California Air Resources Board

Feasibility study to identify strategies to cut all greenhouse gas emissions from ongoing operations in buildings and at the community scale

Overview

Commercial and residential buildings contribute 30 percent of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to energy demand, water use, and wastewater treatment. Additional GHG emissions occur during the operation of buildings from waste generation and vehicle trips taken for commuting, shopping, travel and leisure. California’s 2017 Climate Change Scoping Plan recognizes that zero net carbon buildings should contribute significantly to achieving long-term climate goals. Zero net carbon buildings and communities are those that generate zero, or nearly zero, emissions from ongoing operations. This research project assessed the feasibility of (a) building-scale transportation, water, solid waste and building energy strategies to achieve zero net carbon building in California, and (b) community-scale strategies in those resource areas to achieve zero net carbon community performance. This research project expanded on work completed through an Advanced Energy Community (AEC) project in Richmond, CA, which was funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Research assessed the overall feasibility of strategies that could be implement in this disadvantaged community to identify replicable strategies for other communities in California.

The results show that zero net carbon new construction, incorporating modest off-site mitigation, is generally feasible for warehouses, strip malls, single-family residential, and multifamily residential buildings across California in the next decade.  For large offices and schools, much larger amounts of off-site mitigation, slower implementation schedules, and/or new strategies and technologies are needed to achieve zero net carbon performance. At the community scale, building electrification is by far the most important strategy, followed by vehicle miles travelled (VMT) reduction, plug load/lighting efficiency, building load shifting, rooftop solar, and battery storage to achieve an 82-92 percent reduction of GHG emissions by 2050.  Policy mechanisms such as building location (in addition to building design, operation, and management) and large-scale electrification of buildings play an important role in achievement of zero net carbon performance.  Results of this study can be used to continue to inform incentive programs for building-scale GHG mitigation under CEQA, update building standards for new construction, and support local government efforts to electrify existing buildings. Results can also be used to set building electrification targets in California.

Speakers

William Eisenstein, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Center for Resource Efficient Communities (CREC) at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on urban sustainability, climate change, water efficiency, energy efficiency, and land use. Dr. Eisenstein serves as the Urban Systems and Institutions leader for the National Science Foundation's engineering research center on Re-Inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt), and served on the California Air Resources Board's Research Screening Committee reviewing diverse research pertaining to California's landmark greenhouse gas regulations and sustainable communities. Dr. Eisenstein has also served as a consultant to the State of California's Delta Vision process, the Delta Conservancy, the Delta Protection Commission, and the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan. He has also worked with Urban Ecology, Greenbelt Alliance, the Tri-Valley Business Council and others on urban sustainability issues in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Eisenstein holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Planning as well as a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.  Dr. Eisenstein received his undergraduate degree from Oberlin College with highest honors.

Dr. Carrie Brown is a Director at Resource Refocus LLC specializing in zero net energy (ZNE) and zero carbon (ZC) research and consulting; energy efficiency consulting for commercial, residential, and multifamily buildings; building performance simulation; and state and federal energy policy research. She is active in the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) professional communities, where she is the President of IBPSA-USA, chaired the 2020 ASHRAE/IBPSA-USA Building Performance Analysis/SimBuild Conference, and works with the ASHRAE Decarbonization Task Force. She holds a Ph.D. in Building Technology from MIT, an M.S. in Architecture with a concentration in Building Science from UC Berkeley, and a B.S. in Architecture from MIT.

Teresa Whinery is a transportation planner at Fehr & Peers who is passionate about data-driven analysis of where, when, and how we travel. She has worked on numerous projects related to California’s Senate Bill 743 (SB743), including overseeing SB743 implementation for multiple cities and counties. She leads Fehr & Peers Transportation Demand Management practice, and has developed quantitative methods to assess the potential for infrastructure and programs alike to influence travel behavior, VMT, and vehicle trips. Teresa holds a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and a B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University.

Mr. Rubin is a member of Energy Solutions’ Policy and Ratings team specializing in modeling the energy, environmental, and economic impacts of equipment standards, building codes, and other climate policies. He has led a variety of potential and feasibility studies, including analyses of: how California can reach its 2030 goal for doubling energy efficiency; the potential impacts of New York State appliance standards; the potential benefits of reducing standby energy use in a wide range of devices; and the potential global energy impacts of wireless battery charging. In leading these studies, Mr. Rubin spearheads the development of methodology for research, modeling, and visualization, serves as a technical project manager, and bridges the gap between research and policy. He has also led qualitative studies, such as an international review of best practices for developing and implementing equipment standards and an analysis of the top ten policies to facilitate rapid building decarbonization in California. Mr. Rubin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from UC Berkeley, with a concentration in the Energy and Resources Group program.