Program

Welcome and Opening Panel: Opportunities for the Golden State

California has been leading the market transition to a more energy efficient economy for years. Our panelists will discuss a new paradigm for energy efficiency that goes beyond avoiding the cost of generation. We will discuss lessons learned from past collaborative projects, how efforts are being taken up by the market. Join us for a discussion of California’s successes and how that has laid the foundation for the work that lies ahead.

Moderated by Carol Yin, Facilitator, ETCC

Panelists:

Bing Liu, Director, Buildings and Efficiency Program, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Ram Narayanamurthy, Existing Buildings Manager, California Energy Commission

Andy Satchwell, Director of Strategy Alignment and Portfolio Management, Pacific Gas & Electric

The Role of Emerging Technologies in Reaching California’s 7 GW Load-Shift Goal

Speakers will discuss  the role of Flexible Demand as a resource, strategies to achieve the 7 GW flexible demand target by 2030, and insights from data center load flexibility and dynamic pricing pilot projects. 

Moderated by Kadir Bedir, Supervisor, Distributed Energy Resources, California Energy Commission

Speakers:

Kadir Bedir, Supervisor, Distributed Energy Resources, California Energy Commission

“California’s Progress Toward the Load-Shift Goal”

This presentation provides an overview of how the California Energy Commission is tracking progress toward the statewide load-shift goal, including an analysis of a stakeholder survey that identifies market and policy barriers to scaling demand flexibility. 

Eva Molnar, Senior Manager, Southern California Edison

“SCE’s Flexible Pricing Rate Pilots”

This presentation provides an overview of SCE’s Flexible Pricing Rate Pilot and its subsequent expanded SCE Flexible Pricing Rate Pilot. Topics include the design of the pilots, participating customer loads, and key learnings to-date.

Micah Sweeney, Technical Lead, Electric Power Research Institute

“Data Centers as Flexible Grid Assets”

This presentation will introduce EPRI’s DCFlex initiative, which is demonstrating how data centers can be flexible grid assets, and how utilities can begin incorporating these resources into their planning and customer programs.

The Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Program: Highlights from 10 Years of Research and Development and the Future of Clean Energy Research

This presentation will provide an overview of investments from the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Program since the program's start in 2012. The presentation will also cover upcoming research and development investment priorities for the 2026–2030 period.

Speaker:

Anthony Ng, Branch Manager, Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Branch, Energy Research and Development Division, California Energy Commission

Efficiency Unlocked: Building Performance Standards, Benchmarking, and Title 24

Learn about how Energy Codes and Building Performance Standards are aiming to transform buildings by setting performance targets that drive operational improvements, spark innovation, and support decarbonization. Join us to explore the tools, insights, and actions shaping the future of high-performance buildings.

Moderated by Thomas Mertens, Program Engineer, Pacific Gas & Electric

Speakers:

Amy Discher, Sr. Advisor, Codes and Standards, Southern California Edison, and Bo White, Principal Project Engineer, NegaWatt Consulting

“Unlocking Innovation through BPS”

This presentation explores how Building Performance Standards (BPS) are transforming the built environment by setting performance targets for existing buildings. Learn how BPS drives continuous operation improvements, create market demand for high-performance technologies and open new opportunities for innovation, and data-driven solutions. The presentation includes a demonstration of a platform being used to support jurisdictions in developing their covered buildings list.

Sasha Baroiant, Principal Consultant, ADM, a Qualus Company, and Elicia Yoffee, Energy Analyst, California Energy Commission

“Laying the Foundation for Building Performance Standards: Data, Dialogue, and Decarbonization”

The presentation will describe our current work with the CA Energy Commission to facilitate the California Building Energy Performance Strategy Report. I’m planning to cover the following topics:

(1) Why stakeholder engagement is important and how CEC is fulfilling that objective.
(2) The benchmarking program is the data foundation for BPS; how can we improve compliance and quality?
(3) Demonstrations of decarbonization potential, and looking for creative solutions to replacing central boilers.

