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Instructions for using the BayREN Policy Calculator
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Introduction
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This tool helps local governments estimate and visualize the potential energy and GHG impacts from a suite of policy options for upgrading the existing single-family housing stock. The tool analyzes five policy options, as discussed in the BayREN white paper Local Government Levers for Energy Policy in the Existing Single-Family Residential Sector (Alvarez and Mast, December 2020).
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1.      Code Compliance: Enhanced enforcement of Title 24 energy code requirements
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2.      Energy Assessment & Disclosure: Requires an energy assessment and disclosure to improve consumer transparency about the energy efficiency, comfort, and costs associated with operating a home, promoting more sound home purchasing and upgrade decisions.
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3.      Upgrade at Time of Equipment Replacement: Requirements for specific appliance upgrades that are triggered by appliance replacement at or near the end of its useful life
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4.      Upgrade at Time of Major Renovation: Requirements for appliance upgrades or related energy improvements that are triggered by major renovations to the home
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5.      Building Performance Standards: Requirements for appliance upgrades or related energy improvements that must be accomplished by a date certain
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In addition, the tool models two related policy options that have a direct impact on the appliance stock and energy performance of existing homes:
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·        New Home Reach Code or All-Electric Ordinance: Today’s new home is tomorrow’s existing home. The adoption of aggressive performance standards for new construction is an effective method for minimizing the need to retrofit those homes in the future. Note: this calculator focuses on existing building policies, therefore customization for a new construction reach code is not available. If the user selects a new construction ordinance then new homes will be excluded from the housing stock applicable for existing building policies. However, if there is not new construction reach code, new homes will be applicable to existing building policies.
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·        End of Flow: To meet California’s climate action goals and limit global climate damage, communities will eventually need to limit or stop delivering piped fossil fuels to retail customers. If selected, this option models zero natural gas being used in the existing single family sector at a date-certain.
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Users will begin by selecting their jurisdiction and policy option(s) that they wish to explore. They will proceed through each sheet in the workbook to customize the policies as they choose and observe the potential impacts on the Policy Impact Dashboard. Detailed steps for using the tool are provided below.
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User Inputs - Color Coding
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User input cells are shown in green. These cells will require a user to confirm or change the input in order for the calculator to work. Some green cells are auto-filled with best practices or examples from case studies. Examples include which trigger points for policies, inspection costs, and estimate energy savings. Others will start blank and provide more options for customization that a user may wish to explore, such as layering electrification upgrade requirements on to a policy. If a green cell is overwritten, a user would have to refer to the unedited tool to see the original value.
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Cells in yellow are optional for customization. Default values are are calculated via formulas from source data within the spreadsheet. A user may override these defaults if they have more accurate or jurisdiction-specific data by inputting their desired value in the corresponding yellow cell. An example includes housing stock data, where the default is pulled from CA DOF data but a jurisdiction may have more accurate information or only wish to use a subset of the housing data for the calculations. A user can revert back to the default by clearing the modified yellow cell.
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Cells are shown in blue are include calculations or references to other data and are locked for editing.
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Policy Impact Dashboard
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Step 1. Specify the County (cell B4) and then select the City from the list associated with that county (Cell B5). The user can also select the entire county or the unincorporated county only.
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Step 2. Check the boxes to specify which policy options to include in the analysis (cells B8-B14).
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Step 3. For the selected policy options, specify the year the policies should take effect (cells C8-C14).
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Step 4. For the selected policy options, specify the starting and final compliance rate (cells D8-E14). The starting rate can be understood as the percentage of eligible customers who voluntarily comply with the policy provisions without being required to do so. The final compliance rate is the compliance rate at full adoption. More specifically:
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·        New Home Reach Code or All-Electric Ordinance: Percentage of new homes that are all-electric.
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·        Code Compliance: Percentage of permitted installations.
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·        Energy Assessment and Disclosure: Percentage of resale homes with timely assessments
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·        Upgrade at Time of Equipment Replacement: Percentage of equipment replacements that meet standard
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·        Upgrade at Time of Major Renovation: Percentage of renovations that meet standard
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·        Building Performance Standards: Percentage of homes that meet standard
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·        End of Flow: All gas deliveries stop
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Step 5. Specify which fuels to analyze, electricity, gas, or both (cells B17 and B18)
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Step 6 (optional). Set policy parameters for selected policy options. Click on the policy titles in cells A9 to A13 to navigate to separate tabs for each policy in which parameters are specified and impacts are calculated. The dashboard will calculate policy impacts using default values if you do not customize the policy sheets. However, customization will lead to more accurate and jurisdiction-specific modeling results. Further explanations and instructions are provided in each policy sheet.
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Step 7 (optional). Set input parameters for Housing Stock and Appliance Stock.
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Step 8 (optional). Specify the deadline for acquiring zero emissions electricity and the goal year for achieving zero emissions from existing homes.
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Housing Stock Profile
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This tab summarizes the housing stock and utility emissions factors for the County and City specified on the Policy Impact Dashboard. Default housing values come from the California Department of Finance (DOF) and the U.S. Census. Default emissions factors come from the most recent utility power content labels (as of July 2021).
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If you have more accurate housing data, you may change a default value by going to the Housing Stock Data Entry tab and enter the preferred value in the corresponding yellow cell. Doing so will substitute the customized value for the default value in the lavender cell.
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Appliance Stock Profile
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This tab summarizes the appliance stock parameters for the model for seven equipment categories. Inputs include market saturation for the jurisdiction being modeled, Unit Energy Consumption by climate zone, expected useful life, and equipment efficiency. Unit Energy Consumption values are derived from analysis from the Statewide Codes and Standards program. Useful lives are taken from DEER. Equipment saturation data derives from the American Housing Survey.
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If you have more accurate appliance data, you may change a default value by going to the Appliance Stock Data Entry tab and enter the preferred value in the corresponding yellow cell. Doing so will substitute the customized value for the default value in the lavender cell.
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Unabated GHG emissions graphic: smoke from the Bobcat fire in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 10, 2020. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
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