Hello Fellow Decarbonizers,

As the year comes to a close, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and optimism about how much progress our movement has made in 2024. Our team, along with our friends at Sunstone Strategies, have put together a wonderful year-end recap full of some of the biggest and brightest moments for the building decarbonization movement worth celebrating together this holiday season. You can read 2024 Wrapped: Decarb Edition here.

To finish this chapter and prepare for the next, BDC will be closed December 25th - January 1st so that our staff can rest, recharge, and spend some quality time with loved ones. We hope you have a chance to do the same. 

As we look toward 2025, there are many uncertainties, but one thing remains remarkably clear—our commitment to decarbonizing buildings and ensuring all people across the country can live in clean, healthy, and comfortable spaces is more important than ever. And that said, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running with you in January.

In the meantime, we wish you a restful and joyous holiday season. Thank you for being here with us on this journey.

Yours in decarbonizing, 
Panama

What a jam-packed year it’s been! 2024 has been marked by significant advancements in building decarbonization policies, growing consumer demand for electric technologies, and the continued expansion of the building decarbonization movement. So, before we turn to the challenges of 2025 and continue the fight for what communities want and need—a more affordable, resilient future—let’s take a deep breath and reflect on what we’ve accomplished in this most recent trip around the sun.

We invite you to expand your support for BDC this GivingTuesday, when millions of people around the world come together to make a difference in the lives of others in their communities. Donations to BDC today will move us closer to our goal of decarbonizing the built environment in the coming days, months, and even years. 

So if you’re planning to donate this GivingTuesday, or provide recommendations to family and friends, please keep BDC in mind. Your support will go to the people, programs, and initiatives at the forefront of the effort to equitably upgrade our buildings with healthy, zero-emission heating, cooling, and cooking.

BDC Presents: State of the Union: Post-Election Decarb Outlook

December 12, 2024 10 am PT / 1 pm ET

Join BDC’s own Rose Stephens-Booker and Kristin George Bagdanov and AnnDyl's Skip Wiltshire-Gordon as they review decarbonization policy from 2024 and analyze the results of the most recent election.

California Policy Call

December 17, 2024 at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET

We invite you to join us for our monthly discussion of building decarbonization policy in California. Learn about legislation, regulation, and what’s on the climate policy horizon as our coalition works to advance neighborhood-scale decarbonization, statewide healthy air standards, and energy affordability.

At BDC, our mission to eliminate fossil fuels from the built environment is powered by the dedication, creativity, and hard work of our team. Over the past six months, several of our colleagues have taken on new roles, reflecting their exceptional contributions to our shared goals.

Each of these individuals has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing building decarbonization and energy justice, contributing innovative ideas and impactful work to our initiatives. These promotions are a testament to their dedication and the critical role they play in driving our mission forward.
Congratulations, and thank you for your extraordinary efforts! 

• Ania Maria Camargo - Associate Director of Thermal Networks
• Beckie Menten - Director of California
• Brian Barnacle - Managing Director of Strategy & Development
• Frank Vargas - Community Outreach Manager
• Friday Apaliski - Managing Director of Communications
• Jaqueline Ramirez - Associate Policy Manager, California
• Jessica Yap - Senior Chefluencer Program Associate
• Jose Torres - Managing Director of States & Regions
• Matt Casale - Director of State Mobilization
• Rania Hamdan - Associate Finance Manager
• Romy Banks - Managing Director of Operations
• Rose Stephens-Booker - Managing Director of Programs & Partnerships
• Zsofia Balogh-Simon - Director of Partnerships 

You can get to know all of BDC's amazing staff on our new and improved team page.

Equitable Neighborhood Decarbonization Gets the Go-Ahead, BuildingGreen
BuildingGreen covers SB 1221, a bill that was co-sponsored by BDC and signed into law earlier this year. SB 1221 will shift ratepayer investments towards modern, clean energy infrastructure, such as neighborhood-scale decarbonization. 

Trump is Likely to Gut These Tax Credits. Here’s How to Take Advantage Now, SF Chronicle
With a new administration coming in 2025, consumers should jump on federal rebates currently available for clean energy equipment like heat pumps. CA and WA residents can search their eligibility for stackable rebates via The Switch Is On. 

Since 2019, we’ve been tracking adopted state and local government policies that address building-specific operational fuel types and related emissions in the United States with our Zero Emission Building (ZEB) ordinance tracker. Over a quarter of the US population is covered by one of these policies, and this month we gave the tracker a fresh new look. Check it out and let us know what you think by emailing lawrence@buildingdecarb.org. 

Furthering our commitment to knowledge sharing, we are excited to continue our seasonal ‘Report Roundup’ segment to highlight insightful reports from other organizations across the building decarbonization movement and share the latest developments, best practices, and strategies. 

Transforming Texas: How Heat Pumps Can Replace Electric Resistance Heat, Reducing Costs and Winter Power Peaks
ACEEE, November 2024
This report analyzes the cost difference between a heat pump and a central air conditioner with electric resistance heating coils and finds that, in 15 years, Texas will see electricity savings of almost 7 billion kWh and annual energy bill savings of about $1 billion per year. The report also provides recommendations for the state of Texas to use state and utility programs and establish local and state codes to encourage heat pump adoption. 

