Staff Report Item 14
Staff Report Item 14
TO: East Bay Community Energy Board of Directors
FROM: Nick Chaset, Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: Health-E Communities Partnership Program Development (Action Item)
DATE: November 16, 2022
________________________________________________________________________ Recommendation
Direct EBCE Staff to develop a program proposal to deploy $15,000,000 in local development funds to deliver home electrification to households where one or more residents suffers from asthma. Program design parameters for staff to consider shall include:
1. Up to $15m in Local Development funds allocated over 3 years to fund home electrification
2. Program shall explicitly seek to target electrification measures into households where one or more residents has asthma
3. Program shall prioritize low-income households and multi-family housing
4. Program shall seek to demonstrate the role that electrification can play in improving indoor air quality and ameliorating public health outcomes for program participants
5. EBCE staff shall seek to partner with one or more healthcare providers (HPs) (ex:
hospital, federally qualified health clinic, public health agency) to design and deliver the program to households where their asthma patients reside
6. EBCE shall support its healthcare partners research into the long-term health benefits to program participants of residential electrification
7. EBCE staff shall seek to coordinate and partner with other local government agencies (ex: StopWaste) to design and deliver this program
EBCE staff shall bring a full program proposal including clearly defined goals, detailed budget and partners to the Board of Directors for consideration and approval prior to launching the program.
Background and Discussion
East Bay Community Energy’s Local Development Business Plan calls for targeted investments in electrification measures and projects that have the ability to improve indoor air quality and public health outcomes. While EBCE has been working to implement a number of Staff Report Item 14
residential electrification programs, EBCE’s current budget surplus has created an opportunity to set aside a significant amount of funding to support a transformational set of investments in electrification to demonstrate at scale the role that home electrification can play in reducing indoor air pollution and improving health outcomes. To this end, EBCE staff is seeking direction from the Board of Directors to move forward to design a program that explicitly seeks to target electrification projects in households where one or more residents suffers from acute asthma. To do so, EBCE staff will partner with local public health agencies, clinics and hospitals to recruit program participants from their patient populations. EBCE will also seek to support research by these health care providers – and other partners – to demonstrate the public health benefit of deploying electrification into households where residents have asthma.
EBCE staff – and partners – will develop a comprehensive program proposal for EBCE Board consideration in 2023.
Fiscal Impact
Board direction to staff to develop a program would require staff and attorney time, with only nominal fiscal impact. Staff’s proposal to the Board with respect to final program approval would include a detailed analysis of the fiscal impacts of the program.
Attachments
A. Health-E Communities Partnership Overview Presentation Health-E Communities
Partnership
Attachment Staff Report Item 14A
Health-E Communities Partnership Goals
● Deliver +1,000 home electrification retrofits into households where one or more resident suffers from asthma w/ explicit emphasis on low-income and disadvantaged communities
● Establishment necessary partnerships to reach these
households
● Pair home electrification program with necessary research to support scaling up home electrification as a part of public health response to Asthma and pulmonary disease
● Serve as a scalable demonstration project for intersectionality of home electrification and public health
Attachment Staff Report Item 14A
Health-E Communities Partnership: Aligning EBCE
Scope with EBCE Expertise
● Focus EBCE funding and engagement on funding
electrification retrofits (induction cooking, heat pumps) ● Recruit partners that can leverage external funding to support research goals, customer/community
engagement, integration of home electrification into public health services and scaling of program learnings
● Bring in external funding partners (ex: U.S. EPA, U.S.
HHS, CA ARB, Health/Climate philanthropy) to fund costs of public health partner participation in program
Attachment Staff Report Item 14A
Health-E Communities Partnership Framework
Board Action: Direct EBCE staff to move forward to develop a full proposal to implement Health-E Communities Partnership with EBCE funding up to $15m towards home electrification projects that benefit residents with asthma – over the next 3 year – and return to the Board of Directors for review and approval of the full proposal in 2023
Allocate up to $15m to fund residential electrification projects (e.g. induction cooking, heat pumps) for households where one or more residents suffers from asthma.
● Why $15m? $15m aligns with current EBCE Health-E Homes program incentive and loan levels (up to $10k for incentives and $5k per household in low interest loans) when scaling target participation to 1,000 participants. This funding level was also analyzed during the budget setting process and determined to be fiscally feasible Other Program Parameters
Prioritize funding in low-income households and multi-family housing Establish partnerships with ecosystem of electrification equipment and deployment partners to enable project deployments Establish partnerships with local, state and federal agencies working at the nexus of public health, asthma care and home electrification to support all phases of this project
Establish partnerships with one or more public health partners to support acquisition of their patients into program Establish partnerships with one or more PHPs to design and implement a coordinated research program to evaluate long term benefits of home electrification for asthma patients
Support efforts by PHPs to secure necessary funding to participate in Health-E Communities Partnership Attachment Staff Report Item 14A