Barnacle's Bribes: Petaluma Councilman Received $450k Grant to Design & Implement an Incentive Program for California Electric Homes
Petaluma Councilman Barnacle collaborated with XeroHome and PG&E to create an 'Urban Building Model' for all Petaluma single family homes
On January 25, 2023, the California Energy Commission’s solicitation department sought proposals for a third-party program administrator to design and implement an incentive program and provide technical assistance to potential and current program applicants for transitioning to California Electric Homes. The third-party administrator selected to receive the grant funds will distribute incentives for all-electric buildings and energy storage systems in new residential market-rate construction in California. (General Fund Funding).
The Proposed resolution selected TRC Engineers, Inc. to help design and implement a residential all-electric and energy storage construction incentive program in California and provide technical assistance. Funding for this agreement is up to $68,124,971, including up to $58,125,000 to be distributed as incentives and up to $9,999,971 for administrative costs.
As the Director of Strategy & Development, Building Decarbonization Coalition, Petaluma Councilman Brian Barnacle received a $450k grant with $0 in matching funds for his organization as a TRC Engineers subcontractor.
The program began January 25, 2023 with an end date of January 24, 2029.
On May 8, 2023, the City of Petaluma held a Budget Workshop for FY 2023-2024 to review the proposed operating and capital budgets and revised Long-Term General Fund Operating Forecast.
Goals and priorities as detailed in the proposed Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program included:
Expand and resource the Climate Ready Petaluma 2030 initiative, empowering community members towards equitable decarbonization of buildings and transportation.
Execute an agreement with Syserco Energy Solutions to study energy upgrades and decarbonization measures for City facilities.
Support a full roll-out of the Xerohome (Vistar Energy Inc.) electrification assistance tool
Major accomplishments and highlights within the Program included:
A collaboration with XeroHome and PG&E to create an Urban Building Energy Model for all Petaluma single family homes, a tool that helps residents decarbonize their homes.
Councilmembers provided comments on the general fund and department budgets. Mr. Barnacle failed to abstain from the discussion.
The May 2023 Register approved by Petaluma City Council indicated that Mr. Barnacle and his colleagues approved $8,162.92 for XeroHome postcards.
According to Silicon Valley Clean Energy, XeroHome was a new pilot program that aimed to advance through local innovation partnerships. XeroHome is an app that supports home electrification by customizing appliance recommendations, predicting utility bill impacts, and connecting users directly to contractors, all in the app. This pilot will use feedback from SVCE customers to develop an optimized design for a mobile app to engage homeowners to understand their emissions and pursue decarbonization initiatives.
Additional information about the pilot program was detailed in their 2021 Innovation Impact Report.
As cited from a previous XeroHome press release:
“CEO Mudit Saxena presented at Electrify Petaluma, an education and feedback event hosted by the City of Petaluma and Cool Petaluma. Attendees got a chance to learn from experts in residential electrification, ask questions and share challenges and experiences. From design to installation to maintenance, we all need help to make the transition to a cleaner and more sustainable future.
The City of Petaluma collected feedback from attendees as they discussed challenges and opportunities in home electrification. The event features presentations from:
Cool Petaluma (John Crowley)
City of Petaluma (Jerome Hoberg/Rhianna)
Building Decarbonization Coalition (Ted Tiffany)
Sonoma Clean Power (Felicia Smith/Scott Lawrence)
BayREN (Brian McLaughlin)
XeroHome (Mudit Saxena)
County of Sonoma (Christine Condon/Dori Estrella)
About XeroHome in Petaluma, CA
As part of City of Petaluma’s commitment to reaching carbon neutrality, the city in collaboration with Pacific Gas & Electric Company, have provided access for all residents to XeroHome’s web based portal. With XeroHome, residents can identify ways to reduce their home energy bill and lower your carbon footprint. This tool will help Petaluma residents develop a personalized plan to make their home more energy efficient and show which local, state, and federal rebates are available to make these updates possible.
Are you a Petaluma resident?
Check out the XeroHome app and explore ways to make your home carbon free today!”
Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s 2020 Building Decarbonization Joint Action Plan included Mr. Panama Bartholomy, Founder of Building Decarbonization Coalition as a stakeholder whom contributed to Plan development. Mr. Bartholomy is the former Vice Chair of the City of Petaluma Climate Action Commission.
Mr. Bartholomy did not disclose a single source of income, real property or investments on his Form 700’s throughout the years. The Fair Political Practices Commission opened a case this week to ensure no conflicts of interest are present regarding City contracts.
Mr. Barnacle’s candidate statement of economic interest (Form 700) submitted to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) in 2020 included Outthink LLC as a source of income. The entity appears to be a consulting firm focused on two primary clients: Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV) & Building Decarbonization Coalition.
ProspectSV offers support, mentorship, and promotion designed to get solutions to market viability and revenue quickly. The organization’s advisory support gives you access to:
Corporate partners and investors
Invitations to ProspectSV events and meetings
Advisors across virtually any discipline
Exposure to project and customer opportunities
Funding announcements from State and Federal grant programs
Ironically, Silicon Valley Clean Energy highlighted Mr. Barnacle’s company, Outthink as a previous ‘Pilot Partner’. Outthink was tasked with reducing emissions through active transportation and mode shifting with E-Bikes within the City of Gilroy, Silicon Valley, CA.
The pilot equipped four income-qualified Gilroy residents with electric bikes (e-bikes). Pilot partner, Outthink, coordinated with the City of Gilroy to implement quick-build streetscape modifications, known as Tactical Urbanism, that aims to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Outthink submitted a list of recommendations for street improvements to the City of Gilroy, and within a week the city was able to add a new bike lane and expand an existing bike lane to two of the most impacted streets within the city.
Are Mr. Barnacle, Mr. Bartholomy and others serving within Petaluma City government utilizing their positions as ‘public servants’ to push leftist narratives in exchange for profit?
“You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.”
-Malcolm X
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I'm sure Brian is a sincere environmentalist. Lots of grant money is available for start ups with a plan or cause to promote. The legalities of a business promoting heat pumps as a cleaner option is legal. However being on an elected council of decision makers that work with town planners on developing policy of going "all electric preferred" in new development is a little fishy. A city policy stating that the energy efficiency standard be "AS IF they used heat pump technology" sounds downright heavy handed influence.
What’s the status of the FPPC cases?