Statewide CASE Team, California IOUs

“Migrating Measures from Concept to Code”

This presentation provides an overview of the Statewide Building Codes Advocacy program and the continued effort to advance California’s Energy Code, as well as support emerging policy initiatives for low carbon operations over the lifetime of new or renovated buildings.

The Resilience Blueprint: Building Resilience for the Future

Resilience enables communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from the increasing frequency and intensity of climate change impacts. This session will explore the definition of resilience and examine its key drivers from both grid and built environment perspectives, including strategies for enhancing structural resilience to wildfires. Additionally, the session will highlight the business value of resilience, with a particular focus on policies related to embodied carbon.

Moderated by Charles Kim, Senior Engineer, Southern California Edison

Speakers:

Heather Joy Rosenberg, Associate Principal, Arup

“Electrification through the Lens of Resilience”

Reducing emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change are both imperative to a clean energy transition. We will provide a systems-based framework for solving for both outcomes across scales, from buildings to grids and the communities they serve.

Randall Higa, Consulting Engineer, Southern California Edison

“What Are Resilient Buildings and How Can Flexible Demand and Distributed Energy Resources Increase Resiliency?”

Building resiliency can be looked at in two ways: what can be done to reduce the impacts of climate change (extreme weather, wildfires, etc.), and what can be done to reduce the causes of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This presentation will focus on the latter and examine how buildings can play an important role in achieving carbon neutrality by being integrated with a smart electric grid. Resiliency will also be discussed in the context of buildings and transportation becoming more electrified and the grid’s requirements to increase capacity at an unprecedented rate.

Chad Gretzner, Research Engineer, Kliewer & Associates, LLC

“Wildfire Hardened and Energy Efficient Building Assemblies”

Kliewer & Associates conducted a full-scale burn test of two structures: one conventionally built and another hardened against wildfire with defensible space and ignition-resistant materials. Temperature sensors and cameras revealed how different components performed against direct flame and radiant heat. The surprising results highlighted key vulnerabilities and effective defenses in building assemblies. This presentation will showcase retrofit demonstrations and the energy benefits gained.

Derek Okada, Senior Fellow, Business Strategy Team, Energy Solutions (CalNEXT)

“Confronting the Carbon: Mitigating Embodied Carbon from a Resiliency Perspective”

Embodied Carbon represents about 11% of the carbon content in building materials from raw materials extraction through end of the building’s life and is a growing focus area of building policy. As communities rebuild from the unfortunate devastation of wildfires, it is important to have a total carbon perspective on the operational and embodied carbon impacts from the materials selected for rebuilt homes and businesses. This presentation will cover the high-level policy and planning perspectives of incorporating low-embodied carbon materials in reconstruction and will tie-in the value propositions of the other presenters’ topics.

Networking Breakout Rooms

The ET Summit will have a networking hour at the end of each day, with breakout rooms organized by topic. You'll be able to move freely between breakout rooms. You will receive invitations to the networking events after you register for the ET Summit.

Transforming Industrial and Agricultural Processes with Emerging Technologies

Join us for this well-rounded session that will start with an overview of California’s Agricultural Energy Savings Action Plan. Learn about the challenges their programs face and how they help customers. Then we'll hear about the results on a market study and field demonstrations on a CalNEXT project studying Smart Controls for Indoor Agriculture. Finally, we'll end with a presentation on steam trap fault detection and diagnostics for improving the performance of industrial steam systems.

Moderated by Mohamad Younes, Electric Generation System Specialist, Electric Research and Development Division, California Energy Commission

Speakers:

Andy Gustafson, Director, TRC Companies

“Agriculture Energy Savings Action Plan (AESAP)”

Overview of PG&E’s third-party agriculture energy efficiency program managed by TRC. Challenges and highlights of adopting energy efficiency in the agricultural space.

