Buildings Waste Energy Because Nobody Fixes the Envelope First
California's electricity rates are the highest in the continental United States—36¢ per kilowatt-hour, 70% above the national average, and climbing 39% over six years. The grid is increasingly unreliable, with utilities executing Public Safety Power Shutoffs that leave entire regions without power during high-risk conditions.
Meanwhile, much of the state's institutional building stock—schools, government offices, hospitals, military facilities—was built before modern energy codes existed. Windows leak. Walls are uninsulated. Air infiltration is uncontrolled. The result: HVAC systems running at full capacity to compensate for what the building envelope should be handling on its own.
The standard retrofit makes this worse, not better. Most energy service companies lead with HVAC replacements, lighting upgrades, or rooftop solar—new equipment layered onto a building that still bleeds energy through its skin. The mechanical systems stay oversized. The solar array has to be larger than necessary. The savings are real but limited by a problem nobody addressed.
Our Methodology
Start with the Building. Everything Else Follows.
VALOREN follows the deep energy retrofit methodology endorsed by the U.S. Department of Energy and Rocky Mountain Institute: fix the envelope first, then address downstream systems in a sequence that compounds savings at each step.
Fix the Envelope
Replace windows, insulate walls and roofs, seal air leaks. Thermal load drops 25–40%. The building needs less energy before a single piece of mechanical equipment is touched.
Right-Size Downstream Systems
Smaller HVAC equipment. Optimized electrical distribution. Efficient lighting with sensors and controls. Building automation to monitor and verify performance. Every system is sized to the reduced load—lower capital cost, lower operating cost.
Generate Power On-Site
Rooftop solar, carport arrays, and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) produce electricity where it's consumed. Because the building now needs far less energy, the same solar array produces a surplus—accelerating payback and maximizing grid independence.
Store and Manage Energy
Battery storage systems shave peak demand, manage time-of-use rates, and provide backup power during grid outages and PSPS events. The building operates independently of what happens on the transmission network.
Lower Mechanical Cost + Right-Sized Systems
Greater savings. Lower total cost. A building that performs.
Every dollar spent on the envelope reduces the cost of mechanical systems downstream. A building with a good skin needs a smaller HVAC system—but keeps the same solar array and battery storage, which now produce far more energy than the building consumes.
Lower mechanical costs. Maximum energy production. True grid independence.
See Our Capabilities →