The information in this document is believed to accurately describe the technologies addressed herein and
are meant to clarify and illustrate typical situations, which must be appropriately adapted to individual
circumstances. These materials were prepared to be used in conjunction with a free educa...
The information in this document is believed to accurately describe the technologies addressed herein and
are meant to clarify and illustrate typical situations, which must be appropriately adapted to individual
circumstances. These materials were prepared to be used in conjunction with a free educational program
and are not intended to provide legal advice or establish legal standards of reasonable behavior. Neither
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) nor any of its employees and agents: (1) makes any written or oral warranty,
expressed or implied, including but not limited to the merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose;
(2) assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information,
apparatus, product, process, method, or policy contained herein; or (3) represents that its use would not
infringe any privately owned rights, including but not limited to patents, trademarks or copyrights.
Furthermore, the information, statements, representations, graphs and data presented in this report are
provided by PG&E as a service to our customers. PG&E does not endorse products or manufacturers.
Mention of any particular product or manufacturer in this course material should not be construed as an
implied endorsement.
Size: 12.65 MB
Language: en
Added: Aug 31, 2025
Slides: 79 pages
Slide Content
1
WELCOME
Aditi Agarwal & David Heinzerling: Decarbonizing the Built Environment (Part 1)
06/06/2023: 8:30 to 11:00 am
2
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6
Disclaimer
The information in this document is believed to accurately describe the technologies addressed herein and
are meant to clarify and illustrate typical situations, which must be appropriately adapted to individual
circumstances. These materials were prepared to be used in conjunction with a free educational program
and are not intended to provide legal advice or establish legal standards of reasonable behavior. Neither
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) nor any of its employees and agents: (1) makes any written or oral warranty,
expressed or implied, including but not limited to the merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose;
(2) assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information,
apparatus, product, process, method, or policy contained herein; or (3) represents that its use would not
infringe any privately owned rights, including but not limited to patents, trademarks or copyrights.
Furthermore, the information, statements, representations, graphs and data presented in this report are
provided by PG&E as a service to our customers. PG&E does not endorse products or manufacturers.
Mention of any particular product or manufacturer in this course material should not be construed as an
implied endorsement.
7
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9
About Aditi Agarwal
•Environmental Designer at Atelier Ten, 8 years of experience in
architectural design, education and sustainability consulting
•BArch: Pune University, India
•MArch: CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India
•MDes(Energy and Environment): Graduate School of Design,
Harvard University, USA
•Taught building construction and research methods to
undergraduate architecture students for 2 years in Pune, India.
•Part of Atelier Ten’s Carbon Practice
•Currently working on a number of all- electric buildings and
projects pursuing carbon neutral goals.
Course Summary
Part 1: Setting the Stage: Carbon in
the Built Environment
Aditi Agarwal
•Building Decarbonization
Practice Guide
•Carbon & the built environment
•Codes & regulations
•Benchmarking systems
•Metrics & Cost
•Building Emission Sources
•Case studies
Part 2: Embodied Carbon and
Zero Carbon Operations
Aditi Agarwal
•Low embodied carbon
design process & case
studies
•Low operational carbon
design process
•Grid dynamics
•Designing for carbon neutral
–case studies
Part 3: Mechanical Design
Considerations for Low-carbon
Operations
David Heinzerling
•Technologies supporting all-
electric
•Air-source details
•Refrigerants
•Water-source details
•Heat recovery
•Case studies
•Small, medium, large
commercial
•Title 24 and TDV
The Building Decarbonization Practice Guide
•Volume 1: Introduction, 3rd edition
•Volume 2: Universal Design, Construction, and
Operational Phase Considerations, 3rd edition
•Volume 3: Multi-Family Residential,
Hotels/Motels, and Similar Buildings, 2nd edition
•Volume 4: Commercial + Institutional Buildings,
1st edition
•Volume 5: All-Electric Kitchens: Residential and
Commercial, 1st edition
•Volume 6: Embodied Carbon
•Volume 7: Codes and Policy Context
Appendix: Resources + Acknowledgements, etc.
Carbon & the Built Environment
•Global surface temperatures have reached 1.1°C
above 1850-1900, in 2011-2020.
•Vulnerable communities who have historically
contributed the least to current climate change are
disproportionately affected.
•Global GHG emissions in 2030 make it likelythat
warming will exceed 1.5°C during the 21st century
and make it harderto limit warming below 2° C.
•Future climate change is projected to increase the
severity of impacts across natural and human
systems and will increase regional differences.
•Limiting human-caused global warming requires
net zero CO2 emissions.
