GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS – EXISTING BUILDINGS

1. GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS – EXISTING BUILDINGS Ashok GuptaDirector of Energy Policy Natural Resources Defense Council www.nrdc.org

2. CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL Near unanimous agreement among climate scientists that human activities are a significant cause of climate change

3. POLICY ACTIONS WILL DRIVE PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN CLEAN ENERGY GENERATION AND CARBON MITIGATION SOLUTIONS • Federal cap & trade legislation and complementary energy policies • Waxman-Markey (H.R. 2454) in the House, Kerry-Boxer (S.1733) in the Senate • Vehicle fuel economy standards and Transportation Bill • Regional and state level initiatives  • Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) • California – AB32/SB375 • Western Climate Initiative (WCI) • Utility efficiency investments • Renewable Portfolio Standards • City legislative and administrative actions • NYC Greener Greater Buildings legislation • Benchmarking; lighting retrofits; base building audits, retrofits & retro-commissioning • Updating city building codes

4. THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY CAN HELP BUILD OUR WAY OUT OF THE CLIMATE PROBLEM • Infrastructure Improvements • Renewable power projects – wind, solar • Transmission & distribution infrastructure – upgrade the national power grid • Next generation power plants • Mass-transit infrastructure • CHP and other distributed generation facilities • Upgrades to stormwater and wastewater treatment facilities •  Buildings - New Construction • Transit-oriented developments • Sustainable communities designed using smart growth concepts (LEED-ND) • Green building practices • Integrated building system design to improve energy efficiency • Less carbon intensive and energy intensive building processes •  Existing Buildings – Energy Efficiency Retrofits

6. TO SERIOUSLY IMPACT CLIMATE CHANGE THE INDUSTRY MUST FOCUS ON EXISTING BUILDINGS • In the US, approximately 40% of energy consumption and over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the building sector • Percentages are higher in dense urban areas • Almost 80% of NYC’s GHG emissions come from its buildings • 90% of building stock in the year 2030 is estimated to be standing today • Cost effective energy efficiency retrofits can reduce energy use by 20% - 30% or more

7. THREE TYPES OF RESOURCE SCARCITY IMPACT THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY BUILDING RETROFIT MARKET • Energy and materials • Reusing existing materials through renovation is more energy and cost effective than demolishing and rebuilding from scratch • Financing • Private sector capital resources currently available to finance energy efficiency retrofits are insufficient to scale up the market • Workforce • Scaling up the energy efficiency retrofit industry will require workforce retraining

8. 1. RESOURCE SCARCITY – ENERGY & MATERIALS • The greenest building is usually the one that is already built • The greenest outcome for an existing building site is most often to renovate the existing structure, incorporating cost-effective energy efficiency measures • Consumes fewer material resources • Demolishing existing structure wastes the material and energy resources that were used to construct the original building • Much lower demand on resources to fabricate materials for renovation, because reusing foundation, structure and shell • Less energy & carbon intensive • Less energy consumed in materials fabrication • Decreases transportation impact – fewer materials transported to site •  Higher ratio of jobs to resource consumption

9. 1. INNOVATE CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES TO REDUCE CARBON AND ENERGY INTENSITY • Empire State Building window remanufacturing process • Adding film and gaseous barrier between existing double panes • 6500 existing windows • On-site window remanufacturing plant created on a vacant floor • Reduces resource and energy consumption • reusing window materials for their useful life • dramatically reduced transportation impact • Cost-effective economic solution • substantial energy efficiency gain using most cost effective process • reduced cooling load • generates material additional capital savings by allowing chiller plant retrofit rather than replacement

10. 2. RESOURCE SCARCITY – FINANCING • Private sector capital resources currently available to finance energy efficiency retrofits are insufficient to scale-up the market • Much intellectual & political capital is currently focused on developing scalable financing models for the efficiency market • Green Bank (CEDA) would provide up to $12B in federal loan guarantees and other financial mechanisms, to support up to $120B of private sector financing for clean energy technologies, including EE building retrofits • PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) – tax assessment financing model for efficiency retrofits already enacted in 14 states, with many more in process • Department of Energy will award $450M of competitive block grants to states and cities to help create innovative and sustainable financing systems for energy efficiency retrofits • Green Jobs Green NY – a $112M revolving loan fund created from RGGI allowances to support EE retrofits in single family, multifamily and small business sectors • Creating a viable private financing market will build demand for energy efficiency retrofits

11. 3. RESOURCE SCARCITY – WORKFORCE • Scaling up the energy efficiency building retrofit industry will require workforce retraining • Few contractors today can take a retrofit project from start to finish • Energy audit, design, installation, post-retrofit measurement & verification • Construction industry should participate in scaling-up the design and development of training programs for clean energy construction projects, including energy efficiency building retrofits • Energy auditing and modeling of projected energy savings • Installation of efficiency measures • Post installation test-out • Whole building health and safety issues – Building Performance Institute • High quality training will be critical to success in scaling-up a sustainable energy efficiency retrofit market

12. ADDITIONAL DRIVERS WILL BUILD DEMAND FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY BUILDING RETROFITS (1/2) • Government requirements, incentives and direct projects will build market demand • Benchmarking & labeling protocols will raise building owners’ awareness • NYC’s proposed benchmarking legislation • Tax and financial incentives will motivate owners to act • Stimulus funds from ARRA • Utility incentives • Federal climate legislation • green bank would provide financing support • allocation of allowances for energy efficiency • Retrofit of thousands of federal, state and local government buildings will directly impact market demand for energy efficiency retrofits

13. ADDITIONAL DRIVERS WILL BUILD DEMAND FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY BUILDING RETROFITS (2/2) • Potential increases in net operating income • Increased revenues through higher occupancy, due to increasing tenant demand for green space • faster lease-up • better tenant retention • Decreased expenses through energy savings and lower turnover costs • Reduced capital expenses by avoiding overdesign of building systems • Owners compelled to mitigate environmental and obsolescence risks of their buildings and portfolios • Increased NOI and decreased environmental risk will potentially be reflected in improved exit cap rates

14. CONCLUSION (1/2) • Develop consensus within the industry for the construction trade to help scale up solutions to the climate problem • Focus resources of the construction industry on: • Building the nationwide infrastructure necessary to support our transition to a clean energy economy • Implementing energy efficiency building retrofits in single-family, multi-family, commercial, governmental, institutional & industrial sectors • Given the resource constraints in the world today, design and engineer innovative practices to reduce the energy and carbon intensity of construction processes

15. CONCLUSION (2/2) • The expertise to implement these solutions is itself a scarce resource • Firms should build the engineering, management and specific construction expertise necessary to undertake complex clean energy infrastructure and integrated building system retrofit projects • The current scarcity of expertise provides a substantial business opportunity for “first movers” in the industry to maximize their benefits from the rapid growth of the clean tech construction sector