Efficiency First California

Crawlspace Retrofits in Electrification Projects (2 Part Series) - WEBINAR - Fall 2025
2025-10-14 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Part 1 of 2 – October 14, 2025 (9am – 12pm)
Part 2 of 2 – October 30, 2025 (9am – 12pm)
By enrolling in this series, you agree to receive text message course reminders. To opt-out update your profile here or upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
Discover practical strategies for sealing and insulating crawlspaces to boost home performance and comfort. Learn from Dan Perunko of Balance Point Home Performance as he tackles moisture, rodents, and wildfire resilience. Ideal for professionals working on energy upgrades and crawlspace retrofits.
Dan Perunko
Dan Perunko is cofounder of Balance Point Home Performance Company. In 2006, along with Gavin Healy, Dan started a successful company providing full service home performance analysis, retrofits, consultations, and trainings. Dan works on new and existing construction designs and hands on installations of enclosures, mechanical, plumbing, and indoor air quality components based on tested performance outcomes. Dan especially enjoys improving existing homes to provide homeowners with levels of comfort and energy consumption that they have not believed possible. Dan is a professional trainer who designs and delivers full and multi day courses for California’s Utility Companies (energy training centers) and ACI national and regional conferences. Dan brings his experience from construction, design and building analysis, to make his class materials relevant, useful and understandable regardless of the attendees’ level of experience.

An Introduction to Passive House
2025-10-15 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
Passive House goals and methodology change how architects and builders think and work, making the architectural design a driver of climate, health, and social solutions. This course dives into the basic principles, history, certification, costs, systems, and applications of Passive House, including the new frontiers of Passive House design as it continues to challenge and change industry expectations.
To attend the entire Passive House Standard (8 Part Series) enroll here.

Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Why Passive House?
What’s the Logic of Passive House?
Passive House Methodology
The Tools
Examples

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Describe the goals of Passive House performance, including hygienic ventilation, thermal comfort, durability, energy efficiency, resilience, and affordability.
Outline the five fundamental principles of Passive House design and how each contributes to reaching occupant health, safety, and welfare goals
Describe how Passive House tools and methodology deliver predictable, high-quality results, allowing heating & cooling system sizing to be reduced by 75% typically
Outline how Passive House methods have been adapted and grown to include practically every building type while addressing all climate zones, from factories in Sri Lanka to office towers in Boston

2025 California Energy Code & Passive House
2025-10-22 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
This course will provide an overview of how the 2025 California Title 24, Part 6 code addresses Passive House concepts. We will look at basic Passive House principles, methodology, and performance targets, focusing on electrification goals and how they relate to the updated California codes. The class will illustrate the goals, strategies, and results with regional case studies.
To attend the entire Passive House Standard (8 Part Series) enroll here.

Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Passive House introduction
Title 24, Part 6 code updates
Case studies

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Explain Passive House principles and benefits
Describe relevant California code updates
Outline strategies for building design and construction to meet Passive House and new code requirements
Describe case studies of homes that achieve all-electric code-compliant Passive House outcomes and the strategies and outcomes

Electrify Efficiently: Electrification Opportunities for Plumbers
2025-10-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Course description

By enrolling in this course, you agree to receive text message course reminders. Upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
Electrification is taking form in California – gas water heaters are being phased out in the Bay Area by 2027 and over 70 municipalities have policies phasing out gas appliances. The massive transition from gas to electric will “spark” giant demand for all trades, including plumbers. In this session, Electrify My Home will introduce unique business opportunities for plumbers with a focus on heat pump water heaters, strategies for collaborating with other trades (e.g., electricians), and the importance of comprehensive electrification planning.
The U.S. Department of Energy has recognized this course as part of PG&E Energy Center’s Heat Pump Water Heater program as Energy Skilled in Installation. Energy Skilled heat pump water heater programs include important content to prepare students to install and specify high quality, next generation heat pump water heater systems. Enroll here to complete the three-part series to receive your Energy Skilled recognition.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Electrification market in California and PG&E service territory
Gas water heater phase out
Electrification opportunities in California
Heat pump water heaters and the electrical grid

