It’s no secret a significant factor of tackling the climate challenge rests in the built environment. Buildings are massive consumers of energy and resources, as well as major emitters of greenhouse gases. According to a report from NREL, citing 2021 data from EPA and EIA, buildings are responsible for about 70 percent of the energy use in the U.S., about 40 percent of total primary energy consumption and about 30 percent of operational greenhouse-gas emissions. Buildings worldwide were responsible for about 37 percent of global CO2 emissions in 2020. (Read the report.)
Lowering the energy used and emissions generated by buildings is vitally important, and the drive toward better energy efficiency has indeed been the backbone of much of the green-building movement of the past two decades.
The good news is those efforts have not been in vain. Findings in a recent USGBC report, “State of Decarbonization: Progress in U.S. Commercial Buildings 2023,” show absolute commercial-building emissions in the U.S. have decreased to 1990 levels, in spite of a 55 percent increase in commercial floor area since then. The same report states buildings constructed in 2023 are projected to be 15 percent more efficient than those built in 2017. (Read USGBC’s report.)
Despite the good news, the fact remains: Most of the energy currently being used, in the form of grid-delivered electricity and direct space heating, comes from sources that continue to emit CO2. To make the next leap in decarbonization, the demand and supply sides must set a new course toward electrification. Electrification is a term that is coming up more often in the context of community and building planning. But what does it mean?
Going Electric
“We think about electrification in really simple terms—remove all need for fossil fuels onsite and you are left to develop approaches for heating, cooling and domestic hot water based on systems that use electricity,” says Lonn Combs, FAAR, AIA, principal and cofounder, EASTON COMBS Architects. “Electric-based systems have been around for a long time but historically many of these systems were never that efficient. There was simply no incentive to bring affordable high-efficiency electric-based heating and cooling systems to market when dependable solutions using readily available and inexpensive fossil-fuel-based solutions were everywhere. That is changing.”
“A key to progress has been a rapid expansion of high-efficiency electric-based systems,” adds Rona Easton, RA, NCARB, ARB, principal and cofounder, EASTON COMBS Architects. “Another has been the expansion into renewables to generate electricity. In terms of onsite production, solar coupled with battery backup is an obvious approach but, generally speaking, the transition to electrification can influence the next generation of utility-level power generation and further support the onboarding of renewable power-generation capacity at a grid level.”
Investments in renewables increasingly are being made, thanks in part to funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In the first year since the law’s passage, approximately $282 billion was invested in renewable-energy projects. Substantial incentives also are available to businesses and homeowners for upgrades and energy-efficiency retrofits.
Code Green
IRA also provides $1 billion to improve state and local energy codes to help push the drive toward electrification and net-zero targets. The goal is to achieve a carbon-free economy by 2050, and it will take a lot of work to make that happen—work that must start now.
Part of that work is the traditional energy- efficiency improvements we’ve been pursuing for many years. ASHRAE 90.1 continues to be the gold standard in that realm, and ASHRAE has committed to net-zero for all new buildings by 2030. Buildings themselves remain an enormous part of the equation.
The recently released Building Performance Standards (BPS): A Technical Resource Guide was created jointly by ASHRAE, DOE and DOE’s national laboratories to provide the information needed to make informed design decisions that drive deeper existing building decarbonization and provide equitable outcomes for all involved. “These methodologies and approaches are a critical starting point for moving our building stock toward a high-performance, decarbonized future, and we’re intentionally doing everything we can to reduce the barriers stakeholders have to engage with this content wherever possible,” said DOE’s Harry Bergmann, who led DOE’s involvement in this effort.
Buildings are a key ingredient, but achieving true zero emissions means taking a more holistic approach that includes electrification and other strategies. This is where many states, municipalities, and local entities are stepping forward to set targets, incentivize innovation and establish codes to point the way forward.
Local Action
“There are many states that have climate-action plans in place today, which discuss energy systems in some detail,” explains Mike Aziz, AIA, partner with Cooper Robertson. “We’re seeing sweeping changes in the way building codes are being written, and policies at the local and state level limit the amount of energy that can be drawn from natural gas or coal as part of development. Some go as far as a complete moratorium on new gas hookups, which is interesting. Instead of incentivizing, they’re just cutting off the opportunity to do it.”
Examples of such policies include Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson recently proposed legislation establishing an indoor-emissions standard to eliminate use of fossil fuels in new construction and building additions of more than 10,000 square feet. If approved by the City Council, such a law would likely go into effect one year after its passage.
The city of Denver also has launched an electrification effort, dovetailing with the state of Colorado’s sustainability and decarbonization targets. New building codes in Denver will ban natural-gas furnaces and water heaters in new commercial and multifamily construction beginning in 2024. By 2027, natural gas will not be permitted for any heating or cooling equipment in new commercial buildings. (It’s important to note, given recent prominently voiced concerns, these codes do not impact residential gas stoves.)
At an even more local level, action is being taken by many smaller communities, universities and corporate campuses to blaze a path to electrification.
“We recently completed a long-range plan at the University of Maryland, which identified ways to systematically decommission the central steam utility plant,” Aziz says. “We developed phased strategies for shifting toward a smaller district-scale, electrification strategy that pairs satellite utility buildings with large-scale geothermal, deep-energy building retrofits and high-performance new buildings.”
A key to the University of Maryland’s strategy is geothermal. For example, a lot of energy is used to heat water in campus settings like this, and smart use of geothermal can take the load off traditional natural-gas-powered water-heating systems.
“About 90 percent of university buildings need low-temperature hot water, and that’s what the ground can give you,” Aziz explains. “You need to get the water temperature up to 140 F; if you start at the 50-70 F found underground, you don’t need a lot of energy to get water to 140. That can be done with electricity. You store the water in the ground, and you bring it up to whatever temperature is needed.”
Buildings need to find new ways to operate without direct use of fossil fuels, and utilities need to generate the clean energy that will power the built environment of the future, free of greenhouse-gas emissions.
The Future is Electric
The sustainability movement, unfortunately, has long been compartmentalized. There are individual crusades focused on materials, embodied carbon, operational carbon, renewable energy, energy efficiency and so many other factors. The truth is, to address the climate crisis before us, we need strategies that embrace and embody all these themes and more.
In many ways, the move toward electrifying our buildings is an example of the kind of big-picture thinking required. More than just a singular tactic, it is a long-term transformational goal that relies on change and advancement from many sectors. Buildings need to find new ways to operate without direct use of fossil fuels, and utilities need to generate the clean energy that will power the built environment of the future, free of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Inspiring investment toward targets in a yet-unseen future with incomplete infrastructure is no easy task. Fortunately, the data has been compelling enough to convince major cities, smaller communities and campuses, and more.
“It’s important that decisions around these big investments are data informed,” Aziz notes. “It’s important to communicate the value of the long-term economic, environmental and social value to decision-makers— whether that be the president of a company or university or the mayor of a city. You cannot avoid upfront costs, but when you look at the long-term benefit in value to residents of a community, it’s undeniable the high value of these investments. Communicating using real data is how we build consensus.”
IMAGES: Cooper Robertson