HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmpower_Dataworks_Proposal_SLO_Existing_Conditions_and_Needs_AssessmentProposal
Better Buildings SLO Existing Conditions and Needs Assessment
Prepared for:
City of San Luis Obispo
The Context
The existing building stock in the City of San Luis Obispo is
responsible for nearly 10% of the city’s total GHG emissions.
Each day, residents invest in new natural gas furnaces and
water heaters, stovetops and dryers, pool heaters and firepits.
On average, each of these new units will add 360 tons of CO2
to the atmosphere over their lifetimes. The only way to prevent
this is to break the replacement cycle through building
electrification, distributed generation and energy efficiency.
The City of San Luis Obispo has developed an ambitious plan
to achieve carbon-neutral status by 2035. 26,740 megatons of
CO2 are slated for reduction through green building initiatives.
These goals will be achieved through a combination of
renewable self-generation, carbon-neutral new construction,
and decarbonization of existing buildings. Each of these three
pillars will rest on the development of comprehensive
decarbonization data infrastructure.
One major challenge with decarbonization efforts in existing
buildings is the equity aspect. Decarbonization requires capital
investments that are beyond the reach of many residential and
business customers. We cannot meet our decarbonization
goals if we leave 40-60% of SLO residents behind, and if we try,
we would be setting the stage for a widening equity gap.
We propose a multi-stage process for building a robust
decarbonization program, the first stage of which is within
scope of this proposal: gather data related to the energy use
and characteristics of all existing buildings together with the
demographic characteristics of the building occupants. Future
stages will be able to be taken up by various stakeholders
including city staff and will build on the data that we deliver
under the proposed scope of work.
Our team brings more than two decades of experience to this
project, including previous work that calculated the energy
load shape profiles for tens of millions of buildings across
North America and Australia. We developed protocols for
using meter data to calculate avoided energy use in buildings
that have now been adopted by the State of California. We
have also supported the development of decarbonization
programs for BayREN, East Bay Community Energy, and Marin
Clean Energy. We are eager to help San Luis Obispo achieve its
ambitious decarbonization goals and look forward to potential
collaboration.
Hassan Shaban and McGee Young
Our Experience and Qualifications
Hassan Shaban, PhD
Principal, Empower Dataworks
Hassan specializes in data and
engineering analytical services in
support of energy efficiency,
energy equity and distributed
energy resource programs. His
work includes program needs
assessments, evaluations, and
program design.
Hassan holds a Ph.D. in
Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Ottawa.
McGee Young, PhD
Decarbonization Expert
McGee specializes in strategic
planning related to
decarbonization, energy
efficiency, and distributed energy
resource programs. His
experience includes product
development, program design,
and data-driven planning.
McGee holds a Ph.D. in Political
Science from Syracuse University.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcgeeyoung/https://www.linkedin.com/in/hassanshaban/
Resumes can be provided upon request
Our Approach
Our experience suggests that the best way to embark on a
building decarbonization program is to first develop reliable
data on existing building conditions. Our approach combines
data from several sources into a holistic dataset, followed by
building energy benchmarking with energy load analysis. In
addition to energy data, we will also gather permit records,
building characteristics (from SLO county assessor) and
demographic data (from the American Community Survey and
other third-party sources). These data sources will be merged
together, assuming customer addresses are available in the
energy data that is provided by Central Coast Community
Energy or PG&E.
The holistic dataset will allow the project team and City of SLO
staff to slice and dice along different dimensions (building
characteristics, energy use and demographics) in order to
better understand the landscape of existing buildings as well
as their potential decarbonization needs. The project will be
split into 6 tasks as follows:
Task 0: Kickoff Meeting: The project team will organize a
kickoff meeting to discuss project expectations, tentative
schedule and data requirements.
Task 1: Project Management and Meetings.
Task 2: Data Collection: The project team will collect data
from various third-party sources. We can assist the CIty of
SLO with making a data request to Central Coast Community
Energy, PG&E and/or SoCalGas. The collected data will be
cleaned and combined into a standardized format.
Task 3: Data Analysis and Synthesis: The project team will use
data collected under Task 2 to calculate key metrics related to
energy use, energy use intensity, estimates of heating, cooling
and baseload consumption, and energy burden, among others.
With AMI data from PG&E/3CE, we will be able to calculate the
marginal carbon intensity of every building in San Luis Obispo. If
building level natural gas consumption data becomes available
from SoCal Gas we will incorporate it into our site-level analysis.
If we are only able to obtain aggregated gas data we will
estimate gas consumption based on the electricity profile of the
building plus other available information about the buildings.
These metrics will be used to ideate promising decarbonization
approaches along with their avoided emissions potential.
Task 4: Dashboard Customization: The combined dataset will be
provided in an easy-to-use dashboard to enable City of SLO staff
to integrate data in future program design decisions and
planning.
Task 5: Training and Advisory Support: City staff will be trained
on using the data dashboard for their analysis and planning. The
project team will also collaborate with City staff to interpret the
data and develop concrete recommendations.
Final Deliverables:
-Data dashboard and training slide deck for City of SLO staff
-Final cleaned datasets for additional analysis by City staff
-Slide deck with decarbonization strategy recommendations
and next steps for Better Buildings SLO
Our Approach
How does our approach align with the City of SLO’s goals?
