This section requires the commission to continuously evaluate the advantages and limitations of different types of energy sources. Their goal is to promote a balanced energy mix that meets the state’s needs while avoiding the risks of depending too heavily on a single energy source.

This law mandates that the commission undertake ongoing research and studies to understand California's energy resources. This includes evaluating fossil fuels and renewable options like solar and geothermal energy. The goal is to ensure efficient energy use across the state. The commission will also focus on reducing energy waste through methods like improving appliance efficiency, better building designs, and managing electricity pricing. Recommendations on energy policy and improvements will be reported to the Governor and the Legislature every two years to guide development and reduce energy wastage.

This section requires the commission to create and regularly update a detailed list of ways to improve energy efficiency and manage energy use for gas and electricity in different utility areas. This list should include estimates of how much energy can be saved, the costs of achieving these savings, and any changes in savings and costs depending on specific measures. It should also consider environmental benefits. The commission must work with utilities, academic institutions, and other stakeholders to develop this list.

This law allows the commission to create guidelines to help improve energy efficiency in older single-family homes built before modern energy standards. Homeowners can use these guidelines to save on their electricity and natural gas bills. The commission can share this information either online or by request to make it easily available to the public.

When a single-family home is sold in California, either the buyer or seller can ask for a home inspection. The home inspector must then provide contact information for organizations that can give home energy information. These organizations can be a nonprofit, a utility service provider like an electric or gas company, or a government agency.

This law requires the creation of performance standards and labeling requirements for landscape irrigation equipment, such as controllers and moisture sensors, to improve irrigation efficiency. These standards should consider advancements in the field since January 1, 2010, and must be established by January 1, 2019. The Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Water Resources, should also take into account the Smart Water Application Technology Program's testing protocols. New irrigation equipment produced after these regulations are effective must meet these standards to be sold in California.

This California regulation requires the development and enforcement of energy and water efficiency standards for both residential and nonresidential buildings to reduce unnecessary energy consumption. The commission is responsible for setting building design standards for lighting, insulation, and climate control systems, along with other efficiency measures. The standards are periodically updated and must balance energy savings with affordability and safety considerations.

Public participation is crucial in developing these standards. The regulations also include guidelines for energy-efficient appliances, which must be cost-effective over their lifecycle. Additionally, specific standards for flexible demand appliances, which can adjust their energy use, aim to enhance grid reliability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The commission works with other bodies to ensure these standards align with wider energy programs in the state.

This law section is about ensuring energy efficiency in buildings. It details how the commission is tasked with creating a computer program to help estimate energy use in buildings and setting up a certification process for new energy-saving products and methods. The commission must provide an energy conservation manual and offer technical assistance for local authorities to enforce energy standards. Building permits depend on meeting these energy standards. It also allows cities or counties to set energy standards if justified and cost-effective, and gives options for resolving disputes between permit applicants and building departments. Additionally, there are provisions for exemptions if compliance causes significant delays or costs.

This law requires utilities to keep track of energy usage data for buildings and share it with building owners or their agents upon request. Buildings are defined as 'covered' if they meet certain criteria, like having five or more utility accounts or no residential accounts at all. Utilities must provide aggregated energy usage data from the previous 12 months to help building owners benchmark energy performance using a specific tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The data is not considered confidential once aggregated. The law also outlines how the California commission should handle disclosure and regulation of energy usage data, including exemptions for smaller buildings and potential regulations for additional types of buildings.

Additionally, utilities are expected to cover reasonable costs and can recover these through rates approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Local governments can also create their own programs for energy benchmarking. The law provides mechanisms for utilities to obtain customer permission for data sharing, using electronic authorization or lease agreements.

This section gives the commission the authority to create rules for handling rule violations related to energy appliance standards and to impose fines up to $2,500 per violation. When assigning penalties, the commission considers factors like how serious the violation is and how long it lasted. If a rule breach is found, the Attorney General can be involved to take legal action, possibly resulting in further penalties. Collected fines go towards educating the public and enforcing energy appliance regulations.

