COP-29, also known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be held from November 11th to November 22nd. The meeting will take place in Baku, the capitol of Azerbaijan. The annual conference started in 1994 and has been a decades-long effort to spur action on climate change. The parties to the conference have explicit aims developed by the Paris Climate Accords and the Kyoto Climate Protocol, where developed economies are expected to lead the way and fund the process of climate mitigation. ASHRAE Presidential Member Jim Wolf will be present on a panel as part of the America Is All In Pavilion on Friday November 15, which you can watch on a livestream here at 5:30am Eastern Time. You can read about COP-29, and the events, speakers, and panels that you can watch here.

 

 

The World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, is hosting a webinar on November 7th at 3:00 p.m. Nairobi Time (7:00 a.m. ET) concerning the unique vulnerability and opportunities for action and mitigation that climate change poses to Africa. Speakers from The United Nations, The African Development Bank, World Resources Institute, and others will present on the webinar. You can find a link to register for the webinar or watch a recording of the webinar at a later date here.

 

 

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

 

A new Congress (the 119th) will convene on January 3, 2024. In addition to expiring health care subsidies and government funding that will need to be addressed, the new Congress will have to address expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (scheduled to expire at the end of 2025) and extend the debt ceiling. It’s highly likely that any deal on the expiring tax cuts will be tied to an agreement on the debt ceiling extension. With the opportunity to negotiate tax reform due to the pending expiration of some of the enacted tax cuts, many organizations and coalitions will attempt to influence the 119th Congress to include their tax priorities.

 

 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

 

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shared updated guidance on how to most effectively use ventilation to prevent the spread of common respiratory viruses in homes, schools, offices, and commercial buildings. It highlights ventilation as a key measure to combat the spread of viruses including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which can spread easily indoors. For schools, offices, and commercial buildings, EPA encourages professionals to consult ASHRAE guidance and consider the specific characteristics of their building. The guidance “reflects the latest science on indoor air quality” and includes a link to ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols. Read the guidance here and accompanying press release here.

 

 

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added to its frequently asked questions on ventilation a section about ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols. The CDC clarified that ASHRAE Standard 241 can complement CDC’s Ventilation Mitigation Strategies document and stated that Standard 241 does not conflict with any CDC ventilation recommendations. Though Standard 241 would require compliance if adopted by a jurisdiction, and the CDC’s strategies are instead voluntary, both are focused on the foundation of bringing HVAC systems up to current codes and then supplementing that with ventilation improvements for clean air. The FAQ on Ventilation page can be found on the CDC website here.

 

 

 

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking qualified volunteer candidates to serve as members of the Green Building Advisory Committee, which provides independent policy advice and recommendations to GSA to advance federal building innovations in planning, design, and operations to reduce costs, enable agency missions, enhance human health and performance, and minimize environmental impacts.

 

Qualifications for nominees include at least five years of high-performance green building experience, knowledge of federal sustainability and energy laws and programs, and a proven ability to work with diverse groups of professionals in a collaborative, multidisciplinary setting. Nominations must include a letter of nomination, a professional resume or CV, and contact information for the nominee and the nominator. Members will be appointed for a three-year term. Nominations are due November 27, 2024. More information can be found here.

 

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced the beginning of competition for the Solar Decathlon 2025 Design Challenge by sharing the 122 teams from 93 collegiate institutions that will compete. The competition, which includes ASHRAE as a sponsor, encourages teams to create “energy-efficient, resilient, and sustainable building designs that meet community needs through affordable upgrades, existing building retrofits, resiliency improvements, and more.” The teams will present their residential or commercial building designs in February 2025, with finalists competing again on April 25–27, 2025. Read more here.

 

 

The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded $15 million for a center of excellence to support U.S. engagement in international standardization for critical and emerging technologies (CETs). This new Standardization Center of Excellence will be led by global standards organization ASTM International, which will work with other partners in standards development.

 

The Center’s mission is in line with the U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (USG NSSCET) and its Implementation Roadmap. NIST will fund the center through a cooperative agreement for five years and will engage with the center and its stakeholders. More information can be found in the NIST press release here.

