By Media Office Staff
SACRAMENTO — The California State Senate has confirmed Commissioner Andrew McAllister’s appointment to the California Energy Commission (CEC) by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The Governor appoints, with Senate confirmation, five commissioners to staggered five-year terms. The commissioners must come from and represent specific areas of expertise: law, environment, economics, science and engineering, and the public at large.
The Senate voted on August 22 to confirm McAllister for a third term as the CEC’s member with economics expertise. He is the lead commissioner for energy efficiency policy areas, which include the Building Energy Efficiency Standards, appliance efficiency, and load management and flexibility. He also co-leads on energy research, including hydrogen and industrial decarbonization. He has served continuously since his first appointment by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in May 2012.
McAllister recounted notable CEC successes from the past decade at his August 5 confirmation hearing with the State Senate Rules Committee: “We’ve built a world-leading building energy code and we update that every three years. … That’s a big win, both on the substance of the building code updates themselves and on the process — the trust that we’ve built through that process,” he said, citing the CEC’s consensus-building efforts among environmentalists, builders, local governments, trade allies and other stakeholders.
McAllister is as personally invested in energy efficiency building codes as he is professionally. Several years ago, he built his family home, putting into practice many of the design principles and technologies that will enable California’s progress toward full decarbonization. He now extolls firsthand the benefits of living in a high-performing, climate-friendly home.
Before joining the CEC, McAllister was managing director at the California Center for Sustainable Energy. He worked with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association International, Ltd. in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa on renewable generation, load management, utility planning and remote power projects. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Having worked to provide energy services in under resourced and remote communities across the globe, McAllister is attuned to the importance of equity in any steps toward decarbonizing buildings and moving to greener energy source He considers the equity perspective in every program that the CEC develops and implements.
McAllister holds a master of science and a Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor of arts from Dartmouth College.
His confirmation hearing can be found here.