Also, certain conditions prevent penalty enforcement, such as if a product meets standards but was delayed in compliance verification. Administrative actions against non-compliant standards can only start 60 days after those standards are publicly documented and 30 days after notifying the accused violator.

This law mandates that by January 1, 2019, a plan must be approved to ensure compliance with energy regulations for installing central air conditioning and heat pumps in California. The plan should be created with input from various stakeholders like local officials and industry representatives.

Before the plan's approval, the commission must evaluate technology and economic feasibility, consider impacts on homeowners and the HVAC industry, and provide a chance for public input. Additionally, the commission can set regulations to improve compliance with related permits and inspections.

This law section says that starting with the review of building regulations in Part 6 of Title 24, which is ongoing as of January 1, 2024, California authorities need to think about changing how they categorize certain attic spaces. Specifically, they should consider whether sealed and unvented attics, which are directly next to climate-controlled areas and enclosed by thermal and air barriers, should be classified as 'conditioned space, indirectly.'

This law requires California to develop a strategy by mid-2026 that uses building energy usage data to help reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. This plan involves setting up energy efficiency and emission targets, considering tenant rights to avoid undue rent or utility burden, and consulting various stakeholders, especially from under-resourced communities.

It focuses on avoiding displacement and ensuring tenant protections when buildings are upgraded for energy efficiency. The strategy encourages offering building owners flexibility in choosing technologies and aligning upgrades with equipment life cycles. Local jurisdictions may propose their own programs for increasing energy efficiency provided they meet specified standards.

Additionally, input from a range of stakeholders, including communities, building owners, and energy providers, needs to be considered to ensure that the outcomes are equitable and just.

This law specifies that any building standards created by the commission must be reviewed and approved by the State Building Standards Commission. These standards are part of a larger legal framework called the State Building Standards Law. Once approved, they are published and enforced according to specific sections of the law.

This law requires the commission to set up two regional training centers in California aimed at providing ongoing education for local building officials and enforcement personnel. One center should be located in northern California and the other in southern California to address regional needs.

The purpose is to ensure a uniform understanding and application of energy-efficient building standards. They will offer monthly training, primarily using existing local resources.

Additionally, similar training workshops must be held in rural areas, with at least two sessions in both northern and southern California each year. The workshops are designed to maximize participation and minimize costs for smaller, remote government agencies.

This section requires that nonresidential building standards in California include at least one option for using passive or semi-passive thermal systems to meet energy requirements. These systems might involve techniques like installing skylights for more daylight, using openable windows for natural air conditioning, positioning the building to maximize passive heating/cooling, and employing thermal mass materials to store heat or cold, such as roof ponds or water walls.

This law section defines the term "lighting device" broadly, covering items like lamps, fixtures, and controls. It requires the commission to consider all types of lighting, both new and replacement, as well as interior and exterior, under certain energy standards. Specifically, indoor and outdoor lighting devices are treated as types of appliances subject to these standards.

Additionally, the commission must set energy efficiency standards for outdoor lighting, ensuring they are both feasible and cost-effective. This includes lighting not previously covered by other standards, such as streetlights and traffic lights. The commission is required to work with CALTRANS to ensure the standards align with safety and lighting needs for highways.

Electric and gas utilities in California must work with a commission to help develop and support building standards and related regulations. This includes conducting research and providing training needed to implement these standards.

However, utilities are only required to provide this support if they have the necessary funds available.

The commission must consider how new building energy standards will affect indoor air pollution for both homes and other buildings.

This law mandates that by July 1, 1996, a commission must create and share a booklet to inform various parties about a statewide home energy rating program. This booklet is aimed at homeowners, renters, sellers, brokers, and the public, providing them with crucial information on energy ratings for homes.

The development of this booklet must involve consulting with a wide range of stakeholders including real estate experts, utility companies, consumer and environmental groups, and more to ensure comprehensive and useful content.

Additionally, the commission is authorized to charge a fee for this booklet to cover the costs of its production and distribution.

