{"id":11861,"date":"2019-05-20T17:31:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T21:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/?p=11861"},"modified":"2025-01-29T18:38:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T23:38:32","slug":"carbon-free-boston-technical-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/2019\/05\/20\/carbon-free-boston-technical-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Free Boston Technical Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>A technical dive into Carbon Free Boston<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/profile\/cutler-cleveland\/\">Cutler J. Cleveland<\/a>, Peter Fox-Penner, Michael J. Walsh, Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/profile\/sucharita-gopal\/\">Sucharita Gopal<\/a>, Joshua R. Castigliego, Taylor Perez, Adam Pollack, and Kevin Zheng<\/p>\n<p>May 2019<\/p>\n<p>To supplement the Carbon Free Boston Summary, the Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) provides further technical detail and an in-depth analysis of the strategies in buildings, transportation, waste, energy, and carbon offsets that together point the way to a carbon-neutral Boston. This research lays out the assumptions and approach for the state-of-the-art modeling work and describes in more detail the policy instruments and data that underlie the effort.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Key Findings<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are three overarching strategies for decarbonization:\n<ol>\n<li>reducing demand for energy through increased efficiency and decreased consumption;<\/li>\n<li>transitioning to clean energy electrification from fossil fuel-based energy systems; and<\/li>\n<li>procuring 100% carbon-free energy.<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>New buildings represent a prime opportunity to limit increased energy demand, and subsequently emissions, by adopting net-zero policies. However, this will require retrofits in nearly 86,000 buildings in Boston.<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Investments in more long-term projects such as expansion of the MBTA and commuter rails can provide benefits in the future.<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Vehicle pricing strategies will likely need to be phased in to avoid potential backlash and allow people impacted by such policies to adjust.<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Electric vehicles may be the most cost-effective strategy (in terms of carbon abatement), given their potential impact.<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/li>\n<li>The City of Boston could require the procurement of 100 percent carbon-free electricity from a wide variety of sources (wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear) within or beyond the ISO-NE grid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Download Technical Reports<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Technical_Summary_190514.pdf\">Technical Summary<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Buildings_Technical_Report_061719.pdf\">Buildings Technical Report<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_BuildingsPolicyMatrix_190514.xlsx\"><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_BuildingsPolicyMatrix_190514.xlsx\">Policy Appendix<\/a> (Excel)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/BldAssumptions.zip\">Buildings Model Assumptions<\/a> (Excel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Transportation_Technical_Report_0516191.pdf\">Transportation Technical Report<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_TransportationPolicyMatrix_190514.xlsx\">Policy Appendix<\/a> (Excel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Waste_Technical_Report_051619.pdf\">Waste Technical Report<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_WastePolicyMatrix_190514.xlsx\">Policy Appendix<\/a> (Excel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Energy_Technical_Report_190514.pdf\">Energy Technical Report<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Offsets_Technical_Report_051619.pdf\">Offsets Technical Report<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Supporting ISE-Commissioned Student Projects<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/MIT-S-Lab-Final-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MIT S-Lab Report on Carbon Offsets<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/igs\/files\/2021\/12\/CFB_Northeastern_ResEngEff.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Northeastern School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs Capstone report on Residential Energy Efficiency<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Download Carbon Free Boston Series<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/research\/articles-reports\/carbon-free-boston-summary-report\/\">Summary Report<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/research\/articles-reports\/carbon-free-boston-social-equity-report\/\">Social Equity Report<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/research\/articles-reports\/carbon-free-boston-technical-reports\/\">Technical Reports<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Project Overview<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/research\/projects\/carbon-free-boston-reports\/\">Carbon Free Boston<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IGS Research | May 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[689,332],"tags":[632,679,670,68,677,680,139,675,59,676,678,646],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11861"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21205,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions\/21205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}