Global: Urgency to Address Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Synthesis Report Climate Change 2023
Source: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
The Importance of Buildings
•Buildings sector is responsible directly
and indirectly for around one-third of
global energy -and process-related
CO2 emissions.
•To align with the Net Zero Scenario,
carbon emissions from buildings
operations need to more than halve
by 2030.
•Space cooling saw the largest
increase in electricity demand across
all buildings end use, 35% of building
energy use in 2021
The Importance of Buildings
•The buildings and construction
sector is not on track to achieve
decarbonization by 2050
•The accounted for around 37%
of energy and process-related
CO2 emissions, and over 34%
of energy demand globally,in
2021
•we expect to add about 2.6
trillion ft2 (240 billion m2) of
new floor area to the global
building stock, the equivalent of
adding an entire New York City
to the world, every month, for
40 years.
Global share of buildings and construction operational and process CO2 emissions, in 2021
Source: https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/2022-global-status-report-buildings- and-construction
Operational And Process CO2 Emissions Final Energy Demand
San Francisco’s Carbon Footprint
SAN FRANCISCO CARBON EMISSIONS COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
CARBON EMISSIONS SHARE BY COMMODITY
Source: https://sfenvironment.org/
San Francisco’s Carbon Footprint
San Francisco adds an
average of 4.5 million
square feet of new
buildings per year
SF Environment Focus 2030: A Pathway to
Net Zero Emissions, July 2019
SAN FRANCISCO CARBON EMISSIONS
Source: https://sfenvironment.org/carbonfootprint
2021 San Francisco Climate Action Plan (CAP)
Ambitious and achievable climate
emission reduction targets:
•An interim target of cutting sector-
based emissions 61% below 1990
levels by 2030; and
•Net-zero sector-based emissions by
2040, a 90% reduction from 1990
levels
Net-zero emissions by 2040
San Francisco Climate Action Goals
0 –80 –100 -Roots
Buildings:
•Zero emissions new
construction by 2021
•All large commercial buildings
are zero emissions by 2035
•All buildings zero emissions
by 2040
Clean Energy
•100% renewable electricity by
2025
•100% renewable energy by
2040 (no fossil fuels)
Source: https://sfenvironment.org/climate-milestones
Time Value of Carbon
Carbon reductions now: It is critical that we get a
handle on embodied carbon now if we hope to achieve
zero emissions by 2040.
By the year 2033, accounting for all new construction
in the next 10 years, embodied carbon emissions and
operational emissions will be roughly equivalent
Achieving zero embodied emissions will require
adopting the principles of:
•Reuse, including renovating existing buildings, using
recycled materials, and designing for
deconstruction.
•Reduce, including material optimization and the
specification of low to zero carbon materials.
•Sequester, including the design of carbon
sequestering sites and the use of carbon
sequestering materials.
80% embodied
20% operational
Codes & Regulations
Improvement in Residential and Commercial Energy Codes
Source: https://www.energycodes.gov/infographics
Regulations push from the bottom
Commercial Energy Code: State Energy Index Relative to
Current Model Code (Standard 90.1- 2019)
Source: https://www.energycodes.gov/infographics
DOE analysis indicates that buildings meeting Standard 90.1-2019, as compared with buildings meeting the 2016 edition, would result in national site energy savings of
4.7%, source energy savings of 4.3%, and
energy cost savings of approx. 4.3% of commercial building energy consumption.
Percentage Savings by Building Type from ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2016 to 90.1-2019
Source: Energy Savings Analysis: ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2019 (July
2021)
National Leadership
Seattle, Washington
Reduce GHG emissions 58% below
2008 levels by 2030 and to achieve
zero net core emissions by 2050.
City Commercial Energy Code Efficiency
Source: https://www.energycodes.gov/infographics
San Francisco, California
40% emissions reduction below 1990
levels by 2025 and 100% by 2050;
100% renewable electricitycommunity-
wide by 2030.
Los Angeles, California
Achievecarbon neutrality by 2050
Emissions reduction, 50% below 1990
levels by 2025 and 73% by 2035.
Energy reduction goal for all buildings
of 22% per square foot below 2015
levels by 2025, 34% by 2035, and 44%
by 2050.
Supply 55% renewable energy by 2025,
80% by 2036, and 100% by 2045.
Boston, Massachusetts
Carbon- neutralby 2050;
Emissions reduction50% below 2005
levels by 2030;
Energy use reduction of 20% below
2010 levels by 2023 in municipal
buildings
New York, New York
Carbon- neutralby 2050;
Emissions reduction 30% by 2025 and
50% by 2030, from 2005 levels;
100% clean electricity by 2040, 100%
clean energy by 2050
Washington, D.C.
