This Week's News for LA’s Best Buildings
Sustainability is Key Feature as Tenants Look to Owners for Greener Buildings
As the world embraces new standards for combating climate change, energy-intensive industries will be tasked with leading the way. Given that new construction and daily operations of buildings produce around 40% of the world’s greenhouse gases (GHGs), building owners will face increased pressure to improve energy efficiency and create more sustainable buildings.
Many building owners are proceeding cautiously, waiting for regulations and industry guidance, but forward-thinking owners understand that sustainability is not only good for the environment but helps maximize profitability.
Utilities Need to Revamp Their Energy-Saving Efforts to Meet Climate Goals
In addition to energy savings, the power sector has an outsized opportunity to prioritize environmental protection, equity and economic development in what this report calls "climate-forward" efficiency.
Utilities’ energy efficiency programs have a proven record doing what they were originally intended to do: save energy. But that mission isn’t quite the same as one focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. States and utilities should seriously consider redirecting their efficiency efforts toward tackling the climate crisis, according to an ACEEE report released today.
The Little-Known Power of Circulator Pumps
Which uses more electricity: washing your hands or powering your refrigerator? It could be the former in many places—surprisingly, some of the biggest energy users in our buildings are the pumps that circulate hot water. In fact, many of them more than double the amount of energy used to heat that water in the first place and use as much electricity as two typical refrigerators, according to research from Energy Solutions.
Why Sustainable Cities are Hitting a Wall
Sustainability proponents have celebrated the leadership of major cities to advance energy efficiency, electrified transportation and other climate change goals during the past decade. Urban leaders from around the world have established impressive collaborations to share information and develop common commitments. Entities as varied as the Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations have supported urban sustainability initiatives.
Americans Support Climate Change Policies, Especially Those That Give Them Incentives and Clean Up the Energy Supply
As the Biden administration tries to build support for new climate and energy policies, a set of studies offers some insights that could help them appeal to the widest audience.
Janet K. Swim and Nathaniel Geiger are social scientists who examine how people think about climate change solutions. In the studies, they explored how the public responds to different types of policies and why some are likely to be more popular than others.
Source: Commercial Observer