Building decarbonization is a critical measure to achieve California’s climate and air quality goals and protect public health; in particular, building electrification is one building decarbonization strategy that can eliminate direct emissions from stationary combustion. However, commercial building electrification remains a challenge due to the complexity of building functions, types of natural gas equipment used for space heating, water heating, cooking, and clothes drying in commercial buildings, and other challenges inherent to retrofitting existing buildings and constructing new buildings. The objectives of this research are: 1) Identify high priority subsectors for commercial building electrification, and analyze the costs, benefits, and strategies to decarbonize commercial buildings in a way that equitably benefits communities. High priority subsectors are those with disproportionate emissions and exposure impacts to frontline communities and priority populations. This work will leverage existing programs and customer data to characterize the natural gas equipment used in CA commercial buildings and available emissions data to characterize air quality impacts. 2) For high priority commercial building subsectors identified pursuant to objective 1, the project will estimate the impacts of their natural gas equipment use, including space heating, water heating, cooking and clothes drying equipment, on local, regional and overall statewide energy consumption, indoor and outdoor air quality, health risks (based on outdoor pollution emissions), environmental equity and climate change. 3) Analyze the electrification costs, benefits, and enabling and limiting factors in converting high priority commercial building sectors from natural gas to electricity. In addition, the project will analyze what is needed to close the gaps between existing efforts in these subsectors and the state’s long-term goals. The results of this study will be air quality, climate, and health impact data for priority commercial building subsectors as well as recommendations and strategies useful in the development of complementary regulatory actions to enhance equitable electrification for CA commercial buildings.
Relevant dates
- Pre-proposals must be submitted by email to research@arb.ca.gov before 5pm, Monday March 14, 2022
- The winning researchers will be notified on Monday April 4, 2022
- Full proposals and detailed budgets from awarded researchers will be due on Monday April 25, 2022
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