Resource Library

This guidance from the California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative's toolkit recommends that jurisdictions minimize permit fees for charging equipment installation as a part of larger efforts to streamline the electric vehicle permitting process. It provides supporting resources for recommended actions, including region-specific resources.

Many people in low-income communities, as well as those with low literacy and/or limited English proficiency, have traditionally been underserved by conventional outreach methods. Written notices in English language newspapers may not be read by everyone an agency wishes to reach. People may not feel safe or welcome at a meeting held in government offices. People may be unable to attend public events if they do not own a car, if they cannot afford child care, or if they work late shifts or more than one job. Tailored outreach simply means selecting and adjusting public involvement techniques in order to effectively connect with the people affected by a project, whoever and wherever they are. Creating effective outreach requires knowing the constituency and taking steps to ensure that the public involvement process is accessible to everyone in the community.

This Department of Energy guide introduces the Community Energy Strategic Plan (CESP) approach, a step-by-step process for creating a robust strategic energy plan for your government and community that can help save money, create local jobs, and improve our national security. It offers tools and tips to complete each step and highlights examples from successful planning efforts around the country. Local governments and community stakeholders can use the CESP framework to build on initial energy successes by moving from single projects and programs to a comprehensive, long-term energy strategy that delivers benefits for years to come.

This guide is a resource for those who want to develop community shared solar projects, from community organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploring the range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community shared solar projects, this guide will help communities plan and implement successful energy projects.

This guide is a resource for those who want to develop community shared solar projects, from community organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploring the range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community shared solar projects, this guide will help communities plan and implement successful energy projects.

Local governments can promote energy efficiency in their jurisdictions by developing and implementing strategies that improve the efficiency of municipal facilities and operations and/or encourage energy efficiency improvements in residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. This guide describes the benefits of energy efficiency in local government operations, a step-by-step approach to improving energy efficiency in new and existing local government operations; key participants and their roles; investment and financing opportunities and more. It includes two local government case studies; additional examples of successful implementation are also provided throughout the guide.

After the Boulder City Council adopted a Climate Action Plan in 2006, it was recommended by the boards and directed by Council that city staff create resources for building owners who live in historic districts and in designated and landmarked buildings, to be able to access information on how to make their historic buildings more energy efficient without jeopardizing their historic character or the integrity of the buildings’ original architectural significance. This two-part guide to energy efficiency upgrades is part of the effort to provide useful information to all parties.

This innovative group purchasing model in which public or private sector employees band together to leverage their purchasing power can be implemented by a local government or private company along with a local credit union or other financing partner. The first hyperlink displays a program guide that describes the model. The second hyperlink displays a sample program flyer for outreach purposes.

This reports offers guidance on how and where to install equipment to keep electric vehicles powered up and running reliably. It discusses a range of options that will improve EV charging options at multi-unit housing and in nearby neighborhood settings. It also explains how charging opportunities at the workplace and in public locations can support the rollout of electric vehicles.

This guidebook has been published to help municipal officials identify, evaluate, and pursue opportunities to harness the sun’s power to generate electricity and revenue from undeveloped landfill space. Topics covered include: physical requirements of PV systems; PV system economics; landfill considerations; public procurement; and PV system development, design, and installation.

Lighting Patterns for Homes, an interactive guide feature on NYSERDA's Lighting Research Center website, was created to help homeowners, contractors and builders choose the right light bulbs, fixtures and controls to maximize energy savings, calculate lighting costs and achieve lighting effects to meet a wide range of needs in their homes.This site also shows how to design safe, healthy lighting for aging adults. It helps homeowners and others navigate the increasing number of lighting options in today's marketplace and allows them to see how various options will actually look by viewing photo-realistic illustrations created by 3-D modeling software.

Northwest SEED produced this comprehensive guidebook to facilitate successful, cost-effective community wind development that provides measurable benefits for Oregon's environment and local economies. It contains information related to project design, siting, permitting, interconnection, and project financing that may be relevant to jurisdictions outside of Oregon as well.

The "Solarize" model is being implemented across the country because of its overwhelming success and this guidebook is intended to serve as a road map for project planners and solar advocates who want to transform the local residential solar market in their communities by implementing this innovative group purchasing program.

The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for the installation of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) wells in Massachusetts. It outlines requirements for the installation and operation of GSHP wells, system requirements, as well as guidelines for decommissioning.

Page 16-17 addresses IREC guidelines for handling disputes.

This resource by the U.S. Department of the Interior offers specific guidance on how to make historic buildings more sustainable in a manner that will preserve their historic character and that will meet the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. Most historic buildings are inherently sustainable and that this should be used to advantage in any proposal to upgrade them. The written guidance is illustrated with examples of appropriate or “recommended” treatments and some that are “not recommended” or could negatively impact the building’s historic character.

The Solar Living Institute offers training courses by experienced practitioners who bring years of real world knowledge to the classroom with a focus on helping students prepare for job opportunities and start businesses. Visit the source link below for more information about course offerings.

This is a case study from Santa Clara, CA - a city with a municipal electric utility. The City took steps to harmonize the review for PV systems under 10kW between the building department and the utility, to avoid time consuming and duplicate processes. Now permit review and interconnection review occur through a single streamlined process, to the benefit of the City as well as solar installers.

The Hawaii PUC is currently pursuing an on-bill finance program which would allow an electric utility customer to purchase a renewable energy system or energy efficiency devices through an assessment on the customer’s electric bill. Low cost capital to fund the program will be obtained through a bond issuance. An RFP seeking a program administrator was published in September 2013. The hyperlink below is a 14 slide presentation describing the motivation for and creation of this program. The related legislation, consultant reports, and latest developments on this program can be found at the Hawaii PUC's on-bill finance webpage, see the URL in the Source section below.

Clark Public Utilities offers incentives to customers with electrically heated homes who have a heat pump installed by an approved contractor. Incentives are offered on several tiers, depending on the pump's efficiency, as well as an incentive specifically for ductless heat pumps.

Jay County Rural Electric Membership Corporation, an electric co-operative located in Indiana, offers several rebates to its customers to install heat pumps, with the most generous rebate tier being reserved for geothermal heat pumps. More information about the program as well as the rebate form can be found at the program website.

Through its Smart Energy Savers Program, Baltimore Gas & Electric offers rebates of $100 to $1,800 on high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment and services, such as HVAC equipment, ductless mini-split systems, and cooling efficiency improvements.

The Department of Energy's Energy Saver portal for heating & cooling contains tips on ways to reduce the costs of residential heating and cooling, which accounts for more than half of the energy use in a typical U.S. home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes, along with resources related to specific heating and cooling technologies.

ENERGY STAR advises annual pre-season check-ups to ensure that cooling and heating systems are maintained at peak performance. This checklist can be utilized for typical maintenance check-ups.

This is a 3 page interconnection application form for UL1741 certified inverter-based generating facilities under 10kW. It is taken from HECO Rule 14. There is a more comprehensive 6 page form for larger systems.