As a Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) member, the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) leads the BayREN Water-Energy Nexus initiative to design and launch a regional Water Bill Savings Program to address California’s mounting water supply and climate adaptation challenges.A collaboration of BayREN, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and Bay Area water utilities, Water Upgrades $ave is based on the pay-as-you-save model used by Windsor Efficiency PAYS®, Green Hayward PAYS®, and East Bay Municipal Water District’s WaterSmart On-Bill Financing programs. The program enables participating municipal water utilities to offer their customers a simple path to install water efficiency upgrades with little-to-no up-front cost — because participating customers pay for improvements through a monthly on-bill charge at the improved location with the assurance that bill savings exceed the on-bill charge. Chris Cone leads the BayREN/RCPA Water Upgrades $ave program team working on program design, model tariff and billing protocols, technical assistance, financing services, marketing resources, customer tools, and partner water utility recruitment.

Consulting firm specializing in performance-based solutions that drive scalable clean energy investment, deliver grid value and rate protection, and foster innovation, accountability, and competition. Projects included “Exploring Advanced Rate Structures to Expedite Solar + Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Deployment,” a grant project with the Solar Energy Innovation Network funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to create a DER rate structure design tool that captures the value of DER projects (including distributed solar photovoltaics, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles, and demand response); can be readily adopted, customized, and updated by electricity providers in response to load management imperatives, policy directives, technological advances, and customer demands; and enables informed and expedited deployment of DER resources.SERVICES INCLUDE:PROJECT/PROGRAM MANAGEMENT: Communicating complex technical concepts to a non-technical audience requires a clear writing style, industry knowledge, collaboration and research skills, and publishing expertise to ensure reports, memos, proposals, websites, and other publications engage and inform the reader.TECHNICAL WRITING: Putting ideas into action as a project or program requires management skills, industry expertise, stakeholder communications, and the ability to achieve the clients' desired outcome.GRANT WRITING: Crafting a compelling project description, well planned budget, and clear compliant application provides clients with a competitive grant funding edge.RESEARCH: Technology, policy, regulation, and emerging markets provide valuable data. Finding the right resources, tracking trends, and providing a complete picture provides clients with a factual basis for decision making.ANALYSIS: Mining research sources to achieve both broad and focused insights helps inform clients' strategic and tactical planning in a fast-paced industry.

Oversaw day-to-day operations of 501(c)6 statewide trade association advocating on behalf of the building performance industry to create a scalable sustainable energy efficiency market that competes on efficiency and innovation.INNOVATION: Collaborated on and promoted game-changing initiatives to enable scalable market growth (e.g., Efficiency First California Market-Based Solution; www.efficiencyfirstca.org )ADVOCACY: Developed/delivered building efficiency industry advocacy regarding California Public Utility Commission policy rulemaking, California Energy Commission regulatory, and Energy Upgrade California™ issues to state government, utility, and market partnersCOLLABORATION: Facilitated two contractor/program partner forums to expedite problem solving and find and expedite solutions to persistent market barriersIMPLEMENTATION: Managed contracts valued at approximately $960K providing home performance rebate program administration (Sacramento Municipal Utility District [SMUD] Home Performance Program), program collaboration forum facilitation (Build It Green), and contractor educational Webinar production services (Build It Green).

Facilitated the implementation of greenhouse gas reduction initiatives to reach goals for the built environment as outlined in the Sonoma County Community Climate Action Plan (2008; www.coolplan.org) in partnership with the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority.INNOVATION: (1) Launched Sonoma County Building Retrofit Initiative that obtained $416K in local Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding to support statewide grant application (facilitated by BKi, underwritten by Sonoma, Los Angeles, and Alameda counties) that successfully won $10.75M in State Energy Program (SEP) funding to establish what is now Energy Upgrade California™; (2) played key role in the acquisition and implementation of a 2010 DOE Better Buildings Program (BBP) grant that provided $1.14M to Sonoma County for two pilots including establishment of the award-winning Windsor Efficiency PAYS® water/energy utility tariff program.COLLABORATION: (1) Convened Sonoma County Building Retrofit Initiative Committee; (2) conducted Sonoma County program design stakeholder meetings for SEP residential energy efficiency program development (precursor to Energy Upgrade California) and BBP Windsor Efficiency PAYS® pilot development; (3) facilitated DOE Better Buildings Program Whole-Neighborhood Approach statewide committee (six [6] California whole-neighborhood pilot programs)IMPLEMENTATION: Implemented key elements of the Sonoma County SEP residential energy efficiency program and two BBP grant pilots in association with local climate protection and PACE financing partners.PUBLICATION: (1) Renewable-Based Energy Secure Community Sonoma County (RESCO) Task 5 Analysis and Modeling (2012), co-author; (2) Retrofit Bay Area Final Report (2012), contributor main report, author Attachment G; (3) DOE BBP grant pilot reports, coordinator/author; (4) Sonoma County Community Climate Action Plan (2008 ), technical editor, community contributor.