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Summarize importance of Electrify My Home’s approach to ‘good electrification’
Name at least two factors driving the market for electric water heaters
Describe one feature of gas water heaters that’s lead to their phase-out.
Be aware of the percentage of California homes with a gas water heater
Explain why heat pump water heaters can be helpful for the electrical grid

Making a High Quality Home Electrification Plan
2025-11-04 09:00 - 10:30 | Online
This course introduces the ingredients of a good electrification plan and shows participants how to produce one. Trainers will start by demonstrating how to gather critical data from a home, including utility data, key photos, measurements and homeowner preferences. Next, participants will learn how to use that data, combined with load calculations (covered in the previous class), to select the best equipment for each end use in a home. Finally, trainers will show how to pull all of the pieces together into a set of actionable reports that homeowners can use to guide them on their electrification journeys. Home electrification plans emerge as a potential brand builders and differentiators for building contractors and tradespeople.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Gathering data for a quality electrification plan
Equipment selection
Key customer reports
Making the plan actionable
Installation costs and incentives
Keeping operating costs low
Myths of electrification debunked
Selling points of an electrification plan

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Identify the data that needs to be collected for a good electrification plan and where to find it
Select a set of electric appliances that both meets a client’s needs and avoids increasing the size of the main electrical panel
Produce a detailed project plan that shows how to achieve full electrification
Produce a wiring plan that helps guide electricians toward accurate bids even when electrification is phased over a couple of years
Describe how a plan helps customers gain the confidence to get started on electrification and avoid missteps
Articulate how electrification planning may boost sales or result in strong referrals

Conversations on 2025 CA Energy Code Updates for Lighting and Other Electrical Systems
2025-11-06 10:30 - 12:00 | Online
Course description

By enrolling in this course, you agree to receive text message course reminders. To opt-out update your profile here or upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
This class will present the most common questions being asked about the changes in the 2025 California’s Energy Code for electrical systems including lighting, electrical power distribution, photovoltaics, batteries and electric mechanical systems. Two energy code geeks, Charles Knuffke (Wattstopper Legrand) and Gina Griffiths Rodda (Gabel Energy for Energy Code Ace), will discuss popular topics and the impactful changes that will affect design decisions as our industry prepares for this new code cycle going into effect January 1, 2026.

Tools for Making a Home Electrification Plan
2025-11-07 09:00 - 10:30 | Online
This course introduces exciting new software tools that are available to make home electrification easier. Trainers will demonstrate in detail an iOS-based electrification planning app that makes a home electrification plan easy to produce. This application prompts users with questions to ask homeowners, guides the collection of onsite data, assists with equipment selection, performs heat pump sizing and electric load calculations and offers detailed project plans for tradespeople, in addition to wiring plans and load calculations in a useful format for securing permits.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Introduction to an iOS-based electrification planning tool
Demonstration of the tool for making a complete plan
Discussion of additional planning tools

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Download and use at least one available on-line tool for making home electrification plans
Explain how a plan can help make the most of an existing electrical panel
Generate an electrification plan for their own home
List three critical elements of a good home electrification plan
Describe how a plan helps homeowners gain the confidence to get started on electrification and avoid missteps

Air Sealing and Insulating for Electrification Projects (3 Part Series)
2025-11-18 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
Part 1 of 3 – November 18, 2025 (9am – 11am)
Part 2 of 3 – November 20, 2025 (9am – 11am)
Part 3 of 3 – December 2, 2025 (9am – 11am)

Air sealing and insulating are foundational to high performance homes, with numerous interactive benefits for the home and occupants. The Air Sealing and Insulating for Electrification Projects series will provide job-ready strategies and techniques for building more durable, healthier, comfortable and energy efficient homes.

