Conference Agenda

Do you want to be a 2025 Residential Certified Energy Analyst (CEA)? We can help. This class focuses on the exam know-how you need. Here is what to expect: Understand the big picture: Get a bird’s-eye view of how the experts designed and wrote the exam. Explore how it’s put together: Learn about the exam blueprint that guides all the exam questions. Work with the experts: Collaborate with experts who helped create the CEA exam to figure out the best way to tackle the test. Learn “how to fish”: Use a range of resources and approaches to answer questions that are in the exam’s key content areas. Register today for this interactive workshop and prepare to ace the 2025 Residential CEA Exam.

Speakers:

• Brian Selby, Principal, Selby Energy, Inc.
• Chandra Apperson, Technical Manager, Selby Energy, Inc.

Description coming soon!

This session summarizes the new and revised requirements in the 2025 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code) for nonresidential buildings, and it directs participants to informational resources and training that provide more in-depth information on the Energy Code. Join us to begin learning what the 2025 Energy Code means to you and your customers.

Speakers:

• Gina Griffiths Rodda, Principal, Gabel Energy
• Martyn Dodd, Principal, EnergySoft

This workshop is designed to provide building department staff with the knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their roles associated with California's 2025 Single-family Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code). This workshop focuses on the "top six" categories of high-value energy savings and impact on Energy Code compliance for single-family projects and the "essential" tasks associated with these categories. Presentations and hands-on activities practice use with the Plans Examiner and Building Inspector Checklists and demonstrate how it can guide an efficient and effective Energy Code review that is appropriate given time available, realities on the job, and goals of the Energy Code.

Speakers:

• Bruce Cheney, Principal, Anchors Aweigh Energy
• Marina Chavez-Blanco, Senior Energy Analyst, Gabel Energy

This workshop is designed to provide building department staff with the knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their roles associated with California's 2025 Single-family Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code). This workshop focuses on the "top six" categories of high-value energy savings and impact on Energy Code compliance for single-family projects and the "essential" tasks associated with these categories. Presentations and hands-on activities practice use with the Plans Examiner and Building Inspector Checklists and demonstrate how it can guide an efficient and effective Energy Code review that is appropriate given time available, realities on the job, and goals of the Energy Code.

Speakers:

• Bruce Cheney, Principal, Anchors Aweigh Energy
• Marina Chavez-Blanco, Senior Energy Analyst, Gabel Energy

Do you want to be a 2025 Nonresidential Certified Energy Analyst (CEA)? We can help. This class focuses on the exam know-how you need. Here is what to expect: Understand the big picture: Get a bird’s-eye view of how the experts designed and wrote the exam. Explore how it’s put together: Learn about the exam blueprint that guides all the exam questions. Work with the experts: Collaborate with experts who helped create the CEA exam to figure out the best way to tackle the test. Learn “how to fish”: Use a range of resources and approaches to answer questions that are in the exam’s key content areas. Register today for this interactive workshop and prepare to ace the 2025 Nonresidential CEA Exam.

Speakers:

• Brian Selby, Principal, Selby Energy, Inc.
• Chandra Apperson, Technical Manager, Selby Energy, Inc.

Speakers:

• Brian Choi, Senior Technical Specialist, Southern California Edison
• Oliver Ta, Tech Spec Sr Specialist, CED

In this interactive session, we will begin with an overview of tools currently available on Energy Code Ace, presented as a roadmap to Energy Code compliance and enforcement support across the project timeline. Following the presentation, participants will break out into groups to discuss roadblocks and resources needed to understand and comply with the Energy Code. We will lead exercises to evaluate each step in the compliance process, adding to our roadmap. We will gather feedback on potential tool advancements and generate ideas to address challenges and further ease the compliance process. Attendees will leave this session with a renewed sense of direction for navigating Energy Code compliance and the satisfaction of contributing to ideas for future tools!