This law mandates that by January 1, 2021, a commission must work with various state agencies to study how California can cut greenhouse gas emissions from residential and commercial buildings by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030. They need to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of different emission reduction strategies, especially for heating systems, and consider the impact on low-income housing and high-rise buildings. They also must think about how these strategies will affect utility costs, building costs, and the power grid, including new solar requirements on homes and electric vehicle charging demands. By June 1, 2021, the findings must be reported to the Legislature, and from November 1, 2021, onward, every energy policy report must include data on greenhouse gas emissions from various energy sources for buildings, which will be shared online.

This section outlines a California program aimed at encouraging the construction of new residential buildings that are all-electric or equipped with energy storage systems. This initiative, using funds from the 2021 Budget Act, is called the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development Program Phase 2. The program includes creating guidelines by June 30, 2022, and offering financial incentives for buildings that meet the criteria, providing combined benefits if a building is both all-electric and incorporates energy storage.

The program's goal is to significantly boost the market adoption of these technologies in buildings that wouldn't typically use them and to encourage the use of new technologies not mandated by current building codes. An upfront incentive may be given to ensure participation.

This law requires the commission to set up standards for managing the electrical load in each utility area by July 1, 1978. The goal is to manage electricity use better and make it more cost-effective compared to building new capacity. Techniques include changing rates to encourage using electricity during off-peak hours, using energy storage systems, and automated systems to control peak energy use.

The standards must be both cost-effective and technologically feasible. Costs associated with these standards are to be supported in rate settings by the Public Utilities Commission. If something isn't feasible, the commission can delay its implementation and must explain why.

Utilities can ask for exemptions or delays if they prove that these standards are extremely hard to meet, not cost-effective, or would reduce reliability. This section doesn't apply to sites and facilities proposed before the standards were set.

This law requires the commission to create and run a program that installs battery backup systems for important traffic signals in cities and counties. They will prioritize signals in high-traffic areas, where accidents happen frequently, or where children are present, especially in places that haven't received state grants for LED traffic signals. Only LED signals can get these backups, and the commission will set technical standards for them. Cities and counties can apply for grants to help cover costs, with the commission funding 70% and the city or county covering the rest.

This law requires the commission to work with the Office of Planning and Research, the Resources Agency, and other parties to create procedures that make sure energy-saving measures are considered in local environmental impact reports. These reports are needed for local projects to prevent wasteful or inefficient energy use.

This law allows local governments like cities and counties to establish fees to cover the costs of enforcing specific standards related to this chapter.

This law requires sellers of new homes in developments of at least 50 homes to offer buyers the option to include a solar energy system. The homes must have a completed subdivision map application on or after January 1, 2011. Sellers must disclose the total cost and estimated savings of the solar system.

An offset program allows developers to skip the requirement by installing solar systems on different projects, like low-income housing, provided the electricity output matches that of similar-sized projects.

These requirements shouldn't replace or reduce existing energy efficiency measures. The solar options cannot compromise energy savings as dictated by current standards.

By July 1, 2007, a study should begin to decide if new buildings in California should be required to have solar energy systems, and under what conditions. The study will look at the cost-effectiveness of such systems, factoring in government rebates, tax deductions, and net-metering. The idea is to ensure these systems would be financially sensible over the building's lifetime. The study will be updated regularly to reflect any changes in available incentives. Importantly, this section is just for studying the issue, not for creating any new solar system requirements for buildings.

This law requires that by the end of 2008, energy efficiency standards be set for general purpose lights, aiming to cut energy use by half for indoor residential lighting and by a quarter for commercial and outdoor lighting by 2018. The commission will also suggest ways to continue reducing energy consumption beyond 2018. State agencies must stop buying lights that don't meet these standards within two years of adoption, with certain exceptions allowed up to four years. The law also encourages the University of California to stop purchasing non-compliant lights within two years. General purpose lights for indoor and outdoor use are covered, excluding specialty lighting such as appliance and infrared lights, unless otherwise included after public consultation if usage rises significantly.