Gretchen Schimelpfenig, PE, Senior Engineer, Energy Resources Integration (CalNEXT)

“Improving Greenhouse Energy Performance With Smart Lighting & HVAC Controls”

Smart controls can monitor, evaluate, and control the energy consumption of greenhouse environmental control systems to help energy efficiency programs achieve electricity savings goals. Via stakeholder engagement and field demonstrations, researchers uncovered two promising measures for greenhouse supplemental lighting and fan controls and recommend that the California IOUs develop programs to incentivize integrated and intelligent automation systems in floriculture, food, and cannabis farms.

Ryan Swanson, President, Enesfere

“Steam Trap Fault Detection & Diagnostics in Existing Industrial Applications”

This presentation summarizes a study on steam trap fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) conducted from 2023 to 2025 for the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) Code Readiness Program. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact and feasibility of extending the 2022 Title 24 steam trap requirements to steam trap assemblies in existing industrial steam systems, where the code requirements would be triggered either when steam traps fail or when a boiler is replaced.

Gas Absorption Heat Pumps and the Future of Water Heating in California

Explore the potential of Gas Absorption Heat Pumps (GAHPs) in transforming water heating across California. This session highlights performance testing of GAHPs using hydrogen-natural gas blends and compares water heating technologies (including GAHPs, electric heat pumps, and solar thermal systems) across climate zones. Learn how hydrogen integration and system design can support California’s decarbonization goals.

Moderated by Jordan Litwin, Customer Program Advisor II, SoCalGas

Speakers:

Saurabh Nagesh Shekhadar, Energy Engineer II, ICF (GET)

“Pool Heating Analysis”

The objective of this research study is to determine energy and emissions saving potential, benefits and drawbacks of various types of pool heating equipment: high efficiency gas fired pool heater, gas absorption heat pump, hybrid pool heater, electric heat pump pool heater, and solar thermal pool heating. A macro-based Excel tool will be developed to conduct an hourly energy, cost, and GHG emissions analysis for different climate zones in California.

Madeline Talebi, Energy Engineer, ICF (GET), and Lee Van Dixhorn, Principal Engineer, GTI Energy (GET)

“Heat Pump Performance in California: Hydrogen-Natural Gas Blend Fired Water Heating Applications”

The purpose of the GAHP laboratory testing was to develop steady-state and dynamic performance curves for hydrogen-natural gas blends. The testing is for the GAHP unit when operating under natural gas-hydrogen blending (up to 30%) conditions. Understanding both the steady state and transient part load can be useful in sizing the GAHP unit(s) relative to the load and helps to determine the need for any required backup heat supplies and/or storage.

Gas & Electric Domestic HPWHs in Multi-Family & Hotel Applications

This session will explore gas and electric heat pump water heaters in multifamily and hotel settings, featuring new research on challenging site applications, comparisons of emissions and costs, and lessons learned from real-world installations.

Moderated by Eric Kirchhoff, Manager, Clean EE Strategies, SoCalGas

Speakers:

Rose Wall, Emerging Opportunities Manager, VEIC (CalNEXT)

“Decarbonizing Tight Spaces: Split-System Heat Pump Water Heaters for Multifamily Homes”

This presentation explores the market potential, performance, and deployment challenges of split-system heat pump water heaters in California’s multifamily sector, offering actionable strategies to overcome barriers and accelerate adoption in space-constrained housing.

Nicolas Campbell, Project Manager, Lincus, Inc. (GET)

“Multifamily Hot Water Heating GHG and Costs”

This presentation compares electric heat pump water heaters (HPWH) and gas HPWHs to an existing gas-fired boiler in a multifamily central DHW system across 16 climate zones. Comparisons include energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, operational costs, and financial viability.

Cristalle Mauleon, Engineering Manager, Lincus, Inc. (GET)

“Gas Absorption Heat Pump Water Heaters: Site Lessons Learned”

Gas Absorption Heat Pumps (GAHPs) offer significant natural gas and CO₂ savings for DHW systems when outdoor temperatures are above 40°F, making them a valuable tool for decarbonization. This presentation shares insights from two GAHP field installations—one at a multifamily residence and another at a hotel—highlighting performance, cost savings, and design considerations.