Next Steps for Gas System Planning in California
Energy+Environmental Economics, November 2024
After reviewing gas planning proceedings across the United States, this report identifies instructive examples to guide California’s relaunched gas planning proceeding, including five near-term key gas transition actions that must be addressed. While these five near-term gas transition actions are critical to establishing a managed gas transition that reduces gas system spending and manages ratepayer costs, there is also a need to develop gas utility long-term plans and set sector-specific GHG targets to complement these actions.

Driving Affordable Decarbonization: Inclusive Utility Program Designs for Disadvantaged Communities
NREL, September 2024 
This report draws from utility stakeholder interviews to recommend effective utility program design for disadvantaged and underserved communities. It also demonstrates that the cost of decarbonization can be affordable and explores opportunities in programs serving disadvantaged communities such as using modern rate architecture to better design rate or program design. 

California

Legislature
California Governor Newsom called the Legislature into a Special Session to convene on December 2, with the goal of authorizing resources for the Department of Justice and other state agencies to defend California priorities against the incoming presidential administration. Action over the course of the coming months is likely to focus on California’s climate goals, among other issues. The state is also currently awaiting finalization of 8 rule waivers for clean air and climate rules, pending approval by the U.S. EPA, which primarily have to do with California’s zero-emission vehicle mandates. If these rule waivers fail to come through, we can expect to see additional focus through the Special Session on clean air standards and zero-emission fleets and cars. 

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) 
Following the success of SB 1221 being signed into law, BDC’s co-sponsored bill to authorize 30 neighborhood-scale decarbonization pilot projects across the state, implementation of the bill has moved to the CPUC. Passage of this bill represented a landmark achievement and will provide real-world insight into how to launch building decarbonization at scale. 

This month, the CPUC held a workshop on the provisions within SB 1221 that govern mapping of in-state gas pipeline networks, and subsequently updated the scope of their Long-Term Gas Planning rulemaking (OIR) to include SB 1221’s mapping provisions. This process will help the CPUC designate priority zones used to inform neighborhood selection for the pilot projects. We anticipate seeing a program launched to fully implement these pilots by July 1, 2026, as required in law by SB 1221.  

Massachusetts

In a remarkable end-of-year comeback, Massachusetts’ climate bill, “An Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity and protecting ratepayers,” passed the House in a special legislative session in November and now heads to Governor Healey’s desk. 

The bill is a sweeping piece of climate legislation that reforms the state's gas distribution system, among many other goals. The bill includes several key provisions that will allow the state’s gas utilities to evolve into thermal utilities. It changes the definition of a gas company to allow for the sale and distribution of non-emitting thermal energy; it places proposals for new gas infrastructure under greater scrutiny by allowing the Department of Public Utilities to consider whether gas expansion is in the public interest in terms of costs and climate goals, and whether there is a feasible alternative to gas service; and it modernizes the utility’s “obligation to serve” methane gas by allowing a utility to provide non-combusting thermal energy to a customer instead of gas.

New York

NYS Public Service Commission
On November 11, BDC filed comments along with 22 signatory organizations and companies urging consideration of thermal energy networks (TENs) in the NYS Public Service Commission Proceeding on the Grid of the Future. This proceeding, and the initial study being developed for it, are focused on flexible capacity resources, and will serve as a basis for the State’s understanding of how costs may be contained as electric grid capacity needs grow to meet increasing demand from industry, transportation and building electrification. BDC’s comments urged consideration of TENs as a key resource to be analyzed: TENs could play a significant role in shaping the average and peak electricity demand profile in New York State. The comments also request that TENs be included in the study being conducted by Brattle Group, or, in the alternative, in a separate study to inform the Grid of the Future proceeding, arguing that TENs, particularly when integrated with thermal storage and demand response systems, can act as direct electric capacity resources by contributing to grid stability, reducing demand during peak periods, and serving as dispatchable resources. 

Utility Thermal Energy Network Pilots
On November 14th, members of the UpgradeNY collaborative, including the NY League of Conservation Voters, Local 21 of the UA, and BDC, joined the City of Mount Vernon and ConEdison at a community event in Mount Vernon to educate residents about the potential for a utility thermal energy network as part of the implementation of the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act, highlighting the no-cost clean home heating & cooling upgrades that participants will receive as well as a discussion on how these systems work.

NYS Energy Plan
NYS has extended the deadline for public comments on the Draft Scope of the upcoming NYS Energy Plan through December 16th. New York has kicked off its process to develop its first State Energy Plan in nine years and is taking comments on an initial scoping document that will shape the Plan. The State Energy Plan is binding on New York State agencies and is critical to providing policy direction to guide energy-related decision-making in the state. The Plan will assess meeting New York's energy needs over a 15-year horizon through 2040 and is a key vehicle to implementing the recommendations of the Climate Action Council's Scoping Plan. BDC is coordinating with partners on comments on priorities for the buildings sector within the Plan Scope. If you would like to sign on, please contact BDC’s New York team.