Hub: Building Innovation
How Your Water Heater Can Be a Secret Weapon in the Climate Change Fight
News / February 11, 2021
Published by Bloomberg News: Nearly every home has a water heater, but people tend not to think about it until the shock of a cold shower signals its failure. To regulators, though, the ubiquitous household appliance is increasingly top of...
Bringing Heat Pump Water Heaters into the Mainstream
Report / February 10, 2021
The Advanced Water Heating Initiative (AWHI) Playbook and 2020 Progress Report summarizes the activities of AWHI through the end of 2020. The West Coast AWHI has made tremendous progress in the two years it has been underway. The Initiative includes…
The Building Electrification Technology Roadmap
Paper / February 2, 2021
The Building Electrification Technology Roadmap (BETR) is a guide for utilities and other organizations developing, implementing, and supporting electrification technology programs as a way to advance high efficiency technologies, reduce GHG emissions, and improve public health. It’s the first study…
New Building Electrification Technology Roadmap Shows Pathways to Achieve Zero Carbon
News / February 2, 2021
A first-of-its-kind study from New Buildings Institute provides a comprehensive analysis of electric technologies that can displace fossil fuels in buildings. Energy use in California’s buildings is a leading source of climate-changing emissions. Homes and commercial buildings must be electrified...
It’s Getting BETR: The Building Electrification Technology Roadmap is Here
Webinar / February 25, 2021 @ 11:30 am - 12:30 pm PST
Building electrification technologies are potential game changers for getting to zero in the built environment. Join NBI’s Cathy Higgins and Alexi Miller to learn about new research on market-ready and emerging electrification products and their role in supporting California program…
Advanced Water Heating Initiative Playbook and 2020 Progress
Webinar / February 11, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am PST
Water heating is the second largest energy use in U.S. homes. Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWHs) are a decades-old, proven technology, and are two to four times more efficient than electric resistance or standard gas water heaters. HPWHs support a…
Building Electrification Technology Roadmap
Paper / January 12, 2021
The Building Electrification Technology Roadmap (BETR) is a guide for utilities and other organizations developing, implementing, and supporting electrification technology programs as a way to advance high efficiency technologies, reduce GHG emissions, and improve public health. It’s the first study…
Get ready for grid-integrated buildings
News / January 5, 2021
Published by The Keneda Fund: Imagine an energy system in which each building serves as an extension of the power grid. When all buildings were simply at the receiving end of electricity generated by a few big power plants, that...
Decarbonizing the Built Environment
News / December 4, 2020
Decarbonizing the Built Environment, is a new brief and online event from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). NBI Program Director, Amy Cortese was part of the conversation that informed this piece. She discussed the domestic environment for...
Getting Building Height Right for the Climate
News / November 30, 2020
Published by GTM: Skyscrapers use and lose more energy than low-rise buildings, research shows. Can smarter design and technology change that? It may seem obvious that cities filled with big buildings use energy more efficiently than dispersed suburban landscapes, and...
Cutting Carbon Emissions Through Electrification
News / November 17, 2020
Published by Commercial Property Executive: A new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy finds that energy-efficient electric heat pumps cut commercial buildings’ greenhouse emissions by 44 percent. Sean Denniston, senior project manager at the New Buildings Institute,...
New Awards Program Spotlights All-Electric Building Innovation in San Mateo County
News / November 5, 2020
Peninsula Clean Energy and New Buildings Institute have launched a new awards program spotlighting all-electric building innovation across San Mateo County. The All-Electric Leadership Awards and Directory invites designers, builders, developers and owners of all-electric, high performance residential and commercial...
Decarbonization Technologies: What We Have, What We Need
Webinar / October 29, 2020
Best of the Forum on-demand webinar: Take stock of the current state of the building technologies needed to drive decarbonization at scale. In this webinar, moderated by Clay Nesler, a report is provided on Johnson Controls' recent Energy Efficiency Indicator…
Decarb for a New Tomorrow
Webinar / October 20, 2020
Natural gas accounts for over 50% of the recent carbon dioxide growth in the past few years, leading some policymakers to look at building decarbonization to meet local climate goals. Designers are seeking new technologies to reduce carbon and meet…
Fighting Climate Change, One Building At A Time
News / October 18, 2020
Published by NPR: When Donnel Baird was in his 20s, he had twin passions, and he didn’t want to choose between them. “I vowed that I was going to try to combine my passion for Black civil rights with trying...