Mapping the Transition to Climate-Friendly Refrigerant Technologies

Join us for an overview of the refrigerant regulatory landscape driving the transition to climate-friendly refrigerants. This session will cover both HVAC and refrigeration project examples, technology trends, and expected impact on technology performance.

Moderated by Aanchal Kohli, Manager, F-gas Reduction Strategy Section, California Air Resources Board

Speakers:

Cheryl Winfield, Air Resources Engineer, California Air Resources Board (CARB)

“Overview of California’s HFC Regulatory Landscape”

A brief overview of California’s regulatory and legislative landscape in regards to HFCs and other F-gases, including existing regulations and California’s future as directed by CA SB 1206 and AB 1279.

Danielle Wright, Executive Director, North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council

“Refrigeration for a Low-Carbon Future”

This presentation explores how natural refrigerants, like A3s and CO2, are advancing food retail by reducing emissions and future-proofing businesses. Results from CARB’s pioneering FRIP program will be featured, along with strategies utilities can use to accelerate adoption, maximize energy savings, and deliver climate benefits.

Carolyn Weisman, Project Manager, Prospect Silicon Valley

“Natural Refrigerants in Action: R744 Heat Pumps for HVAC & Refrigeration”

This presentation will dive into two CEC–funded demonstration projects featuring an advanced R744 (CO₂) heat pump. The projects will showcase the technology’s performance across two distinct applications: large commercial HVAC and industrial refrigeration. In addition to results and next steps, the presentation will explore how these findings will translate into practical tools and insights for designers, engineers, facility managers, and operators across the industry.

Time Horizons of Building Decarbonization

Building decarbonization efforts have a long time horizon, requiring conscious design along the way. Join us as leading researchers discuss planning for grid expansion, building designs to reduce embodied carbon, and long term monitoring and control to reduce daily building level emissions.

Moderated by Carol Yin, Facilitator, ETCC

Speakers:

Ryan McFadyen, PE, Energy Modeling Innovation Senior Advisor, Southern California Edison

“Bottoms-Up Grid Model Adaptive Profiles (BUGMAP): How Utilities Understand a Changing Grid”

As electrification and distributed energy resources reshape energy consumption patterns, traditional top-down forecasting methods fall short in capturing localized grid dynamics. This presentation introduces BUGMAP (Bottoms-Up Grid Model Adaptive Profiles), a pioneering methodology developed at SCE to simulate customer-level energy use and aggregate it into circuit-level insights. These tools enable utilities to improve grid planning, forecast demand shifts, and design smarter incentive programs.

Scott Farbman, Senior Manager, Energy Solutions (CalNEXT)

“Embodied Carbon: An Untapped Market in California”

Scott will present on an upcoming CalNEXT Market Characterization Study. The research covers Embodied Carbon, as it is a developing policy area with increasing focus in California and at the national level. He will share early findings, which suggest Embodied Carbon is an area within the building sector that can lead to incremental greenhouse gas emissions reduction at a low-to-no cost premium in market interventions that can complement existing Energy Efficiency programs.

Rick Olson-Huddle, Strategy Manager, CRTUs (CalMTA), and Garth Torvestad, Associate Director, Strategy and Innovation, 2050 Partners (CalMTA)

“Connected Controls and Commissioning: Improving Lifetime Efficiency of RTUs”

RTUs are the work horse of commercial HVAC, but have suffered from poor efficiency due to installation errors and undetected maintenance issues. Connected controls and commissioning (CCC) combines app-based startup routines, automated fault detection and diagnosis, remote connectivity, and demand responsiveness to improve the lifetime efficiency of RTUs. We’ll review the concept of CCC, especially on units with variable speed compressors, and provide insights from a unit installed at UC Davis.

Networking Breakout Rooms

The ET Summit will have a networking hour at the end of each day, with breakout rooms organized by topic. You'll be able to move freely between breakout rooms. You will receive invitations to the networking events after you register for the ET Summit.