State Leadership in Decarbonizing the Building Sector, Featuring California and New York

The building sector is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This webinar highlighted two state initiatives that are making a big impact in decarbonizing this sector.

The California Energy Commission’s 2022 Building Energy Efficiency Standards for newly constructed buildings and renovated buildings blazes a trail for states seeking to decarbonize aggressively and cost-effectively. This update to the state energy code includes electric heat pumps as the performance standard baseline for single-family homes, multifamily homes, and select commercial buildings. It also includes a first-in-the-nation standard for solar-electric systems plus battery storage for select nonresidential building types, including high-rise multifamily, hotel/motels, medical clinics, retail stores, restaurants, and schools. Over the next 30 years, this code is estimated to provide the state with $1.5 billion in environmental benefits, equivalent to taking nearly 2.2 million cars off the road for a year.

The New York Clean Energy Initiative, a joint effort of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), provides incentives and technical assistance for electrification and high-performance envelope improvements in new and existing multifamily affordable housing developments. The program offers a replicable and scalable model to accelerate decarbonization of affordable housing, a notoriously hard-to-reach sector. Through this program, more New York families will benefit from healthy, clean energy homes, and housing developers have streamlined access to technical assistance and clean energy incentives to support decarbonization.

In this webinar, representatives from the California Energy Commission and NYSERDA presented their programs and answered questions from the audience. CESA’s Warren Leon moderated.

These programs were recipients of the 2022 State Leadership in Clean Energy Awards.