Consulting firm offering services for residential energy efficiency and HERS rating, and technical editing/writing services for a wide range of projects in the environmental industry.

Coordinated community stakeholder process and prepared content for Sonoma County Solar Implementation Plan for the nonprofit Solar Sonoma County, under a U.S. Department of Energy Solar America Cities grant in partnership with the City of Santa Rosa. The Sonoma County Solar Implementation Plan may be accessed at: http://www4.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/resource_center/resources/sonoma_county_solar_implementation_plan INNOVATION: Building on local precedent for countywide climate protection efforts, facilitated a countywide, inclusive stakeholder process to evaluate, identify, and document opportunities for coordinated initiatives to increase solar capacity and energy efficiency adoption throughout all ten local government jurisdictions.ADVOCACY: Presented the completed Sonoma County Solar Implementation Plan to all ten local governments during campaign to seek city and county adoption of report recommendations.COLLABORATION: Facilitated participation by a 50+ member stakeholder committee representing local business, industry, government, and community groups in the Solar Implementation Plan development including leading breakout sessions, conducting interviews, and assessing/prioritizing a range of action step recommendations from stakeholder participants.IMPLEMENTATION: Designed stakeholder and report preparation process to obtain high level of local content and identify specific actionable opportunities for achieving the project goal: Increase installation of solar capacity and energy efficiency within Sonoma County.PUBLICATION: Researched, obtained stakeholder input, and authored Sonoma County Solar Implementation Plan to provide local governments with clear action steps to increase clean energy capacity through installation of solar systems and energy efficiency measures in the county building stock.

Green Energy Loan was a prototype residential efficiency/financing program initiated by the Global Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit group of local investors seeking business solutions for climate change.INNOVATION: Designed program format and marketing campaign to offer local homeowners home equity financing and home energy assessment services for energy efficiency, water conservation, and solar capacity to provide home owners with a master plan of clean energy opportunities for their home and local financing.COLLABORATION: Worked with Sonoma County Water Agency, local solar installers, and EnergyCheckup™ home assessment program to create a comprehensive evaluation process for homeowners interested reducing their residential carbon footprint.

SENIOR TECHNICAL WRITER providing technical writing and editing services for a wide range of client deliverables including technical reports, environmental impact statements, and project reports.

DELIVERABLES MANAGER providing technical editing, writing, document design, and document production services for client deliverables including remediation investigation reports, Phase I environmental site assessments, sample and analysis plans, health and safety plans, damage evaluation reports, and over 150 mold/indoor air quality (IAQ) investigation reports; company marketing materials including statements of qualifications, brochures, marketing packet contents, and Web site design and content, as well as mold/IAQ contracts.

DOCUMENT MANAGER for environmental services department providing technical editing, writing, document design, and production services on deliverables such as NEPA/CEQA-compliant environmental impact reports, environmental impact statements, environmental assessment/restoration plans, risk management plans, water quality monitoring reports, and remediation monitoring reports.PRODUCTION MANAGER for Timbisha Shoshone Legislative Environmental Impact Statement, National Park Service ($600,000 contract). Environmental assessment of land transfer plan involving National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and multiple local governments to create a tribal homeland for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe in Death Valley. Reviewed and summarized 258 comment letters for report, provided technical editing and indexing services, oversaw coordination of five-person project staff to assemble LEIS contents, graphics, and production services; three-volume report was executed on accelerated Congressional schedule to support the passage of the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2001.