The California Roadmap to a Carbon Free Future for the Built Environment

Published by Meeting of the Minds: Participants of COP21 (Paris, 2015) agreed that limiting the average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius was an absolute imperative, and that this goal would require that human-produced emissions peak in 2020 and get to zero (yes, ZERO!) by 2050. California set the decarbonization train in motion in 2006 with passage of the California Global Warming Solutions Act. While much progress has been made, many recognize that the pace of change must accelerate if the worst effects of carbon in the atmosphere are to be avoided. In order for buildings to make the desired contribution to the State’s decarbonization goals, electricity generation systems, building systems, and the grid that connects them have to be responsive to a new model of energy resource management. NBI’s GridOptimal Initiative is named as one of the key initiatives. NBI is working with utilities, national labs, and engineers to help develop tools for designers to create buildings that are responsive to grid carbon signatures.