California Center for Sustainable Energy

Free, public event brings together residents, contractors and community leaders interested in making homes more energy efficient

The new statewide Energy Upgrade California™ program, designed to help lower monthly household utility costs by providing cash rebates for energy improvements, will be introduced during a free, public workshop on Wednesday, June 22, at the Frontier Project in Rancho Cucamonga.

The presentation by the California Center for Sustainable Energy will focus on the program’s goals of achieving energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions by retrofitting existing homes with efficient energy systems and technologies.

The workshop will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Frontier Project, 10435 Ashford Street, Rancho Cucamonga. To register for the workshop, visit www.energycenter.org/inlandempire or call Drew Henley at (858) 244-4873. There will be a presentation about the overall Energy Upgrade California program followed by specific sessions for contractors, government officials, realtors and homeowners, Henley said.

Energy Upgrade California  is designed to help homeowners make energy-efficient upgrades to reduce energy use, conserve natural resources and create more comfortable and efficient homes.

“The program promotes a whole house performance approach that focuses on the many different elements within a home that affect energy use, how they interact and influence health and safety,” said Jack Clark, CCSE home retrofit programs manager, “Homeowners will have more options than ever to increase comfort while saving money on utility bills.”

Energy Upgrade California is being headed up by the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission with funding from both utility ratepayers and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

CCSE is partnering with utilities and local municipalities and contractors to implement Energy Upgrade California in the region. The long-term, statewide goal of the program is to deliver comprehensive home improvements to all 13 million single-family and multifamily residential units in the state by 2020, leading to an average reduction in energy use of 40 percent per household.