Commercial buildings represent a critical opportunity for optimizing energy use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to achieve California’s long-term decarbonization goals.
California benchmarking data shows that the most energy-intensive commercial buildings consume between 65%-183% more energy than the average buildings.[1] Despite the clear technical potential for efficiency savings, the commercial building sector continues to lag because building owners don’t have access to clear value propositions, capital, low-cost financing options, and in some cases face split incentives.
The Commercial Building Efficiency Accelerator (CBEA) market transformation (MT) idea seeks to create a tailored approach by embedding energy and emissions planning as a standard practice in building management. By developing a life cycle financial planning tool and support hub, the initiative will help owners to identify, prioritize, and invest in strategic building upgrades. The timing is critical: California’s Senate Bill 48 (SB 48), passed in 2023, tasks the California Energy Commission (CEC) with developing a strategy to track and manage the use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings by 2026 and one potential outcome of that is building performance standards (BPS).
BPS are policies that require commercial and multifamily buildings to meet certain performance levels, typically for energy use or GHG. BPS are typically phased in by building size with larger buildings (>50,000ft2) being regulated first, followed later by smaller buildings (>20,000 ft2), and are often preceded by energy benchmarking requirements. Even if SB 48 results in BPS, other jurisdictions with these standards have struggled with compliance due to a lack in building owners’ motivation to do so. This eventual initiative would position California to succeed where others have not, offering owners a persuasive value proposition and the practical resources to act.
If advanced to a full market transformation initiative (MTI), CBEA would accelerate reductions in energy use intensity and GHG emissions in existing commercial and multifamily buildings by advancing market adoption of life cycle planning practices that incorporate these goals into standard building management and investment decision-making. The CBEA MTI would demonstrate compelling value propositions for owners to accelerate efficiency upgrades and will result in expedited improvements in building efficiency and greater building efficiency.
1California Energy Commission Building Energy Benchmarking Program. Data from 2023.
The CBEA market transformation idea is now in Phase I: Concept Development with the Advancement Plan currently in development.
The California Market Transformation Administrator (CalMTA) develops and manages market transformation initiatives in the state to reduce energy use and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
CalMTA follows a rigorous process for reviewing, scoring, and then developing relevant, timely market transformation initiatives. The process supports market transformation initiative creation from concept to program development to market deployment, as well as the eventual exiting of the market.
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CalMTA
Resource Innovations
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Half Moon Bay, CA, 94019
(888) 217-0217
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