As Congress Required, DOE Finalizes Standards That Decrease Emissions for New and Renovated Federal Buildings Across the Nation, Slashing Harmful Carbon Emissions by 2 Million Metric Tons

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that it has delivered on Congress’s mandate to cut emissions from new or newly renovated federal buildings through the Clean Energy for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings Rule. By meeting the requirements of the Rule, federal buildings will reduce pollution, improve air quality, create good-paying jobs, and take advantage of cost savings from using more energy-efficient equipment. These measures will help advance the adoption of cleaner, more efficient technologies for buildings that will lead the way to achieving President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan goal of net-zero emissions from all federal buildings by 2045.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is practicing what we preach. Just as we are helping households and businesses across the nation save money by saving energy, we are doing the same in our own federal buildings,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“President Biden has charged the Federal Government to lead by example by transforming its footprint of over 300,000 buildings to be more energy efficient and climate resilient, which means cleaner air and safer communities across the country,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory. “Today’s action will help our Federal Government achieve President Biden’s ambitious Federal sustainability goals while creating good-paying jobs, saving taxpayers money, and building healthier, more resilient communities.”

This Rule, which implements the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, requires federal agencies to phase out fossil fuel usage in new federal building construction or major renovation by achieving a 90% reduction in fossil fuel use for new projects started between fiscal years 2025 and 2029 and completely eliminating on-site fossil fuel usage in new projects beginning in 2030.

DOE estimates that over the next 30 years, the new rule will reduce carbon emissions from federal buildings by 2 million metric tons and methane emissions by 16 thousand tons—an amount roughly equivalent to the emissions generated by nearly 310,000 homes in one year, while also reducing infrastructure costs.

Today’s final rule, in conjunction with Executive Order 14057 and other Federal Sustainability Plan actions, including Federal Building Performance Standard, strengthens progress to achieve net-zero emissions in federal buildings by 2045 by eliminating on-site fossil fuel emissions, also known as Scope 1 emissions. DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) will issue supplemental guidance that provides agencies with pathways for compliance. DOE FEMP will support agencies as they work to meet these targets by providing resources, opportunities for grant funding, training, and technical assistance.

The final rule represents the result of a robust engagement process in which DOE interacted with a wide spectrum of federal stakeholders, whose feedback was instrumental to informing the final standard. The new rule aims to accelerate clean energy deployment within the federal building stock by phasing out on-site fossil-fuel usage for end-uses such as heating and water heating.

For more information, visit the Clean Energy Rule webpage.

First Comprehensive Federal Strategy Outlines Pathways to Reduce Emissions 90% in Buildings Sector by 2050, Reinforcing President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to Lower Energy Costs, Improve Resilience, and Tackle the Climate Crisis

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden-Harris Administration today released Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector, a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from buildings by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) led the Blueprint’s development in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal agencies. The Blueprint is the first sector-wide strategy for building decarbonization developed by the federal government, underscoring President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to cutting harmful carbon emissions and achieving the nation’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals.

“America’s building sector accounts for more than a third of the harmful emissions jeopardizing our air and health, but the Biden-Harris Administration has developed a forward-looking strategy to slash these pollutants from buildings across the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “As part of a whole-of-government approach, DOE is outlining for the first time ever a comprehensive federal plan to reduce energy in our homes, schools, and workplaces—lowering utility bills and creating healthier communities while combating the climate crisis.”

Read the Full Announcement

Updated Form F: Life Cycle Analysis (LCCA) Tool available now

Form F: Life Cycle Analysis (LCCA) Tool is one of the compliance documents for the Clean Buildings Performance Standard, specifically for buildings pursing compliance through the investment criteria. The purpose of this tool is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures. This tool is updated annually.

The form was updated on March 25, 2024. The Investment Criteria Tool (Form F) updates incorporate the following:

• The latest nominal and real discount rates.
• The latest fuel escalation rates from the NIST Handbook Supplement.
• The updated Social Cost of Carbon to correspond with the latest EPA supplemental report.

Available for download: New Clean Buildings Performance Standard Integrated Document

The February 2024 version of the Clean Buildings Performance Standard Integrated Document includes covered buildings in Tier 1 and Tier 2.

• Please fill out the Smartsheet form to download the new document.

Hey there energy enthusiasts! We are thrilled to announce that the highly anticipated AESP’s Demand Flexibility Report is now live and ready for your perusal. Dive in to discover the latest insights and trends in energy management that will spark a surge of excitement in your sustainability journey. Don’t miss out on this electrifying opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and power up your knowledge arsenal!

UNLEASH THE INSIGHTS

Inside this report, you will find several insights including:

• A brief history of demand flexibility
• Why grid flexibility is more important than ever
• Benefits of distributed energy resources
• Implementation challenges of demand flexibility
• Key technologies supporting demand flexibility
• Current pilots
• Successful implementations

Beginning this year, all proposed inverter-based Distributed Energy Resources (DER) must use inverters certified under Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1741 Supplement B (Standard for Safety Inverters, Converters, Controllers and Interconnection System Equipment for Use with Distributed Energy Resources, Supplement B and labeled as UL1741-SB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1547-2018 (Standard for Interconnection Interoperability of Distributed Energy Resources with Associated Electric Power Systems Interfaces).

The new inverter requirement will go into effect on the following schedule:

• On or after April 1, 2024: New DER interconnection applications submitted that require an engineering review must use inverters certified under UL1741-SB
• On or after July 1, 2024: All new DER interconnection applications submitted must use inverters certified under UL1741-SB.

The new inverter requirements have been adopted to support City Light’s grid modernization efforts. UL1741-SB inverters have communications functionality that can provide important information to the utility. In the future, as more and more customers adopt photovoltaic technologies, the new inverters will allow the utility to understand how much energy customer solar is generating in real time. This new inverter standard supports the utility’s progress toward a carbon-free, electrified future where customers have more choice about energy generation.

For more information, please contact [email protected]. You can review the 2024 RESC on City Light’s website at web8.seattle.gov/city-light-engineering-standards/RESC.