The Portfolio Enhancements (PE) TPM addresses energy efficiency (EE) portfolio issues which cut across end-use technologies and represent new emerging policy, market or product trends. To address these issues, this TPM gathers a targeted list of portfolio barriers into one document for consideration by the larger community of EE stakeholders and provides actionable suggestions on potential CalNEXT research topics and offers definition, opportunities, and barriers for a sect of technology families in this area. For the 2026 PE TPM, we refined terminology and research approaches to align with EE portfolio priorities such as focusing on primary benefits of energy efficiency (kWh and kW reduction) and adjusted references from load shifting to demand flexibility which includes elements of demand management.
The Research Initiatives tables below describe the most important topic areas these technology research areas should be focused on, and the simplified icons indicate where the topic areas stand along the path of progression to technology transfer. The tables are meant to encourage research projects to fill the current gaps and advance the topic areas on the technology transfer path of progression.
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CalNEXT has highlighted this technology family as having high energy savings with any known barriers surmountable through targeted interventions within the Technology Category and will prioritize funding projects under this technology family.
This research family is focused on identifying opportunities to increase cost-effectiveness, adoption, and participation in Energy Efficiency programs and identify ways that Energy Efficiency can mutually reinforce other initiatives and policies such as Building Performance Standards and building decarbonization programs.
Additionally, this technology family may focus on increasing awareness and understanding of the market and programmatic constraints of cost-effective EE solutions including assessment of measure energy savings, TRC and TSB benefits and cost implications, adoption rates, and other factors contributing to EE measure adoption. This research may also consider market constraints to program participation such as limited financing solutions for certain market segments. While California has a rich and diverse set of delivery approaches to measures, including deemed, custom, and normalized metered energy consumption (NMEC)—in addition to recent policy changes that encourage innovation under the TSB metric and NMEC solutions—overall measure utilization remains low. Some measures have inherent barriers to adoption and implementation. Shedding light on some of these barriers, research needs, and tools can enhance awareness and uptake for EE savings, TSB, NMEC, and other methods, which will also support and validate a more robust EE portfolio.
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CalNEXT has highlighted this technology family as having high energy savings with any known barriers surmountable through targeted interventions within the Technology Category and will prioritize funding projects under this technology family.
This research family is focused on supporting affordability, electrification, fuel substitution from regulated fuels, and fuel switching from nonregulated fuels, as well as identifying critical barriers and developing consistent and effective solutions. The CPUC defines “affordability” fairly broadly in D. 20-07-032 as “the degree to which a representative household is able to pay for an essential utility service charge, given its socioeconomic status.” In this vein, CalNEXT focuses on the affordability for energy services related to electricity bills for residential customers (i.e., reference to “a representative household”). Non-residential customers (e.g., commercial, industrial, agricultural) are not directly implied based on the reference to “households” although there may be other interpretations of “affordability” from energy efficiency market actors including policy makers, program implementers and IOUs (e.g., program cost-effectiveness), supply chain actors such as manufacturers, distributors and contractors (e.g., whether or not it’s affordable or not to participate in the EE market), or other parties not mentioned. CalNEXT will focus on affordability from the point of view of end-customers in terms of their ability to afford electricity services.
California has some of the highest electric rates in the nation. The California legislature passed a suite of new bills to attempt to provide policy support that includes some directly targeting affordability concerns. However, ratepayers need more support from Emerging Technology Programs to identify additional pathways to help address energy affordability. Potential solutions should continue to encourage consumers to conserve energy as well as support investment in energy efficiency improvements, especially in populations experiencing the highest energy burden.
Decarbonization involves use of the most efficient conversion or fuel substitution strategies, switching from a carbon intensive fossil fuel source in buildings and transportation end-uses to electricity generated from a clean renewable energy source. Electrification is commonly achieved with individual end-uses but often requires a broader assessment of impact on the building, community, or utility infrastructure. Associated impacts can include necessary upgrades to a building and utility electrical infrastructure to accommodate the higher electric demand associated with increased electrification of building energy, transportation, and process loads in California homes and businesses as well as the incorporation of onsite renewable energy and energy storage.
Electrification of California’s buildings, end-uses and transportation will be essential to meet California goals to be carbon neutral by 2045, reducing carbon emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels (AB 1279, statutes of 2022), and requiring 100 percent of electricity by 2045 to be from renewable energy and zero-carbon resources (SB 100, statutes of 2018). In addition, South Coast and the Bay Area air quality management districts have passed new rules regulating emissions from space and water heating appliances, which will be a significant driver of electrification. California is making significant investments in building electrification through statewide and regional efficiency programs, large heat pump market transformation efforts such as TECH Clean California, and other rebates that encourage higher-efficiency products and electrical upgrades.
