayREN became the first program administrator to offer fuel substitution measures (the switch from natural gas to electricity), a critical step towards decarbonization and reaching California’s climate and energy goals.
2020
Providing Opportunities for Youth
BayREN partnered with Rising Sun Center for Opportunity to support Climate Careers, an innovative “earn and learn” program that trains local youth to provide residents with no-cost energy and water efficiency services called Greenhouse Calls. As the energy sector continues to grow, programs like this can help grow the energy workforce in California.
2020
Water Savings in Sonoma County
BayREN launched the Water Upgrades Save program in Sebastopol and Cloverdale. The program is tackling the drought and helping residents save water and money with efficiency upgrades by delivering an annual water reduction of 30% in multifamily homes and 20% in single family homes.
2021
Healthy Homes for Asthma Patients
An estimated 4,950 Contra Costa residents visit an Emergency Department for asthma related issues each year. The Asthma Initiative was designed to provide education and home energy efficiency assessments to referred asthma patients through County Health Services.
2022
Supporting Resilience in Local Libraries
Six local libraries were selected to participate in the Resilient Libraries Network. The pilot initiative provides technical consulting to help the buildings become Community Resilience Centers and provide safety amid increasingly common extreme weather events.
