Decarbonization Requires Faster Pace of Retrofits By CRAIG DILOUIE, LC, CLCP Education Director, Lighting Controls Association (www.LightingControlsAssociation.org)
The 2016 Paris Agreement called for its nearly 200 signatories to join in limiting global warming to an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This would require carbon emissions to be cut in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. To reach this goal, the rate of retrofits in the Global North will need to triple from barely 1 percent to at least 3 percent of stock each year, according to Retrofitting Buildings to be Future-Fit, a November 2022 report by commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Buildings are responsible for an estimated 39 percent of global energy-related carbon emissions. According to the World Green Building Council, 11 percent comes from materials and construction and the remaining 28 percent from operational emissions—from energy required to light, heat, cool, and power them. As such, buildings provide a viable path to decarbonization, particularly existing buildings, as a majority of the commercial building stock—
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some 80 percent of buildings—that will be standing in 2050 has already been built. Various U.S. jurisdictions have begun phasing in energy benchmarking with fines for building owners failing to satisfy energy efficiency or emissions requirements. Multiple state and local governments have passed building performance standard-based policies. According to Vert Energy Group, dozens of municipalities have adopted or are phasing in requirements. These policies aim for benchmarking and decarbonization and create large markets for retrofits. One of the most prominent examples is New York City, whose Local Law 97 takes effect in 2024. This law sets carbon caps on buildings over 25,000 sq.ft., imposes large fines for exceeding these caps, and will drive toward net zero carbon emissions by 2050. These policies send a clear market signal to reduce carbon emissions or face financial