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CalNEXT has highlighted this technology family as having high energy savings with any known barriers surmountable through targeted interventions within the Technology Category and will prioritize funding projects under this technology family.
This research family is focused on adaptation in the EE portfolio to maximize decarbonization and TSB benefits by properly considering the time-dependence of energy consumption within the day and year. Currently, EE savings are attributed based on a limited set of load shapes, and load shifting, and demand management. Conversely, demand flexibility has not been included in EE measures (in terms of EE benefits) largely due to it being framed as part of Demand Response policy scope. This technology family will assess opportunities to consider the co-benefits of demand flexibility for EE measures as part of an Integrated Demand Side Management (IDSM) strategy. This research family will investigate ways to incorporate demand management, load-shifting, and demand flexibility attributes as part of EE measures such as identifying necessary research, the potential costs and benefits of incorporating demand flexibility co-benefits with EE programs and ways to incorporate Demand Response and decarbonization approaches alongside of existing EE measures and programs.
Note: The CPUC created a proceeding to address demand flexibility through rates in 2022 in R.22-07-005 (Order Instituting Rulemaking to Advance Demand Flexibility Through Electric Rates). Subsequently, in R.25-09-004 (Order Instituting Rulemaking to Enhance Demand Response in California) and in related staff proposals/Scoping Memo, the CPUC framed demand flexibility as a related concept within the broader demand response framework. While demand flexibility policy is still developing, particularly with ongoing pilots led by CalFUSE (California Flexible Unified Signal for Energy, this research family will monitor policy developments and consider how to support demand flexibility’s benefit to both EE and DR portfolios.
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CalNEXT has highlighted this technology family as having moderate to high overall energy savings with known barriers to entry that may be more challenging to address within the Technology Category and will consider funding projects under this technology family.
The refrigerants used to heat and cool buildings efficiently with heat pumps often contribute significant GHG emissions over the lifetime of the equipment in which they are used. This concept is referred to as “global warming potential” (GWP), and all refrigerants are assigned a GWP index relative to that of CO₂ and which describes the cumulative radiative forcing of a given refrigerant on the climate over the lifetime of that refrigerant in the atmosphere. Because a significant amount of refrigerant may be released from equipment due to leaks during installation, decommissioning, or operations, when refrigerant GWP is considered in the context of the GHG resulting from operating a piece of equipment, a high-GWP refrigerant used in that equipment may partially or completely offset any GHG emissions reductions resulting from using that equipment in place of less efficient electric equipment or fossil fuel equipment.
Fortunately, many low-GWP refrigerants, many of which are natural refrigerants such as CO₂, ammonia, and propane, also deliver efficiency benefits compared to synthetic refrigerant alternatives which may have high-GWPs. This research family is focused on determining pathways to integrate low-GWP refrigerant technology within the EE portfolio while simultaneously identifying opportunities to reduce costs, energy use, and lifecycle emissions.
This research family focuses on technology strategy and policy frameworks that could impact multiple end-uses. The objectives include:
Reducing leaks in existing refrigerant systems will complement the approaches within the HVAC, Water Heating, and Process TPMs, which will also drive active recovery, reclamation, and destruction of high-GWP refrigerants. Refrigerant emissions reductions should be pursued primarily as a co-benefit of broader energy efficiency investments, rather than as a standalone objective. Opportunities such as early retirement and replacement of HVAC, water heating, and refrigeration equipment can provide an effective pathway for refrigerant recovery, reclamation, and low-GWP adoption.
This framework also emphasizes the need to expand consideration of disruptive innovations, such as non-vapor compression systems that avoid refrigerants entirely, eliminating the risk of leakage and the need for refrigerant management. It will also be important to more clearly define Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM) within the California EE portfolio and incentive structures, which will create more cost-effective, impactful incentives and program interventions.
LRM broadly refers to the full lifecycle of refrigerants—from system selection and installation to refrigerant leak prevention, detection, and repair—during the operational life of equipment, as well as refrigerant recovery and reclamation or destruction at equipment end of life. Proper refrigerant charges are required for systems to operate at rated efficiencies, so LRM is essential to maximizing the performance of all systems that use refrigerants. LRM’s goal is to eliminate the GHG impact from refrigerant emissions, given these are primarily gases with global warming potential (GWP) values thousands of times higher than CO₂.
Note: This technology family is not intended to be a primary objective but rather a secondary (co-benefit) of focus alongside of existing EE opportunities such as conducting refrigerant swap-outs as part of overall EE upgrades (e.g., early retirement of HVAC equipment).
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