This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN), a network of local governments partnering to promote resource efficiency at the regional level, focusing on energy, water and greenhouse gas reduction.
From providing home upgrade rebates for residents, to piloting resilience programs for local libraries, BayREN — administered by ABAG — has been busy the past 10 years. BayREN has a unique program structure: it is a collaboration of the nine Bay Area Counties, with one member agency representing each county.
BayREN was approved as one the first Regional Energy Networks (RENS) in California. RENS have unique directives to fill gaps that utilities are not serving, develop programs for hard-to-reach communities, and pilot innovative and scalable initiatives.
In its first two years, BayREN launched five programs serving residential, commercial and local government sectors. These efforts upgraded nearly 10,000 homes and provided $8 million in rebates.
To date, BayREN has helped mitigate 156 tons of carbon, upgraded 60,695 housing units and provided $55.4 million in incentives to make help make the region more environmentally friendly. It is always looking for new partners to create healthier, more sustainable communities across the Bay Area.