Technical Assistance Program
BayREN provides free engineering technical assistance to help local governments save energy and money while reducing their carbon footprints by moving towards ZNE/ZNC with their buildings.
The Municipal ZNE/ZNC Assistance program helps municipalities retrofit or construct buildings to meet zero net energy (ZNE) or zero net carbon (ZNC) goals by providing engineering analysis and recommendations for projects. We can review individual buildings or larger portfolios of buildings, and provide recommendations for broader policies as well.
Request Technical Assistance: Complete and submit this form to get started.
Pathway to ZNE/ZNC
Achieving carbon neutrality and ZNE/ZNC government buildings involves the following project strategies:
Save money when you use less.
Move away from fossil fuels and prepare to power with solar.
Get energy from clean sources.
Which Projects are Eligible?
Any new municipal building or renovation project that is planned or underway is eligible for free engineering support to move the project towards ZNE/ZNC goals. Projects must have an expectation of being implemented within approximately three years.
Based on your needs, BayREN will customize a scope of work to identify additional opportunities for zero net energy/carbon strategies and approaches for municipal projects.
BayREN technical assistance will provide engineering analysis to demonstrate the feasibility of ZNE/ZNC technology implementation for specific building projects.
Sample tasks:
- Review building information, including energy usage over time
- Conduct a site visit to assess building conditions, opportunities and challenges
- Develop energy efficiency measure recommendations
- Calculate the rough potential for renewables
- Estimate costs, energy use and energy savings, and GHG reductions
- Provide recommendations for implementation
BayREN technical assistance will review municipal building portfolios to identify buildings with the greatest short-term potential for achieving ZNE/ZNC goals, and buildings where longer-term approaches will be needed.
Sample tasks:
- Review municipal building energy attributes to prioritize selection for ZNE/ZNC
- Identify opportunities for offsetting entire municipal building energy load with energy efficiency and renewables
- Develop municipal ZNE/ZNC strategy
Examples of ZNE/ZNC Projects
The following presentations and documents provide examples of how some cities have benefitted from BayREN ZNE/ZNC Assistance.
- ZNE Technical Assistance Highlights (Presentation from June 14, 2016): Description of BayREN ZNE Engineering Assistance program for cities, including recommended path to ZNE Municipal Buildings and program assistance available
- 2016 Municipal ZNE: Project Engineering as Reach Code Technical Assistance (Presentation from BayREN ZNE Forum, November 16, 2016): Summary of project successes related to the cities of Berkeley, Hayward and Dublin
- City of Hayward Adopts Zero Net Energy Goal (Press Release from December 21, 2016): City Council unanimously approved a Resolution establishing a Zero Net Energy Goal for municipal facilities in the City of Hayward
- Case Study- City of Richmond Public Works Project (Presentation from BayREN Forum, September 26, 2017): An overview of the ZNE Technical Assistance Program and in-depth examination of the City Richmond Public Works project: