Earth In Crisis: Can We Hit Net Zero?
Progress Made, But Much To Be Done. Here’s Where You Come In.
by Tracey MacDermott
For the GPHN
The Energize Denver Task Force released its recommendations for cutting greenhouse emissions from buildings by 80 percent by 2040 to the city last August. In November, City Council approved those recommendations. The task force, comprised of representatives from various backgrounds, was charged with helping the city design a building performance policy for existing buildings that meet the following criteria:
• Improves Health and Equity: Improve indoor air quality, comfort and health outcomes. Lower energy costs for businesses and improving energy equity. Ensure under-resourced communities can thrive under the policy.
• Creates Jobs: Create clean energy jobs and drives economic recovery from COVID-19.
• Drives Climate Solutions in Buildings: The Task Force will design a policy that will require existing buildings in Denver — which currently contribute over half of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions — to achieve Net Zero Energy by 2040. The Task Force will help city government design a regulatory path that enables all buildings achieve this goal. Net zero energy means highly efficient, all electric, grid flexible, and powered by 100 percent renewable electricity.
Denver’s current definition of net zero requires buildings to be highly energy efficient, all electric, powered by renewable energy, and be providers of demand flexibility for the grid. Qualifying buildings must meet all four of those criteria by 2040. Achieving that goal would result in a cumulative carbon emission reduction of 13.7 million metric tons between 2021 and 2040.
By way of clarification, flexibility for the grid refers to the capability of a power system to maintain balance between generation and load during uncertainty, resulting in increased grid efficiency, resiliency and the integration of variable renewables into the grid. The National Grid Group defines net zero as the “balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. We reach net zero when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away.”
The 2020 Climate Action Task Force recommended bringing Denver’s 17,000 existing commercial and multifamily buildings to net zero energy by 2040 through a building performance policy that includes energy efficiency requirements, and electrification requirements beginning around 2025.
Globally, buildings generate nearly 40 percent of CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 28 percent every year, while building materials and construction (typically referred to as embodied carbon) are responsible for an additional 11 percent.
A 2017 report from The Independent in the United Kingdom noted that the world must hit net zero well before 2040 to ensure keeping warming under 1.5 degrees celsius by the end of the century. The report highlighted the need to aim for negative emissions, however the technology to do that is still in its infancy. Five years after that report was published, a viable carbon capture solution still does not exist. Industries such as mining, cement, and oil and gas, which are huge contributors to the current climate catastrophe, are counting on carbon capture as part of their climate solutions.
Last month, the State of Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment issued a press release highlighting its progress under HB 19-1261. The bill, which is referred to as Colorado’s climate change law, has goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from levels that existed in 2005 at the following rates:
• At least 26 percent by 2025
• At least 50 percent by 2030
• At least 90 percent by 2050
The department notes that the state has made significant progress on reducing emissions. It also notes that additional work is necessary in order to achieve the next benchmarks for 2025 and 2030.
Colorado’s largest sources of greenhouse gases came from human activities involving electricity generation, transportation and fuel combustion to heat buildings. In its report, the CDPHE highlighted an overall reduction of 16 percent of greenhouse gases since 2010. Projections for the future shows that Colorado will slightly exceed its goals, resulting in a 90.7 percent reduction by 2050.
Efforts from both our city and state are commendable, however much more needs to be done. That is where you come in. To help reach our climate goals well before 2040, we must all continue to decrease our carbon emissions at home and as we travel around our city and state. Consider a New Year’s resolution to step up to address our global emergency — especially if you haven’t given our climate crisis as much thought as is needed.
We can do this. Let’s find the collective will to make it happen.
Tracey MacDermott is an at-large member of the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., and immediate past chair. She was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017, and is currently the Statewide Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Project for the 100% Committed Campaign.