Instructor Bio:
Dan Perunko
Dan Perunko is cofounder of Balance Point Home Performance Company. In 2006, along with Gavin Healy, Dan started a successful company providing full service home performance analysis, retrofits, consultations, and trainings. Dan works on new and existing construction designs and hands on installations of enclosures, mechanical, plumbing, and indoor air quality components based on tested performance outcomes. Dan especially enjoys improving existing homes to provide homeowners with levels of comfort and energy consumption that they have not believed possible. Dan is a professional trainer who designs and delivers full and multi day courses for California’s utility companies (energy training centers) and ACI national and regional conferences. Dan brings his experience from construction, design and building analysis, to make his class materials relevant, useful and understandable regardless of the attendees’ level of experience.

Building Electrification: Lessons from the Field
2025-11-18 09:00 - 13:00 | Online
Part 1 of 2 – November 18, 2025 (9am – 1pm)
By enrolling in this course, you agree to receive text message course reminders. To opt-out update your profile here or upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Heat pumps and electrification: necessity and benefits
Heat pump basics
Heat pump considerations
Case studies
Electrification financing resources
Closing thought on heat pumps

Building Electrification: Lessons from the Field - Part 2
2025-11-19 09:00 - 13:00 | Online
Part 2 of 2 – November 19, 2025 (9am – 1pm)
By enrolling in this course, you agree to receive text message course reminders. To opt-out update your profile here or upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
Decarbonization motivation
Heat pump types & retrofit opportunities
Low temperature operation and refrigerants
Case studies and best practices
Heat pump system design exercise
Looking ahead and wrap-up

Air Sealing and Insulating for Electrification Projects: Addressing Common Hazard During Energy Upgrades
2025-11-20 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
Course description

Part 2 of 3 – November 20, 2025 (9am – 11am)
Upgrading the thermal and air leakage performance of existing homes exposes a variety of hazards that many professionals either do not know how to address or how to communicate the importance of the issue to the customer. Estimators and installers, including DIY homeowners, take on additional liability when they fail to identify and remediate existing hazards during upgrade projects. In this two-hour class, instructor Dan Perunko of Balance Point Home Performance will cover the most common hazards that are regularly uncovered during energy upgrades and provide some practical strategies for resolving those issues.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
What hazards are exposed in typical efficiency upgrades
What is the risk management plan for addressing these hazards
Asbestos insulation
Electrical system faults
Combustion appliance vents and clearance to combustible materials
Combustion appliance vents that do not effectively remove pollutants from the building
Non-IC rated recessed fixtures
Vents that re-entrain gases or moisture in the building
Biological growth on building surfaces
Impact of realigning the air barrier or thermal boundary

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Identify three or more common hazards that may be uncovered during energy upgrades
List two or more repairs to mitigate common electrical hazards that are uncovered during energy upgrades
Identify the difference between fixtures which can be safely sealed with conventional air sealing material, and those that require high temperature sealant or treatments
Learn one or more key differences between combustion appliances that have single wall metal, double wall metal and plastic vent systems
Identify how targeted air sealing strategies enhance building envelope performance, reduce energy loads, and enable the successful implementation of electrification

Air Sealing and Insulating for Electrification Projects: Developing a Work Scope for Attic Efficiency Upgrades
2025-12-02 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
Part 3 of 3 – December 2, 2025 (9am – 11am)
Effective work scopes help contractors and customers achieve specific performance goals in a home’s attic efficiency upgrade. Developing a comprehensive, goal-oriented work scope can help contractors sell more jobs, differentiate their work from other contractors bidding on the job, and enables customers to prioritize their home upgrades within their budget, allowing for the possibility of future improvements. In this session, Dan Perunko of Balance Point Home Performance will draw upon his contractor experience to discuss how he approaches attic efficiency work scopes, from demolition, material selection and installation, to commissioning.
Agenda:

