Chapter 3: Building Energy Use Strategies
Electricity and natural gas consumption in our homes, businesses, industries and public institutions (including the City government) results in over 342,000 tons CO2e per year emitted into the atmosphere – about 53 percent of Berkeley’s total GHG emissions. The energy we consume in our homes contributes about half of the total emissions from building energy use while energy consumption in non-residential buildings contributes the other half.
To stay on track to achieve the community’s interim emissions reduction target, the community should reduce the emissions that result from building energy use by 35 percent by 2020.
This is no easy undertaking, but it is possible. In fact, it is possible using existing, available technology. Essentially, the community’s task is to significantly reduce energy waste in our homes, businesses and institutions and “green” the energy supply that we consume.
The actions proposed in this chapter seek to serve as a guide for doing so. They are the following:
- Make green building the “business as usual” in the new construction and remodel market
- Enhance energy efficiency services and standards for existing residential properties
- Enhance energy efficiency services and standards for existing commercial properties
- Increase residential and commercial renewable energy use
- Increase energy efficiency and renewable energy use in public buildings
As is described in more detail below, developing and implementing these actions entails continuous improvement in building energy use services offered at all levels of the market. This means that minimum standards for energy efficiency in the residential and commercial sectors should continuously become more aggressive and more effective at saving energy and money over time. Likewise, voluntary energy service programs offered in the community should also be continuously expanded and integrated to become more effective and cutting edge over time.
Successfully implementing these actions also requires sustained collaboration across all sectors, including homeowners; tenants and landlords; business owners; real estate professionals; builders, architects, engineers, and contractors; city staff persons and elected officials; students, educators and school administrators; and others. Such collaboration has the potential to result not only in reduced GHG emissions, but also in an improved Berkeley building stock, reduced energy costs, and increased demand for “green jobs” in the building and energy service industries.
Read entire Chapter 3: Building Energy Use Strategies
Comments
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Buildings energy chapter
Post #8 by Steve Meyers on February 5, 2008 1:58PM
1. Make Green Building the “Business as Usual” in the New Construction & Remodel Market
Consider establishing energy efficiency standards for new construction and remodel projects that exceed the State’s Title 24 energy standards applied to Berkeley’s climate zone.
-- you might mention that a number of other cities in CA have done this
Identify and develop financial incentives, low-cost financing tools, and targeted tax rebates to enable increased green building in the private sector
-- given that there are State and Federal incentives that affect new construction, any further incentives from the City need to be considered very carefully
A policy worth at least considering is granting developers exemptions from various zoning requirements if they meet specific Green building levels – this was discussed by the DAPAC for downtown
2. Enhance Energy Services and Standards for Existing Residential Properties
Expand the distribution of free or subsidized energy and water saving devices and services to the mass market
-- such programs should be limited to low-income households
3. Enhance Energy Services and Standards for Existing Commercial Properties
Establishing new mandatory energy standards for all commercial buildings may eventually be necessary
-- does the City have legal authority to do this? I think that the development and administration of such a policy would be very expensive
4. Increase residential and commercial renewable energy use
Given the direction in which PG&E’s generation mix is heading, subsituting on-site PV for grid power will have a fairly small impact on CO2 emissions. [Better to encourage Berkeleyans to use their $$ to buy green cars]. Substituting solar water heating for gas-fired water heating would have more impact, though I think there are some questions about the long-term performance and reliability of residential solar water heating systems.
Creating a Residential Carbon Market to Achieve Measure G's Goals
Post #25 by Margit Roos-Collins on March 7, 2008 2:33PM
The CAP is full of good suggestions for increasing the likelihood that Berkeley residents will reduce their residential consumption of electricity and natural gas. Over the long run, however, we would probably be more likely to achieve our ambitious Measure G goal if the city could work with PG&E to create a residential carbon market, in which above-average utility consumers are charged a surcharge that the utility could then pass on to below-average users, either in the form of a rebate on their bill or an actual check.
PG&E could set the price of the surcharge per kilowatt or therm to whatever level was required to drive consumption down to the target level for that year. And some proportion of the surcharge could be set aside by the utility in a sort of escrow account so that when high users were ready to spend money on energy-conserving features, they could use that account.
In the meantime, the plan would dramatically shorten the pay-back period for any energy-saving features a resident installed, and it would cause heavy users to either change their use patterns or pay for others to change. For an expanded explanation of this idea, please see the library of longer comments.
