Energy Commission Workshop on Draft Study Looks at Barriers That Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities Face
The California Energy Commission will hold a workshop to discuss a draft study that looks at the barriers that low-income and disadvantaged communities face when considering adopting renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
The workshop, which begins at 1:30 p.m. on September 13, at the Energy Commission headquarters in Sacramento, will gather input on the draft Senate Bill 350 barriers study.
The draft study summarizes the barriers that low-income and disadvantaged communities face when looking at adopting energy efficiency and weatherization measures, installing renewable energy, and contracting opportunities for local small businesses. The study also highlights potential solutions to tackle those barriers.
Energy Commission Chair Robert B. Weisenmiller will preside over the workshop, which the other Energy Commissioners are scheduled to attend. Commissioners and executive officers from other agencies may also attend and participate in the meeting.
Under SB 350, the Legislature directed the Energy Commission to complete and publish the study by January 2017.
SB 350, which Governor Edmund Brown Jr. signed into law October 2015, established new energy efficiency and renewable electricity targets by 2030 to support California's long-term climate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
SB 350 increases California’s renewable electricity procurement goal from 33 percent by 2020 to 50 percent by 2030. This will increase the use of Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) eligible resources, including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal. It also requires the state to double statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by 2030.
The Energy Commission will take oral comments at the workshop. Written comments can be submitted until September 29.
More about the September 13 workshop can be found here. Fact sheets about the study are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog.