Introduction and safety message
How is high-performance a different business model
Setting your company standards
How to define cost-effective
Identify the outcomes the customer would like to achieve
Defining outcomes in the work scope
Developing costs for specific outcomes
Using options to define good, better, best
Using notes to clarify limits of what work accomplishes
Negotiating the outcomes in the work scope

The objective of this course is that at the conclusion, participants will be able to:

Specify at least three or more performance outcomes the work scope helps define
Explain one or more ways that a high-performance work scope is different from an industry standard sale process
Synthesize the home performance outcomes the customer would like to achieve
Describe one or more examples of how to itemize the work scope to facilitate a better understanding of cost segregation
Identify how targeted air sealing strategies enhance building envelope performance, reduce energy loads, and enable the successful implementation of electrification

Introduction to Heating and Cooling Load Calculations for Electrification Projects
2025-12-09 09:00 - 11:00
In this webinar, Judy Rachel will explain what a heating/cooling load calculation is and how it provides essential information for the successful implementation of electrification projects. Beyond providing the essential information for properly sizing a residence’s HVAC system, the heating / cooling load calculation informs electrification project design and planning in significant ways. In addition, this presentation will explore the business case for this important planning step within the construction process.
Accurately calculating the heating and cooling loads for a building provides the information necessary to choose appropriately sized space conditioning equipment. Right-sizing HVAC equipment provides a significant advantage in electrification projects. When pursuing electrification using right-sized, typically, lower capacity HVAC equipment you will frequently negate the need for panel upgrades. This contributes significantly to reducing project costs, while saving on energy consumption and ongoing costs to comfortably condition a given home.

Conversations on 2025 CA Energy Code Updates for Lighting and Other Electrical Systems
2025-12-11 09:30 - 11:00
This class will present the most common questions being asked about the changes in the 2025 California’s Energy Code for electrical systems including lighting, electrical power distribution, photovoltaics, batteries and electric mechanical systems. Two energy code geeks, Charles Knuffke (Wattstopper Legrand) and Gina Griffiths Rodda (Gabel Energy for Energy Code Ace), will discuss popular topics and the impactful changes that will affect design decisions as our industry prepares for this new code cycle going into effect January 1, 2026.

Energy Storage Systems for Backup Power
2025-12-12 12:00 - 14:00 | Online
Course description

By enrolling in this course, you agree to receive text message course reminders. Upon receiving your first message you will have the option to opt out by replying “STOP”.
While there are economic incentives for grid-interactive customers who combine PV generation with energy storage, customers when polled, said that their primary motivation for using PV and batteries systems is robust, 24/7 backup power on demand.
Nationally, extended utility disruptions caused by floods, landslides, wind storms, ice storms, geomagnetic solar storms, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, PSPS, earthquakes, aged infrastructure, replacement equipment shortages and deliberate sabotage, populate the news with alarming frequency and severity. Which battery-based backup systems truly deliver, meet, and exceed customers’ expectations during long-term utility power outages?
This class promises to address how variously-scaled PV production and battery energy storage systems coupled with smart, nimble, robust and locally-controlled load management can respond to the ever increasing challenges threatening to shoot out the lights.
In this class, Erik Frye will discuss experiences of owners of micro grids and battery based grid tied PV systems, including systems such as:

Tesla PowerWall
Enphase Ensemble
SolarEdge
Sol-Ark
LFP vs NMC vs NCA
SMA Sunny Island, SMA Sunny Boy, and SMA Tripower Storage
Non Export / Net Zero Self generation to meet self consumption with the added benefit of backup power
Stand Alone micro grids for entirely off grid applications
PGE meter base automatic transfer switch
Future projections

Residential Electrification and Decarbonization with the Passive House Standard
2025-12-17 09:00 - 11:30
The Passive House Standard encourages all-electric building design and construction in homes and buildings, which can help achieve the widescale decarbonization required for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Passive House Network will demonstrate how Passive House principles align with the California’s decarbonization goals. This session will cover the technology options for all-electric homes and outline the many reasons to electrify with the Passive House Standard for better health, comfort, and cost benefits.