Speakers:

• Kyra Weinkle, Senior Sustainability Consultant, NORESCO
• Rachel Truttmann, Sustainability Consultant I, NORESCO
• Zalmie Hussein, Project Manager, NORESCO

This session summarizes the new and revised requirements in the 2025 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code) for single-family and multifamily buildings, and it directs participants to informational resources and training that provide more in-depth information on the Energy Code. Join us to begin learning what the 2025 Energy Code means to you and your customers.

Speakers:

• Gina Griffiths Rodda, Principal, Gabel Energy
• Martyn Dodd, Principal, EnergySoft

Speaker:

• Andrew McAllister, Commissioner, California Energy Commission

Residential projects often face barriers to Title 24 compliance due to unclear communication, late-stage corrections, and technical reports that are difficult to interpret. These challenges lead to costly delays and failed HERS verifications. This presentation shares practical strategies to overcome these barriers by simplifying compliance into clear, actionable steps. Topics include translating compliance reports into client-friendly summaries, applying passive design strategies such as insulation, shading, and fenestration choices, and aligning architects, contractors, and HERS raters to streamline the compliance supply chain. Drawing from real project experience, this session highlights best practices that reduce risk, improve verification outcomes, and deliver more comfortable, energy-efficient homes. Attendees will gain tools to integrate energy code requirements seamlessly into residential design.

Speaker:

• Refaa Alkhatib, Energy Consultant and Architectural Associate, GreenArch Analytics

Wondering what’s on the horizon with the new California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code)? Join us for this one-hour session where we will review the changes for nonresidential mechanical systems. We will review the 2025 Energy Code Mandatory and Prescriptive requirements for nonresidential HVAC and Covered Processes (such as commercial kitchens and pools/spas). We will also take a look at the new requirements for service water heating in nonresidential and hotel/motel buildings.

Speaker:

• Kyle Dunn, Principal Engineer, RMS Energy Consulting

This talk presents the design, measurement/verification and lessons learned from an all-electric, deep energy retrofit in Los Angeles. The retrofit is designed to demonstrate the potential of a packaged set of efficiency measures for transforming California’s existing stock of single-family housing to meet statewide decarbonization goals. The retrofit includes the application of passive environmental design features, envelope and fenestration upgrades, and high-efficiency electrical systems and appliances. Circuit level electricity usage data was collected over a period of one year using smart home energy monitoring devices to compare building performance with outcomes predicted from code-compliance software (CBECC-Res).

Speaker:

• Kyle Konis, Ph.D, AIA, Associate Professor, University of Southern California

Designed for both Energy Consultants, Designers, and Plan Review Staff, this session will give a detailed review of the new 2025 CF1R-PRF-E and the NRCC-PRF-E forms for the new code.

Speaker:

• Martyn Dodd, Principal, EnergySoft

This hour-long session focuses on requirements of the 2025 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Energy Code or Title 24 Part 6) for accessory dwelling units (ADU). We will discuss how to identify the ADU type and its impact on Energy Code requirements for envelope, mechanical, photovoltaics (PV), battery energy storage system or battery readiness, and ECC (formerly known as HERS) measures. We will also review how the compliance metrics differ depending on ADU type, including the new compliance metrics for New Construction ADUs.

Speakers:

• Gina Griffiths Rodda, Principal, Gabel Energy
• Nick Brown, President, Build Smart Group

Appendix JA4 provides default U factors, C factors, and thermal mass data for roofs and ceilings, walls, floors, slabs, and miscellaneous constructions. Participants will learn how the JA-4 tables are derived using the parallel path and zone methods, which model heat flow through framing and insulation and account for thermal bridging and mass effects. This session will review the standard assumptions built into JA4 tables, the basis for the assumptions, and the methods for calculating the table values. The session will explain how to select base values from the tables and how to adjust U factors for additional insulation. Finally, attendees will understand how to apply the calculation methods for non-standard constructions and tips for using compliance software to model assemblies that fall outside the standard tables.

