NESEA Conference (Building Energy Boston) Review

I’d like to share one of the most memorable session I had in Building Energy Boston conference by Darien Crimmin from WinnCompanies.

 

To put it in a nut shell, he was saying that we need more subsidy for the deep building energy retrofit. In the past decades low-hanging fruits has been already harvested (e.g. LED lighting change, VFD, Controls, and etc.) and in order to pursue further improvements (e.g. electrification - converting gas heating system to heat pumps, insulating exterior facedes, installing existing/ non-existing ventilation) we need more subsidy because those requires different level of professional support from architect, engineers, and consultants. 

 

There are more hurdles for the deep retrofit. For example, in case of Heating Electrification which has been required in many regions including NYC and Boston, even though heat pump has outstanding COP and it can drastically lower the carbon emission, since traditional fuels (i.e. natural gas and oil) are extremely cheap compared to electricity, there is not much difference in the final operational cost. Moreover, installing heat pump entails outdoor unit installation and in case of the historical buildings, since changing facades is strictly restricted by the municipal building code, it’s challenging. Lastly, contractors are hesitant to be involved in the heat pump project since heat pump is relatively new to them (they are more familiar with gas and oil heating system) and also they are very conservative and reluctant to change.

 

I do agree with his opinion that we need more subsidy for the deep retrofit, however, I also think that there are still a lot of low-hanging fruits opportunities in this nation.