This Week's News for LA’s Best Buildings
American Companies Can’t Sugarcoat Their Carbon Pollution Anymore
On Monday, the SEC announced that it would add another layer to [its] set of essential disclosures, requiring companies to also release information about their climate risks. Starting next fiscal year, the country’s largest public companies—such as Walmart, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and ExxonMobil—must release data about their greenhouse-gas pollution, their exposure to various challenges such as sea-level rise, and any plans they have to minimize their exposure to these risks. Some companies must also publish information about their “downstream” emissions, that is, the carbon pollution from customers using their products. (These are called “Scope 3” emissions in corporate climate jargon.)
The rule is a big step, and it signals the growing importance of climate concerns in the business world.
LA Takes Steps to Reach Net-Zero Emissions for City Buildings
Los Angeles is taking steps to move toward net-zero carbon emissions—beginning with its own city buildings.
Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion on March 22 instructing city staff to look into switching city-owned buildings from gas-powered systems to renewable energy systems, and to evaluate potential costs and timelines to retrofit the buildings.
City buildings account for 32 percent of the city’s carbon emissions, according to Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who introduced the motion last June.
Air Source Heat Pumps Could Be Next Big Thing in Building Sustainability
Air source heat pumps (ASHP) have been around for decades, but the skyrocketing cost of oil and gas, along with the impending demands of New York City’s Local Law 97 (LL97), have made the technology more intriguing for some owners and developers.
While ASHP technology remains expensive to install in new buildings, and even more so in retrofits, the energy demands of properties housing tenants such as life sciences laboratories, can make ASHP a desirable choice for owners.
Cities Can Tackle Clean Energy Goals By Focusing on Utility Planning
Many local governments, businesses and electric utilities in the United States are setting ambitious clean energy targets as they increasingly recognize the need for a low-carbon future. Today, one-fifth of the world’s largest corporations have committed to net-zero targets, nearly 200 local governments in the U.S. have established commitments to power their communities with 100% clean and renewable energy, and 361 electric utilities have set clean energy or carbon reduction goals.
Yet more action is needed to make this future a reality.
California’s Community Energy Resilience Bill Passes Key Hurdle
California’s Community Energy Resilience Act (SB 833), which would help cities and local governments develop energy resilience plans using clean distributed energy resources, passed a key legislative hurdle this week.
The state legislative Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications cleared the way for the bill to proceed in a unanimous vote, following statements in its favor from The Climate Center, Rural County Representatives of California and the Microgrid Resources Coalition, among others.
Partner Highlight: Manhattan Skyscraper to Be Fully Powered by Renewable Energy
Brookfield Properties will power its One Manhattan West office skyscraper with renewable energy from upstate New York.
Another unit of parent Brookfield Asset Management Inc. will provide hydropower for the 67-story tower, part of the 8-acre (3.2-hectare) Manhattan West project on the borough’s far west side. The agreement is one of the largest in-state renewable energy deals for a single building in New York, according to a statement Monday.
Getty Image by Davidy Ryder via The Atlantic