Building Performance and Decarbonization Planning Guide
Develop Your Decarbonization Plan
Step Two: Develop Your Decarbonization Plan
A decarbonization plan should be tailored to your building. Just as no two buildings have the same purpose, occupants, or capital planning considerations, the same plan won’t work for every building. A plan should meet both the technical and financial needs of your specific site, formulated to carry out measures all at once or over time depending on your needs and goals.
The best plans allow for flexibility while still having a clear plan of action. A plan will set an order of implementation that includes prerequisite measures and key milestones. That way, any measures you add build towards a solution that you can confidently say meet the optimal needs of your building and your building alone.
This section discusses key components of decarbonization and how they contribute to a holistic plan. But remember: even though these steps will get you started on a plan, your building is unique. Depending on the opportunities and constraints of the site, you may need to bring in more comprehensive design and engineering to execute certain elements of the plan once you’re underway.
Decarbonization Planning Guide
Develop Your Plan
A. Components Needed to Decarbonize
Crafting a holistic decarbonization plan. While designing your plan, you should understand what is necessary to decarbonize in a cost-effective way.
B. Energy Efficiency Measures
The first step to decarbonization is energy efficiency. These energy efficiency measures usually have a payback of under five years and are supported with utility program incentives.
C. Enabling activities & Infrastructure Readiness
Get your building ready for decarbonization upgrades with a plan. You should review areas where upfront work may be needed to prepare your building for decarbonization.
D. Load Reduction
Lighten your building’s heating burden with simple upgrades. Load reduction is the process of minimizing a building’s heating and hot water loads before you electrify your heating equipment.
E. Electrifying Building Systems
The major building systems which typically use onsite combustion are space heating, domestic hot water, cooking, and certain processes unique to the building. Each of these areas has different considerations when it comes to potential alternative systems, enabling needs, operating parameters, and costs.
F. Renewables & Grid Edge Improvements
Onsite renewable energy sources, battery storage, and other improvements can add significant value to your building by forging a greater connection between your building and the grid.
G. Set Goals for Decarbonization
By setting ambitious emissions reduction targets and consistently tracking performance, building owners can better understand which technical solutions and financial resources may be necessary to reduce emissions and over what timeframe.
H. Build Your Capital Plan
Key steps and considerations to capital planning for decarbonization. Preparing for investments over time, accurately estimating costs, strategizing sources of funding, and assessing value streams are all critical for success.
I. Create Implementation Timeline
Learn how to develop tools to guide you along the pathway towards decarbonization. Developing a timeline results in sequential steps which align the measures identified within the GHG emissions reduction audit within a realistic timeline that considers everything you’ve thought about thus far.