Intermountain Sustainability SummitMarch 18, 2021
Building Electrification in the Utah ContextPresented by: Peter Nelson, Salt Lake City Sustainability; and Tyler Poulson, Building Electrification Institute
Salt Lake City has set an ambitious goal to reduce its community-wide GHG emissions 80% by 2040, and a major step toward achieving this target is the City's commitment to a 100% renewable electricity supply by the year 2030. However, a remaining half of Salt Lake City’s total GHG footprint is derived from non-electricity sources, including fossil gas combustion in the buildings sector. A nationally trending movement to reduce these fossil gas emissions is building electrification, which effectively displaces gas combustion systems in building operations with high-efficiency electric technology powered by carbon-free electricity sources. Equally significant, building electrification eliminates a structure’s contributions to community-wide poor air quality, as well as indoor air quality hazards that have been shown to disproportionally impact underserved communities. Salt Lake City, in partnership with national nonprofit Building Electrification Institute, is currently exploring pathways to regionally scale all-electric construction as a means to power our buildings with an increasingly clean energy supply. Through technical analysis, extensive stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with industry professionals who have already implemented all-electric concepts locally, Salt Lake City’s building electrification effort aims to identify the opportunities and mechanisms to achieve a fossil-free future in our all-important building sector.
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