Carbon- neutralby 2050;
Emissions reduction 50% below 2006
levels by 2032, and 80% by 2050;
Energy use reduction 50% below 2012
levels by 2032
100% renewableby 2032, including a
5.5% local solar carve-out.
Chicago, Illinois
Emissions reduction26% below 2005
levels by 2030; Reduce building energy use20% below
2011 levels by 2022.
100% renewable energy in buildings by
2035
State Leadership: California
California Climate Policies
Recent additions to California’s Climate Goals
•Reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 48%
below 1990 levels by 2030
•Procure 60% of all electricity from renewable
sources by 2030 and 100% from carbon-free
sources by 2045
•Double the energy efficiency of existing buildings
Building Energy Efficiency Standards -Title 24
•Focus areas for 2022 (effective January 2023):
•Electric heat pump technology and use
•Electric-ready requirements when natural gas
is installed
•Solar photovoltaic (PV) system and battery
storage standards
•Strengthening ventilation standards to improve
indoor air quality
https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-
revises-climate-change-plan/
Source: https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-revises- climate- change-plan/
Building gas bans and all-electric reach codes
•Building electrification mandates advanced up and down
the West Coast of the U.S. in 2022
•Washington became the first state to adopt statewide
all-electric constructionrequirements in new
commercial and multifamily buildings
•Several counties in California have ‘reach codes’ that
move towards building electrification
Source: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-
news-headlines/gas- ban-monitor- west-coast-pushes-new-boundaries-pro-gas-
state-bills-stall-69969602
Percentage of California Population with Gas Bans or All-electric Reach Codes
…and growing
Source: https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2021/07/californias-cities-lead-way-pollution-free-homes-and-buildings
Alameda County –Oakland
•Limits gas infrastructure for new residential
construction on city-owned property.
•Newly constructed buildings to be all electric
with some exceptions.
Berkeley
•Phases out gas hookups in all newly constructed
residential buildings and most nonresidential
buildings.
San Francisco
•Recently expanded on their building
electrification ordinance, now requiring that all
new construction be all electric starting June 1
st
,
2021.
•Exception for commercial food service prior to
January 1, 2022
Daly City
•Required all-electric new residential and non-
residential buildings with blanket exemptions for
100% affordable housing buildings, commercial
kitchens, and laboratories.
South San Francisco
•Requires all new residential buildings to be all-
electric.
Redwood City
•All-electric new construction for commercial and
residential buildings, with exceptions for multiple
specific building types such as laboratories.
San Jose
•Natural gas prohibition for all new building types,
with limited temporary exemptions.
State Level: Building Gas Bans & Electrification Codes
Source: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/gas- ban-monitor- west-coast-pushes-new-boundaries-pro-gas-state-bills-stall-69969602
Regional Leadership: East Coast
New York City Building Emissions Law –Local Law 97
Drive deep emissions cuts from buildings, which are
responsible for more than two-thirds of NYC’s greenhouse gas
emissions.
•Sets carbon caps for buildings over 25,000 square feet
•Starts in 2024 and drives toward net zero emissions by
2050
•Allows multiple ways to comply, including for affordable
housing
•Includes large fines for exceeding carbon caps
Source: https://www.urbangreencouncil.org/content/projects/all-
about- local-law-97
•Carbon caps vary across 60 property types
•Penalties price carbon at $268/ton
•Flexibility to comply through RECs and/or carbon
offsets
•Allows some affordable housing to choose low-cost
energy saving measures instead of emissions limits
•For covered buildings, that’s a 26% carbon cut (5.3
million metric tons) from today, the equivalent of San
Francisco’s citywide emissions.
•Many buildings are significantly above emissions
limits and will require comprehensive retrofitsor
alternate compliance by 2030.
More
Stringent
Limits 2030-2034
affect most carbon
intensive building
percentile
Source: https://www.urbangreencouncil.org/content/projects/all-about- local-law-97
Zero Carbon Definitions & Certification
Net Zero Definitions
SITE ENERGY ENERGY COST
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS (CARBON)SOURCE ENERGY
(California State definition)
Zero Carbon Terminology
Net Zero Carbon
A “net-zero” target refers to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by a selected date, but
differs from zero carbon, which requires no carbon to be emitted as the key criteria.
Carbon Neutral
Carbonemissions caused have been balanced out by funding an equivalent amount
ofcarbonsavings elsewhere in the world.
24/7 Carbon Free
24/7 carbon free uses a combination of renewable energy sources, batteries and other
technologies to have emission free energy 24 hours a day, even at times when solar or
wind power aren’t available.
