[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Reducing GHG emissions 80% below 1990 levels

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

A year ago, Ken Wilson to recommended to staff and Council an article in Science magazine: 
 
“The Technology Path to Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts by 2050: The Pivotal Role of Electricity.” Williams et al. Science 2012 335 (6064), p. 53
 
I lost track of the recommendation, but found it again while preparing for this year’s retreat. I obtained a copy and read it, and recommend, as Ken did, that everyone interested in GHG reduction read it.
 
What is striking about this article is that it models how much the State of California, the world’s 12th largest economy, needs to reduce GHG's in each of the major sectors, including transportation and urban planning, in order to drop GHG emission to 80% below 1990 levels. This provides policy makers with measurable goals to achieve in each of these sectors to achieve the 80% reduction. The graph in Fig. 1 of the article tells where the reductions can be achieved.
 
 
A year ago, Ken Wilson to recommended to staff and Council an article in Science magazine: 
 
“The Technology Path to Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts by 2050: The Pivotal Role of Electricity.” Williams et al. Science 2012 335 (6064), p. 53
 
I lost track of the recommendation, but found it again while preparing for this year’s retreat. I obtained a copy and read it, and recommend, as Ken did, that everyone interested in GHG reduction read it.
 
What is striking about this article is that it models how much the State of California, the world’s 12th largest economy, needs to reduce GHG's in each of the major sectors, including transportation and urban planning, in order to drop GHG emission to 80% below 1990 levels. This provides policy makers with measurable goals to achieve in each of these sectors to achieve the 80% reduction. The graph in Fig. 1 of the article tells where the reductions can be achieved. I will paste it below, though I am not sure that our email system will embed it.
 
 
 
Pertinent to building codes, the authors modeling showed that the contribution of building efficiency (28%) to overall carbon reduction can be achieved if we increase efficiency of buildings 1.3% per year. This is aggressive target, to be sure. But there are a number of authors who maintain that building efficiency can be improved up to 65% using currently available materials, equipment and techniques, with another 15% achievable in the long term from ideas that are not yet commercialized. See, e.g., “How to build a low-energy future,” 488 Nature 275, Aug. 16, 2012, by Philip Farese, formerly senior energy analyst at NREL, now at Advantix Systems. (I thank Ken for turning me on to this article as well.)
 
The authors’ modeling indicates that 27% of GHG reduction can occur through decarbonizing electricity production, 14% of GHG reductions through urban planning and 16% through “electrification of existing direct fuel uses in transportation, buildings, and industrial processes.” This is the area where transportation is decarbonized by electrifying most transportation uses.
 
It would be very good if staff were to obtain a copy of this Science article and provide it to each Council Member prior to the retreat.    
 
Pertinent to building codes, the authors modeling showed that the contribution of building efficiency (28%) to overall carbon reduction can be achieved if we increase efficiency of buildings 1.3% per year. This is aggressive target, to be sure. But there are a number of authors who maintain that building efficiency can be improved up to 65% using currently available materials, equipment and techniques, with another 15% achievable in the long term from ideas that are not yet commercialized. See, e.g., “How to build a low-energy future,” 488 Nature 275, Aug. 16, 2012, by Philip Farese, formerly senior energy analyst at NREL, now at Advantix Systems. (I thank Ken for turning me on to this article as well.)
 
The authors’ modeling indicates that 27% of GHG reduction can occur through decarbonizing electricity production, 14% of GHG reductions through urban planning and 16% through “electrification of existing direct fuel uses in transportation, buildings, and industrial processes.” This is the area where transportation is decarbonized by electrifying most transportation uses.
 
It would be very good if staff were to obtain a copy of this Science article and provide it to each Council Member prior to the retreat.    

Macon Cowles
Boulder City Councilor