HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/19/2023 Item 7b, Hermann and Read - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
City of San Luis Obispo
Council Agenda Correspondence
DATE: September 19, 2023
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Greg Hermann, Deputy City Manager
Prepared By: Chris Read, Sustainability Manager
VIA: Derek Johnson, City Manager
SUBJECT: ITEM 7a – INTRODUCTION OF AN ORDINANCE APPROVING LOCAL
AMENDMENTS TO THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY CODE
Staff received questions from a Councilmember. The questions are below with staff’s
response shown in italics:
1. What is meant by “CZ5” and how does that impact solar requirements? Can
you explain footnote 7 (related to exempting small single-family residential
units from the reach code)?
The state identifies 16 climate zones to make sure that energy efficiency
requirements are tuned to local conditions. The City is in Climate Zone 5, often
referred to as “CZ5.” Buildings use energy differently in each climate zone (e.g.,
Central Valley buildings use more energy in the summer because of larger air
conditioning needs than a building in San Luis Obispo). As a result, certain items
in the code, like rooftop solar system size are different for each climate zone.
On-site solar is a mandatory requirement in the code for single-family residential
buildings. The cited code language in the report (150.1(c)14) notes that certain
buildings are exempt from this solar requirement and in San Luis Obispo this
means single-family residential buildings that are approximately 1,250 square feet
or smaller.
Since the code does not require a small single-family residential building to have
rooftop solar, that building can achieve the base EDR1 score without rooftop solar.
However, rooftop solar would likely be required to achieve the reach code’s EDR1
margin of +6 points. Staff did not want to increase the cost of an all-electric small
single-family residential unit from the base code and therefore recommends
exempting these smaller buildings when solar is not required by the base code.
Despite this reach code related recommendation, the option of an all-electric small
building built to code minimum standards continues to be feasible and cost
effective. Staff’s proposed approach leaves it to the project applicant to decide if
they want to add solar or not.
Item 7a. 2023 New Buildings Reach Code Page 2
Additionally, resources are available to project applicants to further reduce the cost
of smaller all-electric new buildings and staff encourages community members to
take advantage of the $6,750 available in incentives for all-electric accessory
dwelling units ($5,000 from Central Coast Community Energy and $1,750 from
California Electric Homes).
2. Can staff more clearly describe the electric-readiness recommendation?
Staff recommends ensuring that a new building with a natural gas central hot water
heater (i.e., a single large boiler that serves the entire development) can
incorporate electrical conduit if/when the gas heater is eventually replaced with an
electric heat pump water heater.
The way staff recommends doing this is by having the conduit pathway shown on
the drawings submitted with the building permit application. Staff stopped short of
recommending installing the conduit because of uncertainty related to the size
needed to serve future equipment and because of the potential cost effectiveness
implications for local requirements that have cost, but no energy bill savings.