CALIFORNIA ADOPTS GROUNDBREAKING LONG TERM ENERGY EFFICIENCY STRATEGIC PLAN AS ROADMAP TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM SAVINGS

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 25, 2008 – (RealEstateRama) —The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today adopted California’s first Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, presenting a single roadmap to achieve maximum energy savings across all major groups and sectors in California. This comprehensive Plan for 2009 to 2020 is the state’s first integrated framework of goals and strategies for saving energy, covering government, utility, and private sector actions, and holds energy efficiency to its role as the highest priority resource in meeting California’s energy needs.

“This groundbreaking Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan explains how California will use energy efficiency to grow its economy and meet its global warming goals,” said Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich, pioneer of the effort to develop the Plan. “The Plan contains the practical strategies and actions to attain significant statewide energy savings, as a result of a year-long collaboration by energy experts, utilities, businesses, consumer groups, and governmental organizations in California, throughout the West, nationally, and internationally.”

The Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan was developed by a consensus, stakeholder-driven process. Over 500 individuals and organizations across the state and nationally participated in the development of the Plan, providing input through more than 40 public meetings and workshops. The Plan emphasizes four “Big Bold” strategies as cornerstones for significant energy savings with widespread benefit for all Californians. It sets the foundation for transforming energy patterns to make energy efficiency a way of life and “business as usual” in California and also provides the leadership to change how buildings will be built nationally and in China and India.

“This builds upon California’s leadership in saving energy while growing our economy and population,” said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey. “The Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan will guide our efforts to make energy efficiency a way of life for all sectors in California – from the industrial and agricultural sectors, to our large and small businesses, and in the average household.”

Added Commissioner John Bohn, “Squeezing greater efficiency out of our current uses of electric power is our best and least costly source of additional supplies, allowing California to grow and prosper. These efforts have a very large payoff for all of us.”

The Plan advances a solid framework that incorporates energy efficiency into the standard for operating in California-for utilities, businesses, and consumers. It includes four Big Bold strategies for significant energy savings:

· All new residential construction in California will be zero net energy by 2020;

· All new commercial construction in California will be zero net energy by 2030;

· The Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry will be reshaped to ensure optimal equipment performance; and

· All eligible low-income homes will be energy efficient by 2020.

California’s Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan can be found on the CPUC’s website at www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/electric/Energy+Efficiency and also at www.californiaenergyefficiency.com.

For more information on the CPUC, please visit: www.cpuc.ca.gov.

Contact:
Terrie Prosper
415.703.1366, news (at) cpuc.ca (dot) gov