Improving Health and Resilience Through Better Building Design
Post / October 6, 2020
This summer, as a record number of uncontained wildfires burned along the West Coast, residents feverishly checked websites such as PurpleAir to determine if it was safe to go outside. Every year, wildfires raise awareness about the impacts of poor...
Designing Low-to-Mid-Rise Multifamily Residential Buildings
News / August 25, 2020
Published by ASHRAE Journal Newsletter: Multifamily buildings are often built like commercial buildings and used as residential buildings, making them challenging to design. There is research that explores codes, standards and best practices to help designers and practitioners achieve high...
Decarbonization Technologies: What We Have, What We Need
Webinar / October 29, 2020 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT
Join us for a Best of the Forum webinar: Take stock of the current state of the building technologies needed to drive decarbonization at scale. In this webinar, moderated by Clay Nesler, a report is provided on Johnson Controls' recent…
Bringing Heat Pump Water Heaters into the Mainstream
Post / August 12, 2020
It takes a village to change technology. We in the efficiency industry have witnessed decades of partnerships to bring transformative change to refrigerators, lighting, motors and HVAC. With increasing concern over the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated...
NBI Study Keys in on Optimizing Automated Shading
News / July 29, 2020
Published in Architectural Products on page 46: Identifying automated shading as a key component in achieving net-zero retrofits for existing buildings, the California Energy Commission has commissioned New Buildings Insitute (NBI) to retrofit two Southern California offices with automated shading...
Electrification Nation?
Post / July 29, 2020
Natural gas, once the darling to replace carbon-intensive coal in electricity production, is increasingly being recognized as a significant cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are fueling climate change. The main component of natural gas is methane, which when...
Public Buildings Portfolio Management Strategic Energy Plan Template
Document / July 23, 2020
Strategic energy planning helps local governments and other organizations increase the energy efficiency of buildings, save on operating costs, reduce emissions, and lead by example for the community. The Public Buildings Portfolio Management Plan Template can be used by cities,…
GridOptimal Phase 2 Outcomes
Report / July 19, 2020
The role of buildings, renewable energy, and energy storage in the utility sector is changing. New near-term solutions are needed to address today’s challenges and capitalize on opportunities for market transformation. New Buildings Institute (NBI), in partnership with the U.S.…
GridOptimal Factsheet
Factsheet / May 19, 2020
This factsheet outlines the key components of the GridOptimal Buildings Initiative and explains how buildings can support grid operation and decarbonization. Learn about the challenges of modern grid management, how buildings can be a part of the solution to support…
New Metrics for Evaluating Building-Grid Integration
Paper / May 18, 2020
Since mid-2018, the not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder GridOptimal Buildings Initiative (GridOptimal 2020) has been developing metrics to measure the grid impacts of building features and operating characteristics to support a new design approach that prioritizes better building-grid integration across the building stock.…
Advanced Water Heating Initiative
Document / May 8, 2020
The Advanced Water Heating Initiative (AWHI) is a collaborative, market transformation effort of over 35 organizations working to catalyze a rapid transition to high-efficiency, grid-connected Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWH). AWHI is an initiative of New Buildings Institute and the…
Five Ways To Begin Energy Benchmarking
News / April 23, 2020 / Measured Results
Published by Facility Executive Magazine: You may think your building operations reflect a green building approach, but how do you know what is happening on a month to month basis? Energy benchmarking is the ongoing monthly review of energy performance...
The Embodied Carbon Conundrum: Solving for All Emission Sources from the Built Environment
Post / February 26, 2020
Increasing urgency among policymakers and the design community to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord has spurred more aggressive codes and energy policies in jurisdictions around the United States. These strategies are making gains on driving down carbon...
Passive House 2020 – Choose Your Future
Webinar / June 11, 2020 - June 12, 2020
NBI is a supporter of the Passive House 2020 – Choose Your Future. The core mission of Passive House 2020 is to demonstrate and discuss how (and why) building owners, developers, and occupants are choosing Passive House to improve outcomes,…
A Call to Action for Zero Embodied Carbon Webinar
Webinar / April 2, 2020 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT
Getting to zero requires targeting both operating and embodied carbon. Buildings are responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions–28% attributed to operational carbon, and 11% to embodied emissions from materials and construction processes. As the industry responds to the challenge…