Buildings are a key building block for a successful agreement in Copenhagen
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By Clay Nesler, VP of Global Energy and Sustainability, Johnson Controls, Inc.
I am writing this at my hotel in Copenhagen as I can no longer get access to the COP15 conference. Wednesday morning, NGOs were barred from entering the Bella Center after a disturbance inside the conference, and today, only three of our original delegation of 125 business and NGO representatives were allowed to enter. Friday, which is the last scheduled day of the conference, even fewer will be allowed to partiicipdate. This is the downside of having over 110 country leaders come to Copenhagen during the last days of the conference to "seal the deal."
As I reflect on the past two weeks, I am struck by the overwhelming global interest in using building energy efficiency as a cost-effective, short-term methodology to reduce carbon emissions, as well as a long-term bridge to a clean energy future. This interest comes from around the globe where it is viewed as a way of reducing current emissions in the developed world through building retrofits, or as a way of reducing future emissions in the developing world through building codes and equipment standards. The latest International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook indicates that about two-thirds of the carbon savings required to avoid more than 450 PPM of CO2 by 2050 will come from energy efficiency. In a separate study, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that 80 percent of the carbon mitigation actions with a negative cost (i.e., that pay for themselves through savings) are in the building sector.
The US delegation kept up the focus on energy efficiency throughout their frequent public appearances. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke described energy efficiency as a way for businesses to make less waste and more profit without the need to develop new technology. He also said that efficiency improvements are five times cheaper than new energy supplies. U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu gave a presentation at a large public session at the Bright Green exposition on Sunday. His first few slides focused on building energy efficiency and he recognized Johnson Controls during his address as a leader in developing technology for smart, low energy commercial buildings.
At another event, Secretary Chu announced the launch of a new Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI) which will accelerate deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in developing countries. The three components of the initiative include a Solar and LED Energy Access Program, a Clean Energy Information Platform and a Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment Program. Dr. Chu also provided an update on the Major Economies Forum including the release of ten Technology Action Plans developed under the global partnership. The U.S. is the lead country for both building energy efficiency and industrial energy efficiency. To move this initiative forward, Secretary Chu announced that he will host a first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial for Major Economies Forum and other countries in Washington, D.C., next year.
U.S. administration officials weren’t the only ones talking about the importance of energy efficiency in buildings. In fact, many of the attending premiers and ministers from states and regions around the world talked about building energy efficiency as being front and center in their response to climate change. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, during an address at the climate conference, talked about recent legislation in New York City that will drive energy audits and efficiency retrofits in commercial buildings throughout the city.
With such strong global support for building energy efficiency, it is somewhat surprising that the words never appear in the draft COP agreement language. That’s because the agreement is very high level and specific technologies or approaches are not generally called out. Where building efficiency will enter into the agreement will be in NAMAs, or Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions, that the parties with submit as part of their action plans to reduce carbon emissions. Based on the discussions in Copenhagen, you can be sure that building energy efficiency will be a key building block for carbon reduction plans in most countries around the world.
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