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South Coast Technology Center Project
<br />CEQA Exemption 15183
<br />the proposed Project would not result in unique or more intensive peak or base period electricity
<br />demand.
<br />The proposed Project would comply with RR E-3, requiring new buildings to achieve the current
<br />California Building Energy and Efficiency Standards and comply with the CALGreen Code.
<br />Moreover, the proposed Project would exceed the most current Title 24 (i.e., 2022 Title 24) by
<br />approximately 10 percent. Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards are updated every 3-year
<br />and become more stringent between each update, as such, complying with the most current Title
<br />24 standards would make the proposed Project more energy efficient than the existing buildings
<br />built under the earlier versions of the Title 24 standards. Additionally, the proposed Project would
<br />comply with RR E-4 and install high efficiency appliances.
<br />The electricity provider for the City, Southern California Edison, is subject to California's RPS
<br />reflected in Senate Bill (SB) 100. The RPS requires investor -owned utilities, electric service
<br />providers, and community choice aggregators to increase procurement from eligible renewable
<br />energy resources to 44 percent by the end of 2024, 52 percent by the end of 2027, 60 percent of
<br />total procurement by 2030, and 100 percent of total procurement by 2045. Renewable energy is
<br />generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished within a
<br />human timescale such as sunlight, wind, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. The increase in
<br />reliance of such energy resources further ensures that new development projects will not result
<br />in the waste of the finite energy resources. Therefore, by using electricity from SCE, the Project
<br />would be in compliance with RR E-5. As a result, the Project would ensure that energy
<br />consumption would be kept to a minimum through high efficiency lighting, energy efficient
<br />appliances, and potential on -site renewable energy production (i.e., solar -ready roofs).
<br />Therefore, consistent with the GPU PEIR, the Project would not cause wasteful, inefficient, and
<br />unnecessary consumption of building energy during Project operation, or preempt future energy
<br />development or conservation. A less than significant impact would occur in this regard.
<br />Impact Summary
<br />Based on the above, the Project's impact related to wasteful, inefficient, or unnecessary
<br />consumption of energy resources, during Project construction or operation would be less than
<br />significant. Project construction and operation would not result in new or substantially more severe
<br />impacts compared to the determinations of the GPU PEIR, which concluded that impacts related
<br />to energy consumption would be less than significant. Therefore, no new project -specific
<br />mitigation measures are required.
<br />CONSISTENCY WITH APPLICABLE ENERGY PLANS
<br />State and regional plans for renewable energy and energy efficiency include the California Energy
<br />Commission's Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), Title 24 standards and CALGreen Code,
<br />California's RPS, and the City's CAP. As discussed above, the net change in operational
<br />electricity consumption from the proposed Project would represent an approximately 0.0099
<br />percent increase in electricity consumption over the current countywide usage, which would be
<br />significantly below California Energy Commission's forecasts in the 2023 IEPR (i.e., forecasted
<br />baseline electricity consumption grows at a rate of about 1.7 percent annually through 2040); refer
<br />to Table 4.6-2. Therefore, the Project would be consistent with the California Energy
<br />Commission's 2023 IEPR. Further, the proposed Project would exceed the most current Title 24
<br />(2022 Title 24) by approximately 10 percent. The Project would also comply with the CALGreen
<br />Code which requires that new buildings employ water efficiency and conservation, increase
<br />building system efficiencies (e.g., lighting, HVAC, and plumbing fixtures), divert construction
<br />July 2024 Page 45
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