As Menlo Park tries to reach its ambitious goal of converting buildings citywide to electric power, two new reports were recently released that take a deeper dive into exactly what it will take for the city to accomplish that.
As one of six goals targeted in this year's Climate Action Plan, the city of Menlo Park set out to explore policy and program options to convert 95% of existing buildings citywide to all-electric power by 2030. Achieving the goal could reduce greenhouse gas emissions citywide by nearly 52,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to a draft report prepared for the city by city staff and consultants from TRC, Inc., with support from Peninsula Clean Energy and consulting firm DNV.
The city's Environmental Quality Commission met July 21 to review the draft report and provide input on the proposed routes to meet the city's ambitious climate goal.
The same week, Menlo Spark, a local nonprofit working to make Menlo Park climate neutral by 2025, released a report called "Gassed Out," which, among other findings, reports that there is no additional cost to convert gas to electric power in most existing homes when one considers current incentives for financing the appliances over time and combines them with solar power.
According to the report, most electric appliances don't cost more than gas ones, and for the exceptions, there are long-run savings and rebates that can help cover that difference. For instance, while heat pump electric water heaters can cost $1,000 to $2,000 more per household than gas ones, Peninsula Clean Energy offers a $2,500 rebate for electric water heaters, which fully covers the cost. In addition, electrical HVAC systems can save $3,000 compared to a traditional gas furnace and air conditioner, the report states.
The report lays out a path toward affordable and equitable electrification by partnering with Peninsula Clean Energy and investing $3 million a year in a program to help low-income Menlo Park residents electrify their homes. The funds for the program could come from an increase to the city's utility users tax up to the level that voters have already approved. That program could be paired with a zero-interest loan program incorporated in utility bills to give moderate-income households access to affordable financing for electric heating and appliances, and affluent households could take advantage of rebates and home solar systems that would save money over time, the report states.
As of 2020, the city has also enacted policies to require that new buildings be all-electric. The next step, according to the draft report, is to switch existing buildings within the city to electric power.
Since the city joined Peninsula Clean Energy in 2017, it has been able to procure cleaner-burning energy that emits less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than PG&E.
As of 2019, the most current breakdown of energy use available, about 17% of the greenhouse gas emissions coming from buildings citywide came from electric energy uses, while 83% came from using natural gas, though the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions from both were down substantially from those reported in 2007 and 2008, the years with the highest reported emissions since the earliest available data in 2005, the report showed.
Overall, in 2019, about 41% of greenhouse gas emissions came from the use of natural gas in buildings, 8% came from electricity in buildings and 48% came from transportation, while about 2% came from solid waste.
Consuming natural gas emits about 12 pounds of carbon or greenhouse emissions per therm, or per 100 cubic feet of natural gas, according to the draft report. Peninsula Clean Energy is in the process of transitioning the sources of its electricity to 100% renewable sources by 2025.
The analysis involved a comparison of gas-powered versus electric appliances used in homes and commercial buildings, such as water heaters and space heaters, as well as stoves and clothes dryers.
According to the report, heat pump water heaters cost an estimated $2,600 more over 30 years than gas water heaters, but are considered cost-effective when using what's called a "time dependent valuation," which incorporates the societal and environmental impacts into the cost of energy.
A new report by consultants working from the city found that several of the measures could be cost-effective for households– if one looks at overall savings over a 15 to 30-year lifespan of certain appliances, and assumes people take advantage fo certain incentives to encourage electric appliance adoption.
One lingering concern in the report is how to make the electrification process more affordable to lower-income households, and to prevent landlords from enacting "renovictions" – or renovations followed by evictions as a way of getting higher-paying tenants. Consultants estimated that there about 1,500 housing units in Menlo Park whose residents earn less than 30% of the area median income. These households are mostly renters who spend 7% to 11% of their incomes on rent, and are considered "burdened" by their energy costs, according to the report.
To start, the report's authors recommend partnering with community-based organizations to develop decarbonization policies or consider energy performance standards for rental properties.
The report also proposes a number of policy ideas the city could take, but notes that even if it adopts all of the ideas listed, it will only achieve half of the needed greenhouse gas reductions by 2030. Regional, state and federal government-level action is also needed, they note.
Some of those ideas are:
• Offer a concierge-type service to help residents and businesses with specific problems and accessing rebates and financing support, as well as community education forums.
• Generate funds through a utility users' tax or some type of fee to disincentivize buildings from generating greenhouse gases.
• Set a deadline for the policy to take effect and establish regular check-ins. For instance, the city of Chicago has since 2013 required multifamily and commercial buildings 50,000 square feet or larger to report the annual energy use rating of the whole building and post it in a prominent location.
• Mandate electrification of certain appliances whenever permits are given for minor home alterations or additions. For instance, the city could mandate that a owner install a reverse cycle air conditioning condensing or heat pump unit instead of a traditional air conditioning system, or that whenever an owner seeks to install solar panels, he or she would have to leave space to accommodate a breaker to handle the building's entire electrical load, and add wiring in the water heater location to allow a heat pump water heater. The city could also focus simply on encouraging single and multi-family homeowners to voluntarily replace gas-fired water heating or space heating equipment before the equipment's life ends.
• Require electric heat pump systems to heat water in all new pools.
• Mandate buildings be ready for electrification upgrades whenever they are sold.
Commissioner Ryann Price said that, when considering costs, it's also important for people to reflect on the growing climate change "fees" that the community is already paying, in the form of costs like higher flood insurance premiums and state tax dollars diverted to stave off wildfires, and note that those costs are likely to rise in the future.
Commissioner Tom Kabat spoke of the urgency to take action sooner rather than later to enact policies that combat climate change.
"There is a set of dominoes, and we have to push the first domino and the others will line up and make their moves. But if we all stand around, the dominoes stand and the climate falls," he said.
The City Council is expected to review the topic at the end of August.
"gas" - Google News
August 13, 2021 at 07:59AM
https://ift.tt/37IAGYs
How to go gas-free? Two new reports lay out possible paths to phase out natural gas in Menlo Park buildings - | Almanac Online |
"gas" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2LxAFvS
https://ift.tt/3fcD5NP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "How to go gas-free? Two new reports lay out possible paths to phase out natural gas in Menlo Park buildings - | Almanac Online |"
Post a Comment