Our approach combines three elements of value to the City of SLO:
data, advisory support with strategy and planning, and equity
considerations:
-The main output of this project is comprehensive
customer-level data that will provide a solid foundation for
future program design and implementation planning.
-Going beyond physical building characteristics and energy
use and integrating demographic and geographic factors will
allow to build its decarbonization strategy in an equitable
manner
-The framework for our data collection and analysis is
updatable - meaning that the City of SLO can track
progress towards its goals through simple annual or
biennial data refreshes, as opposed to using this as a
one-off analysis.
-The format of the deliverables and data are
intentionally crafted to be accessible to City staff. This
will empower them to go beyond the scope of this
project and use the data for future planning activities.
Screenshot of Empower Dataworks data dashboard
Proposed Schedule
Additional Resources
APPA 2020 session
https://empowerdataworks.com/energy/appa-2020/
A summary of how the holistic datasets developed through our
approach can be used to drive program design and planning.
Energy equity whitepaper
https://empowerdataworks.com/energy/white-paper-quantitati
ve-energy-equity/
Framework for integrating equity considerations in energy
program planning
Description Anticipated Start Anticipated End
Task 0: Kickoff 7/9/21 7/9/21
Task 1: Project management and meetings Ongoing
Task 2: Data collection and cleaning 7/12/21 9/10/21
Task 3: Data analysis and benchmarking 9/13/21 11/19/21
Task 4: Dashboard customization 11/1/21 12/17/21
Task 5: Training and Advisory Support November 2021 - January 2022
Meter Everything Video
https://filedn.com/lP5PL3ubbXiHThjQpeWXOcS/openee_
meter_everything.mp4
Summary of California-wide building conditions
assessment, developed by Hassan and McGee, when they
worked together at Open Energy Efficiency.
Submittal Forms
The undersigned declares that she or he has carefully examined this RFP, is thoroughly familiar
with its contents; is authorized to represent the proposing firm; and agrees to perform the specified
work for the following cost quoted in full:
Description Cost
Task 0: Kickoff -
Task 1: Project management and meetings $6,000
Task 2: Data collection and cleaning $10,000
Task 3: Data analysis and benchmarking $30,000
Task 4: Dashboard customization $10,000
Task 5: Training and Advisory Support $8,000
Total $64,000
Firm Name and Address
Empower Dataworks LLC
216 Ridgemont Dr, East Wenatchee, WA 98802
Contact: Hassan Shaban
Phone: 509-367-7224
Signature of Authorized Representative
References
Number of years engaged in providing the services
included within the scope of the specifications under the
present business name: 3.
Current Contracts:
Residential Customer Needs Assessments (energy
burden, benchmarking and building energy efficiency) -
Clark Public Utilities, City of Richland.
Reference No. 1
Agency Name City of San Francisco, Department of
Environment
Contact Name Lowell Chu
Telephone and Email lowell.chu@sfgov.org; (415) 355-3738
Street Address 1455 Market St # 1200
City, State, Zip San Francisco, CA 94103
Description of services
provided including
contract amount, when
provided and project
outcome
2018-2021 - Lowell worked with McGee through
Recurve’s contracts with BayREN and the City of
San Francisco to benchmark all commercial
buildings in the BayREN service territory in
advance of the launch of the Commercial NMEC
pilot in early 2021.
Reference No. 2
Agency Name Marin Clean Energy
Contact Name Joey Lande
Telephone and Email jlande@mcecleanenergy.org; (888) 632-3674
Street Address 1125 Tamalpais Ave
City, State, Zip San Rafael, CA 94901
Description of services
provided including
contract amount, when
provided and project
outcome
Joey worked with McGee through Recurve to
analyze the load shape patterns of all buildings
in MCE territory. This work was extended to
program support, analysis of COVID impacts on
energy use, planning and forecasting of DERs,
and other use cases.
Reference No. 3
Agency Name Chelan County PUD
Contact Name Josh Mitchell
Telephone and Email Josh.Mitchell@chelanpud.org (206) 734-0224
Street Address 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.
City, State, Zip Wenatchee, WA 98801
Description of services
provided including
contract amount, when
provided and project
outcome
2020 - Empower Dataworks performed a low
income customer needs assessment and
program design ($67,000 total in two
contracts). Included analysis of existing
building energy use and conservation potential,
development of data dashboard. Chelan PUD is
in process of getting new program approved
based on the recommendations of this project.
Statement Of Past Contract Disqualifications
The proposer shall state whether it or any of its officers or
employees who have a proprietary interest in it, has ever been
disqualified, removed, or otherwise prevented from bidding on,
or completing a federal, state, or local government project
because of the violation of law, a safety regulation, or for any
other reason, including but not limited to financial difficulties,
project delays, or disputes regarding work or product quality,
and if so to explain the circumstances.
◼ Do you have any disqualification as described in the above
paragraph to declare?
Yes ❑ No X
Executed on 5/10/21 at East Wenatchee, WA under penalty of
perjury of the laws of the State of California, that the foregoing
is true and correct.
______________________________________
Signature of Authorized Proposer Representative