This week in buildings, land and industry decarbonization news, NetZero Insider’s James Downing wrote a story summarizing a Brattle Group report on how new sources of demand are impacting utility load forecasting. Electrification is driving new demand, as is the growth in data centers and reindustrialization. Both present issues for forecasters because the long-term success of electrification policies is up in the air, while some of the new data centers represent huge demand and can come online quicker than utility planning cycles.
Our Hugh Morley has the details on a recent New Jersey Board of Public Utilities vote approving incentives to encourage electrification of new buildings. The incentive, $5.25/square foot of both residential and nonresidential buildings, is intended to help the state meet its goal of installing electric heating and cooling systems in 400,000 buildings by 2030.
The New York Times has a story on a recent study from Stanford University looking into the health impacts of gas stoves, which found they have a bigger impact when they are in smaller, enclosed spaces. The study found that typical gas stove use frequently led to nitrous dioxide exposure that exceeds benchmarks set by EPA. People in homes below 800 square feet were exposed to four times as much of the pollutant as those in homes 3,000 square feet and above.
The culture war over natural gas bans were reflected in the House of Representatives passing a bill that would limit the Department of Energy’s authority to set energy efficiency standards, and The Hill had the details. With Democrats running the Senate and White House, the bill is not going anywhere else this year, but that could change after November’s elections. In Pennsylvania, NPR has a story on how the state’s House passed a new bill authorizing more stringent appliance standards that was sponsored by a Republican, but every other member of the party opposed it.
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy released its annual ranking of the best cities for efficiency and, as Axios highlighted, New Orleans saw the biggest improvement from the previous report. The Big Easy benefited from EV charging policies and a plan to get to carbon-free power generation by 2040. San Francisco took the top spot, followed by Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Finally, the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy has an analysis of a low-income home renovation program that ran in its hometown of Philadelphia. The study covers 60 homes that went through the program, which researchers said showed marked improvements in several areas — though the sample was too small to draw firm conclusions.
Read other stories in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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