Carbon Negative
The reduction of an entity’s carbon footprint to less than neutral, so that the entity has
a net effect ofremovingcarbondioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding it.
Climate Positive
Like the previous point, climatepositivemeans that an activity goes beyond achieving
net zerocarbonemissions to create an environmental benefit by removing
additionalcarbondioxide from the atmosphere.
Zero CO
2Emissions by 2040
Architecture 2030
Source: https://architecture2030.org/accelerating-to-zero-by-
2040/#:~:text=For%20embodied%20carbon%20%E2%80%93%20a%2040,entire%20built%20environment%20by%202040.
Net Zero Benchmarking Systems
Note: EBB stands for “equivalent building baseline.“
*
*
*
Source: https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-analysis/review- current- net-zero-energy-and-net-
zero-carbon-certification-programs
ILFI Zero Carbon Standard
•First worldwide Zero Carbonthird-party certified
standard
•Demonstrate actual net zero carbon operations
based on a twelve-month performance period
•No Combustion
•Operational Energy Use
•25% better than ASHRAE 90.1-2010
•Offset 100% of the operational energy use by
new on- or off-site renewable energy which
meet ILFI criteria.
•Embodied Carbon
•10% better than baseline
•Can’t exceed 500kg CO2e/m2
•Disclose and offset 100% of the embodied
carbon emissions impacts associated with the
construction and materials of the project
Operational Energy + Embodied Carbon
LEED Zero Carbon
CARBON
BALANCE
TOTAL
CARBON
EMITTED
TOTAL
CARBON
AVOIDED
•Recognizes buildings or spaces operating with net
zero carbon emissions over a 12-month period.
•Projects must be LEED certified under BD+C or O+M
•Currently includes Operation and Transportation
•Future versions will incorporate water consumption,
waste generation, and embodied carbon
Operational Carbon + Occupant Transportation
Carbon Emitted: Energy Consumption + Occupant Transportation
Carbon Avoided: Avoided Emissions or Offsets
ZERO Code 2.0
Architecture 2030
Establishes the minimum energy efficiency requirements
of buildings and to require renewable energy systems of
adequate capacity to encourage zero carbon buildings.
Expands on building energy efficiency standards by:
•Requiring on-site or off-site renewable energy ,
•Specifying beyond-code energy efficiency (optional),
and
•Eliminatingthe direct use of fossil fuels in buildings
(optional)
Zero Carbon Building
A highly efficient building that uses no on-site fossil fuels
and produces on-site, or procures off-site enough carbon -
free renewable energy to meet building operations energy
consumption annually.
ZERO Code
Off-Site Renewable Energy Procurement
ON AND OFF-SITE PROCUREMENT METHODS
CONSIDERATIONS
•Uses considerations below to define procurement factors
for different renewable procurement methods.
•Procurement methods can vary widely based on project
specifics
Table from Zero Code Off-Site Renewable Procurement Guide
46
Let’s meet back in 5 minutes
It’s time for a break
Metrics: Measuring carbon emissions
Zero Carbon Metrics
Operational Carbon
•GHG emissions (CO
2e) = Total
Consumption x CO
2emissions factor
•Emissions factors established by
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager by
fuel type
Embodied Carbon
•% Whole Building Reduction in CO
2e over a
Baseline
•Max 500kg CO
2e/m2
Operational Energy
•Annual Site Energy
Zero Carbon Metrics
Time-Dependent Source (TDS) Energy
(kBtu/kWh)
Metric that addresses the timepattern
of carbon emissions
TDS energy represents the amount of
fossil fuel used per kWh electricity
generated
Natural gas represents virtually 100% of
fossil fuels used in CA to generate
electricity, so TDS and carbon emission
track closely
Source: 2022 Zero Code for California http://zero-code.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2022_ZERO_Code_for_California.pdf
New Buildings Institute: GridOptimalBuildings Initiative
GridOptimal™Buildings Initiative, has developednew metricsby which building features and operating characteristics
that support more effective grid operation can be measured and quantified
•Support the least -cost decarbonization of the
grid through better integration of both
distributed energy resources (DER) and utility-
scale wind and solar energy
•Crate a standardized set of metrics that
define a building’s contribution to the
relevant utility grid scale -Utilities may
incentivize grid-sensitive design.
•Designers and building owners can consider
these impacts in a project in a sensible,
straightforward approach.
GridOptimalaims to empower players on both sides of the meter to actively
support the transition to a carbon free grid.
Source: https://newbuildings.org/resource/gridoptimal/
GridOptimalBuildings -Metrics
There are eight core GridOptimal metrics that are scored on a scale of 0-100%.