Speaker:

• Krishnan Gowri, Senior Research Engineer, Energy Solutions

Join us for this one-hour session to review the 2025 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6 or Energy Code) requirements that support the goals of a Zero Net Carbon Design (ZNCD) project. We will review updated requirements for solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage system (BESS), domestic hot water system requirements supporting electrification, pool and spa requirements supporting heat pump technology, limits on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) design options, and additional heat pump design requirements. We’ll also explore the new Performance Approach compliance metric “Long-term System Cost” (LSC), which converts the predicted site energy use to long-term dollar costs to California’s energy system.

Speaker:

• Luke Morton, Principal, MGBS

Embodied Carbon (EC) represents an incremental yet untapped area of GHG emissions mitigation in buildings as an adjacency to Energy Efficiency (EE) and Building Decarbonization (BD) programs and policies. While CALGreen and Buy Clean California (BCCA) represent current activities in the EC space, more needs to be done in order to spark policy and program support to enable EC to become an increasing area of focus for local cities and jurisdictions as well as statewide agencies and commissions. This panel will include four perspectives on EC from a sustainability consultant, a local government representative, an end-customer, and a program implementer to discuss the current market barriers and opportunities to develop local reach codes, voluntary standards and/or incentive programs to spark local interest, leading to a statewide approach.

Speakers:

• Derek Okada, Senior Fellow, Energy Solution
• Hank Kaplan, Scope 3 Emissions Manager, California State University, Office of the Chancellor
• John King, Fellow, Energy Solution
• Mark Chhabria, Senior Sustainability Analyst, County of Marin

As public servants responsible for future energy use and the care of the population, how can we as managers and front line staff, do our jobs while making a contribution to the Customer Experience (CX) Our manner, style, and empowerment has the ability to provide great CX simply through awareness and support. A buy-in to the CX thought, provides a more engaged staff, bettercustomer relations, more positive branding, and a new team influence that includes the general public. We will discuss how we communicate with each other, our perceptions of each other, and how we feel about each other. We will explore: How to enrich the touchpoints between each other to create stronger, more effective teams with purposeful goals. How to empower a public servant, communicate with the public, to answer complaints, and to treat your constituents as team members. These actions are free and they provide better working relationships and faster results for what we want to accomplish. Understanding people is the subject of this presentation.

Speaker:

• Bob Lennen, Building Official, City of Campbell

Residential electrification retrofits can face barriers in the permitting process due to the switch from natural gas to electricity. Permit applicants expect a fast and simple process, resembling a like-for-like replacement, while building departments must carefully verify that new systems are both safe and code compliant. This gap in expectations is especially pronounced in water heater emergency replacements, where an ideal opportunity for decarbonization with a heat pump water heater may be impeded by permitting timelines. This presentation describes how the San Mateo County Sustainability Department and TRC are bridging that gap, working with building departments to develop and pilot a simplified HPWH permit process, standardized across jurisdictions, to help applicants get permits faster without compromising building departments’ safety and code review priority.

Speakers:

• Alhad Dighe, Sustainability Specialist, San Mateo County
• David Douglass-Jaimes, Associate Director, TRC
• Jenna Lusczynski, Research Consultant, TRC Companies
• Marianne Olson, Lead Research Engineer, TRC

In this one-hour session, we will provide attendees with essential information to foster confidence in answering clients' questions about the why and how of pursuing an all-electric home. We will compare the Energy Code requirements supporting electrification, as opposed to a mixed-fuel design, and which design features support the reliability and affordability of an all-electric home.

Speaker:

• Nick Brown, President, Build Smart Group

With a quickly shifting policy landscape, it is more important than ever that local policymakers understand where the most impactful reach code opportunities and pathways lie for their communities. This panel will discuss the new environment for reach code policy development, identify the most promising pathways including Building Performance Standards, summarize some of the data tools available, and explore the process some jurisdictions have undertaken to continue pursuing their local climate and GHG reduction goals.

Speakers:

• Amy Discher, Sr. Advisor, Codes & Standards, Southern California Edison
• Bo White, Mechanical Engineer, Negawatt Consulting
• Christine Shen, Senior Planner, City of West Hollywood
• Peter Roquemore, Sustainability Analyst, City of Santa Monica Office of Sustainability & the Environment

Speakers:

• To be announced soon