New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
US has become a global leader in movement to decarbonise buildings
5/4/2023
8 min read
Feature
Never forget the energy demand side of the equation. While much of the attention given to the new US Inflation Reduction Act is concentrated on its efforts to change the energy supply side, the US is also active in reducing carbon emissions from buildings, as Panama Bartholomy, Executive Director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC), writes.*
In less than four years, the movement to eliminate pollution from buildings has prompted societal-scale changes and technological innovations that have swept across the US, forever changing the spaces in which Americans live, work and play.
That’s according to a new report published in February from the US-based BDC. Innovation Acceleration: How building decarbonization has transformed the US building sector in just four years tells how a combination of bold policy actions and monumental shifts in public perceptions and consumer preferences is taking place from coast-to-coast.
Four years after Berkeley, California, became the first city in the US to require 100% electric new construction, one in every five Americans lives in an area that has passed a policy requiring or encouraging building electrification. Some 100 municipalities and four states have adopted these policies, and more are in the progress of doing so this year. Millions of residents will be able to tap into incentives to electrify their homes passed in the landmark federal climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, starting this year.