CPUC Support

CPUC Support

CLTC communicates and collaborates with the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to provide objective information and expert analysis that may inform the Commission’s lighting-related energy policies, programs and mandates. CLTC supports the CPUC’s Energy Division in its lighting-related goals, initiatives and activities, including the Lighting Action Plan, a near-term implementation guide for achieving the goals stated in the Lighting Chapter of California’s Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan. The plan sets a 60-80% savings target for statewide lighting electricity consumption, to be reached by 2020. CLTC’s work spans the four areas of focus outlined in the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan: promoting best practices, addressing end-users’ needs and reducing demand, supporting policies that effect market transformation, and conducting research, development and demonstration.

In answer to the CPUC’s Lighting Action Plan, CLTC helped UC Davis develop the Smart Lighting Initiative, a comprehensive effort to reduce the campus’s electricity use for lighting by 60%, based on a 2007 baseline. To achieve this goal, the Smart Lighting Initiative has implemented many of the technologies and strategies developed at CLTC through its work with the State Partnership for Energy Efficient Demonstrations (SPEED) program. The retrofit and installation projects carried out as part of the Smart Lighting Initiative now serve as examples for other campuses and facilities striving to achieve similar efficiency goals.

CLTC also collaborated with the CPUC in developing the California Quality LED Lamp Specification, adopted by the California Energy Commission in late 2012. CLTC’s directors provided technical support and market intelligence in support of the voluntary quality specification for LED replacement lamps. It includes minimum standards for color quality, dimming and flickering, as well as a minimum five-year free replacement warranty. LED lamps that meet the specification criteria are eligible to be incentivized through IOU incentive and rebate programs; they will also qualify for branding as “California Quality” lamps. The quality specification is intended to help make reliable, high-quality LED lamps more affordable and easier to identify, an important help to consumers as they transition from incandescent to LED lamps.

Principal Investigator: Michael Siminovitch

Project Type