These combine two basic approaches to evaluate the quality of building-grid interactions.
Building Assets
(capabilities)
Measure the building’s
potential to serve as a grid
resource
Building Consumption
Patterns
Load shape or demand profile.
Each hour of the year is
assigned a value for each
metric based on local grid
Source: https://newbuildings.org/resource/gridoptimal/
Cost of Carbon & Carbon Planning
Carbon and Cost Metrics
CARBON
AVOIDED /
FIRST COST
Estimating Benefits of Reducing GHG Emissions
•EPA and other federal agencies use
estimates of the social cost of carbon (SC-
CO
2) to value the climate impacts of
rulemakings
•The SC-CO
2is a measure, in dollars, of the
long-term damage done by a ton of carbon
dioxide (CO
2)emissions in a given year
•It also represents the value of damages
avoided for a small emission reduction
Source: https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange/social-cost-carbon_.html
Types of Carbon Pricing
Many companies use a
hybrid model of
complementary
approaches that combine
these different attributes.
Internal carbon feea monetary value on each ton of carbon emissions,
which is understandable throughout the organization.
•The fee creates a dedicated revenue or investment stream to
fund the company’s emissions reduction efforts.
•The observed price range for companies using an internal carbon
fee is from $5-$20 per metric ton.
Implicit priceis based on how much a company spends to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and/or cost of complying with government regulations. •For example, renewable energy purchases or compliance with fuel economy standards.
Shadow priceis a theoretical price on carbon that can help support long-
term business planning and investment strategies. •Helps a company prioritize low-carbon investments and prepare for
future regulation
•Observed price range for companies using a shadow price is from $2-
$893 per ton
•(Anecdotally, I’ve seen companies recently cite $40-80/ton)
Source: Business of Pricing Carbon https://www.c2es.org/2016/10/the-business- of-pricing-carbon/
Building Carbon Emission Sources
Building Emissions
Operations
Electricity
Natural Gas
Refrigerants*
Water & Waste
Embodied Carbon
Site / Infrastructure*
Core & Shell
Interiors*
MEP Systems*
Transportation
Electric vehicle charging*
Building Emissions Transportation
Electric vehicle charging*
LA Green New Deal: 100% zero emission vehicles by 2050
Holistic Carbon Case Studies
SF Planning: Sustainable Neighborhood Framework
Code EUI: 13.8 acres
Goal EUI: 12.4 acres
Renewable Energy
•Maximum Energy Efficient Environments
•Energy Use Intensity (EUI) Targets
•100% Carbon Free Energy
•All-Electric Buildings
•72-hour emergency battery storage
•Smart Systems & Operations
•Automation and Controls
Healthy Air
•Zero Emissions Environments
•All-Electric Buildings
•Transportation Demand Management
•EV Charging: 100% EV Ready, 5% installed
SF Planning: Sustainable Neighborhood Framework
Mission Rock Seawall Lot 337 Redevelopment
SF Giants, Perkins + Will, CMG, BKF, Arup
Holistic Carbon Footprint
Mission Rock
Mission Rock Goals & Strategies
COMMUNITY RENEWABLE
PROJECT
DISTRICT BAY SOURCE
HEATING & COOLING
PLANT
MEET OR EXCEED CODESBUILDING EFFICIENCY
BAY SOURCE
COOLING
GRAYWATER COLLECTION GRAYWATER REUSE FOR FLUSHING & IRRIGATION
DROUGHT TOLERANT LANDSCAPE WATER CONSERVING FIXTURES
RAISED GROUND LEVEL DISTRICT ENERGY & WATER SYSTEMS PASSIVE SURVIVABILITY
LANDSCAPE BUFFER STORMWATER TREATMENT & SALINE TOLERANT PLANTS
Mission Rock Energy Concept
Operational Energy Use
100% Renewable Energy Targets
Residential Net Energy Use Intensity (nEUI) Targets
With Renewable Grid Component
Off-Site Power Purchase Agreement
Potrero Power Station
Associate Capital, Perkins + Will, CMG, CBG
Greenhouse Gas Footprint
Energy End Use by Program Type
RESIDENTIAL OFFICE BIOSCIENCE
23
kBtu/ft²
38
kBtu/ft²
83
kBtu/ft²
HOTEL
44
kBtu/ft²
RETAIL
58
kBtu/ft²
Energy Options
Thermal Energy Strategy
Energy Savings
Business As Usual
Energy Savings
Phased Shared Energy Plants
In addition to GHG
savings…
2.3mil gal
Water Saved!
Example Project: Renovation
CSU LA Student Services Building
EXISTING CONDITION
81
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