ASHRAE Journal - December 2023 - 7

INDUSTRY NEWS
Decarbonizing the Future
BY KELLY BARRAZA, ASHRAE JOURNAL MANAGING EDITOR
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In October, HVAC&R industry
stakeholders gathered for the 2023 Decarbonization
Conference for the Built Environment where thought
leaders, consulting engineers, architects and others
met to discuss prospective, exciting opportunities in
reducing the carbon footprint of buildings.
The subject of how to
achieve decarbonization
goals in an industry fraught
with jockeying interests
came up throughout the
meeting. " How to succeed
in an industry with so
many disparate players? I
think simplicity is going to
be key, " said Laurie Kerr,
principal climate advisor
at U.S. Green Building
Council, during a Building
Industry Decarbonization
Collaboration panel.
" We have to move away
from overly complex
THE IMPLEMENTATION AND COST of decarbonization strategies using U.S. federal
program options was also covered in a panel with Bing Liu (Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory), Kinga Porst Hydras (General Service Administration), Lindsey
Falasca (White House Council on Environmental Quality), Mary Sotos (U.S. DOE)
and Hayes Jones (U.S. DOE).
requirements and formulas that really scare people
away. We must move toward simpler directions that
everybody in our industry can understand. Embrace
simplicity and the big picture and let go of some of that
perfectionism we love so much. "
At the same panel, chaired by Clay Nesler, The Nesler
Group, the challenges in adhering to a gamut of recent
legislation passed by U.S. federal, state and local
governments on reducing building carbon emissions
were touched on by Don Davis, Vice President of
Advocacy and Building Codes at the Buildings Owners
and Managers Association (BOMA).
" BOMA is being impacted by all these regulations.
We own the buildings. So when the state, local or the
federal government start to implement a regulation
against us, we are the ones that have to make sure we
meet those goals, " said Davis.
In a lightning round on predicted energy performance
versus actual energy performance, Davis also noted the
scarcity of accurate data available to building owners.
" It all goes back to data, " Davis said. " Do we have the
proper data and can we get it? From my members, this is
the No. 1 problem. We cannot get the data from utilities
on energy use and the whole building, and if we had a
very clear picture on what energy is being used, we could
then identify areas where it needed to be improved. We
can't do modeling unless we have the data. "
Whole life carbon was also on the docket in D.C. as
was discussion on global
warming potential (GWP).
GWP measures greenhouse
gas (GHG) heat absorption
relative to CO2 and is
frequently evaluated
over extended periods of
time (20-year GWP [20
years], 100-year GWP
[100 years]). Webly Lynn
Bowles, Associate Director
at the New Buildings
Institute, cited in her
presentation " Whole
Life Carbon for Building
Systems " that 20-year GWP
was particularly crucial
in short-lived GHGs like methane and refrigerants.
Four other members of the ASHRAE Task Force for
Building Decarbonization also presented with Bowles
in this panel, outlining strategies to lowering carbon
emissions within mechanical, electrical and plumbing
(MEP) systems of buildings.
The conference, co-organized with the American
Institute of Architects (AIA), APPA (formerly the
Association of Physical Plant Administrators), BOMA
and the International Facility Management Association
(IFMA), was novel in its intentional inclusion of and
collaboration with key industry associations.
ASHRAE continues to hold topical conferences on
decarbonization, with the 2024 ASHRAE International
Conference on Building Decarbonization scheduled for
April 17-19, 2024, in Madrid, Spain.
Another meeting will be held Oct. 21-23, 2024, in
New York City, and will be focused on decarbonizing
existing tall buildings.
If you are interested in attending these meetings,
visit https://www.ashrae.org/topical-conferences.
D ECEMBER 2 0 2 3
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2023

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