Farewell Fossil Gas, Hello Better Buildings: A Building Electrification Status Update

With more than 100 million housing units and commercial buildings burning fossil fuels for space or water heating or for cooking across the United States, our building sector needs a major retrofit. Buildings cause 13 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and every new fossil-fueled appliance or structure locks in higher emissions and costs for decades to come – not to mention serious health impacts from burning fuels indoors. To reach net-zero by 2050, we must electrify all new buildings by 2025 and all new building equipment by 2030. So how do we do this? Where is it happening? Who is leading and who is stalling? On this episode of Electrify This!, host Sara Baldwin speaks with building electrification experts to discuss efforts underway to get gas out of buildings and switch to clean electricity, including city leadership and California’s new, landmark 2022 Energy Code.

Guests:
Denise Grab, Manager, Carbon-Free Buildings, RMI.  Denise works to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in the West and across the U.S., and she brings over a decade of experience in advancing clean energy, climate, and clean air policy and law throughout the country. Prior to RMI, she served as the Western Regional Director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law, an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law, an associate at a major law firm, and a law clerk for a federal district court judge. Denise obtained a JD from Yale Law School, a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a BS  with highest honors in Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Tyler Poulson, Deputy Director, Building Electrification Institute (BEI). BEI equips cities across North America with the knowledge, tools and resources needed to accelerate the transition of building systems away from fossil fuels and towards high efficiency electric options. Tyler focuses on helping cities develop critical state and utility partnerships while advancing policies that will accelerate building electrification across their regions. Tyler previously focused on clean energy and climate change solutions in local government sustainability offices for Salt Lake City and Park City, UT. He has past experience in the finance sector and a Masters in Economics from the University of Utah. 

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources:

• Building Electrification Institute 
  • Building Electrification Institute | City Playbooks for the Equitable Electrification of Multifamily Buildings 
• RMI
  • RMI | Gas Stoves: Health and Air Quality Impacts and Solutions
  • RMI | Regulatory Solutions for Building Decarbonization
• Building Energy Exchange | Low Carbon Multifamily Retrofit Playbooks
• City and County of Denver | Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan
• Building Decarbonization Coalition | The Flipside Report: A White Paper on Targeted Geographic Electrification in California's Gas Transition