Much of the focus on decreasing carbon emissions is on the electrical grid and vehicles. But, buildings are a huge contributor, and California is leading the way in making electrification a priority.
David Roberts writes about California’s Building Decarbonization Coalition and its report on the challenges in shifting buildings from fossil fuels to electricity. With 40 percent of global and U.S. greenhouse gas emissions coming from buildings, a push for decarbonization is essential, says Roberts.
The report says that new buildings should be designed so they do not rely on fossil fuels and that the state should adopt zero-emissions building codes for both residential and commercial buildings. The real hurdles, however, lie with the large number of existing buildings, particularly in convincing building owners, contractors, and policymakers about the merits of electrification.
The report also argues that electrification technology needs to be available on a larger scale to bring down costs. In addition, standards and policies should better support building decarbonization, and coordination among stakeholders is important. "The problem is that decision makers in the building sector are highly distributed. Owners, contractors, utilities, regulators, local officials, and state legislators all have some say in how buildings are built and run," notes Roberts.
FULL STORY: A California coalition is tackling one of the hardest, unsexiest parts of climate policy
Another Berkeley 'First': Banning Natural Gas Lines in New Buildings
On Tuesday night, the City Council of Berkeley, Calif., unanimously voted to ban natural gas infrastructure from new buildings starting next year, the first city in the U.S. to pass such an ordinance. Fifty cities in the state could be next.
Improving Indoor Air Quality, One Block at a Time
A movement to switch to electric appliances at the neighborhood scale is taking off in California.
LA is Electrifying its Bus Fleet, but Olympic Transit Challenges Remain
The region is preparing its transit system to handle the more than one million visitors expected during the 2028 Olympic Games.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association