In the race to decarbonize, the U.S. commercial building sector offers significant potential to pay early dividends on climate action. At stake is seven percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to replace fossil fuels used primarily for heating and hot water, a sizable impact that could be more quickly attained than efforts to decarbonize other parts of our built environment.
This two-part webinar hosted by the Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) addresses the technical, financial, and policy challenges in achieving substantial decarbonization of existing commercial buildings in particular—the harder-to-transition bulk of this sector that requires large-scale retrofits.
Part 1: Decarbonization of Existing Commercial Buildings: Technical Issues & Opportunities
In part one, technical topics span analysis of conversion opportunities for both individual lab/office buildings and entire portfolios of buildings, district heat, and assessment of heat pump technology for this sector.
Recording (November 5, 2021)
Keynote Speaker
David Nemtzow, Building Technologies Office Director of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy
Keynote speaker David Nemtzow brings more than three decades of experience in the industry, including running a large state government energy and water department, a prominent bipartisan nonprofit energy efficiency association, and an energy consulting practice. His remarks will focus on the national roadmap for grid-interactive efficient buildings.
Panelists
Kurt Roth, ISE Senior Fellow and Head, Energy Systems, Fraunhofer USA Center for Manufacturing Innovation
Dr. Roth has led several studies to assess the energy savings and commercialization potentials of building technologies, including HVAC, building controls and diagnostics, and information technologies, and has served as Principal Investigator on several DOE-funded applied R&D projects. He discusses challenges to and opportunities for the decarbonization of smaller commercial buildings, particularly those conditioned by packaged rooftop units (RTUs), which account for the majority of commercial building HVAC energy consumption.
Gayatri Sundar Rajan, Student Researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University
Sundar Rajan is a Boston University Campus Climate Lab Researcher and an Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize recipient who’s majoring in mechanical engineering and specializes in energy and building heating electrification. She discusses the technical considerations and strategies to electrify existing large buildings at Boston University.
Mike Walters, Principal, Salas O’Brien
Walters is an industry leader in the comprehensive techno-economic analysis of energy systems and alternatives, with a background in high-performance buildings, energy planning, and the design and construction of geothermal systems and central energy plants. Walters focuses on decarbonization via electrification of district energy systems.
Michael Gevelber, ISE-affiliated faculty, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University
(moderator)
ISE-affiliated faculty Michael Gevelber’s engineering research focuses on developing enhanced materials processing capabilities through modeling, sensor development, experimentation, and integrated system and control design. His research includes developing a new system identification approach that helps optimize air flow in existing commercial buildings and conducting energy assessments for urban housing and universities.
Part 2: Decarbonization of Existing Commercial Buildings: Policy & Financial Issues
Part two focuses on policy and financial topics, including financing green buildings, the cost of alternative carbon reduction strategies and policy trade-offs, whole-campus electrification, and emerging energy reporting regulations.
Recording (December 3, 2021)
Panelists
Peter Y. Flynn, Managing Partner, Bostonia
Flynn is a managing partner of Bostonia Partners, a financial services and investment-banking firm that concentrates on real estate, energy efficiency/services and sustainable infrastructure. He focuses on financing energy efficiency, distributed generation, and renewable energy projects in the federal, commercial, and MUSH markets in the United States and Canada. Since 1998, Bostonia has financed over $15 billion in infrastructure assets, including approximately $3 billion in federal, municipal, and commercial energy projects. Flynn is a graduate of Syracuse University and Boston University School of Law. He will discuss financing green buildings.
Michael Gevelber, ISE-affiliated faculty, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University
ISE-affiliated faculty Michael Gevelber’s engineering research focuses on developing enhanced materials processing capabilities through modeling, sensor development, experimentation, and integrated system and control design. His research includes developing a new system identification approach that helps optimize air flow in existing commercial buildings and conducting energy assessments for urban housing and universities. He will discuss the cost of alternative carbon reduction strategies and policy trade-offs.
Jacob Knowles, Associate Principal, Director of Sustainable Design, BR+A
Knowles leads BR+A’s sustainability initiatives firm-wide. He has championed millions of square feet of Zero Net Energy buildings and Carbon Neutral campuses, leading to numerous grants and awards, including three AIA COTE Top Ten awards. He is also currently a board member of the Boston Society for Architecture. He will discuss the practical electrification of existing buildings.
Presentation: Existing Building Electrification
Brenda Pike, Climate Advisor, American Cities Climate Challenge, City of Boston Environment Department In her current role, Pike focuses on buildings and energy projects, such as performance standards, financing mechanisms, and workforce development. Prior to this, she was at National Grid designing residential energy efficiency programs for Mass Save, and at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional planning agency assisting cities and towns with clean energy projects. Pike will discuss updates to Boston’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO 2.0) requiring large buildings to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Presentation: Building Emissions Performance Standards
Elizabeth Beardsley, Senior Policy Counsel, U.S. Green Building Council (moderator)
Beardsley brings more than 20 years of professional experience working on environmental and climate issues both as an engineer and lawyer. At the U.S. Green Building Council, she provides strategic green building law and policy guidance and direction across the international, federal, state, and local spectrum, and her work focuses on connecting building policy to climate mitigation.