 

 

On October 29, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a webinar on how to inventory building refrigerants and reduce leaks as part of the 2024 Better Buildings Fall Webinar Series. The webinar provided an overview of different types of refrigerants as well as issues such as their global warming potentials (GWPs). Additionally, the webinar discussed the basics of identifying, tracking, and inventorying refrigerants as well as best practices for preventing refrigerants leaks. The one-hour webinar included speakers from key stakeholders including the EPA, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and IKEA US.

 

More information, including a link to the webinar recording can be found here.

 

 

On October 30, the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office held a webinar about the second round of Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program funding awards. The webinar gave an overview of the projects that received funding as well as factors that played a role in securing the funding.

 

On October 18, the DOE announced the awarding of $4.2 billion in the second round of the GRIP Program, funding 46 projects across 47 states and the District of Columbia. This funding aims to upgrade power grids against extreme weather, achieve lower costs for consumers, and allow for additional grid capacity to meet load growth.

 

More information, including links to the webinar and a list of projects that received funding can be found here.

 

 

Applications are now open for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Core Laboratory Infrastructure for Market Readiness (CLIMR) Lab Call.

 

The FY25 CLIMR Lab Call allocates part of the DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), which supports technologies with commercial potential that originate at DOE national laboratories by attracting partners who will develop products and sell them to viable markets.

 

Only national laboratories are eligible to receive funding through this call, however the funded projects must include a partner from the private sector. Additional partners, including nonprofits, as well as state and local governments, are also permitted.

 

The deadline to submit concept papers is December 17, 2024. The final application deadline is March 11, 2025. More information, including a link to apply, can be found here.

 

 

The DOE has announced new tools to help home contractors understand and access energy efficiency tax credits provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. These new tools include a Tax Credit Product Lookup Tool, informational materials for homeowners and contractors on home insulation, and a contractor training module detailing how contractors can best use energy efficiency incentives.

 

Many of these tax credits can be used in conjunction with DOE Home Energy Rebate programs in addition to other state, local, and utility company incentives.

 

More information, including links to the new tools can be found here.

 

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO) announced that an additional $10 million dollars is now available to states, tribes, and non-profit organizations to accelerate transmission deployment through the Transmission Acceleration Grants (TAG) Program. The TAG program was created due to states and tribal groups communicating their growing transmission needs and difficulties completing projects. The TAG program supports reforms for planning, siting, and permitting processes for local and regional transmission projects.

 

The GDO will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday, November 13th at 1:00 p.m. ET to provide information on how to apply for TAG grants. Registration is required to access the webinar.

 

 

The DOE announced that states, tribal nations, and Washington D.C. received a total of $476 million in Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants during fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The purpose of the grants is to modernize the electric grid to reduce the impacts of extreme weather events while also stabilizing the power sector and its reliability. The grants awarded stretched across 49 states and 254 Tribal Nations in FY24. $813 million was allocated in awards from FY22-FY23 and to date DOE has awarded a grand total of $1.3 billion in Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants.

 

You can click here for a full list of awards given to states, tribal nations, and Washington D.C.

 

 

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

 

 

A measure that was on the local ballot for residents of Berkeley, California that would have required buildings owned or leased by the city to adhere to ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, has failed to pass. The proposal, Measure HH, which was added to the ballot by petition, would have required the city to impose new clean airflow requirements to reduce the risk of disease transmission in buildings, consistent with ASHRAE Standard 241. Uncertainty regarding the total expected cost of the measure may have been a primary reason for it failing to pass.

 

 

 

A ballot measure for the city of Berkeley, California that would have taxed owners of buildings 15,000 square feet or larger that use natural gas failed to pass. After the federal court decision last year that overturned Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on gas hookups in new buildings, this measure was seen by proponents as a potential new approach for achieving the goals of the original ban. The new tax in Measure GG would have applied to an estimated 609 buildings starting in 2025 and generated approximately $26 million in revenue for the city.

 

 

 

In October, the Hawaii State Energy Office announced that it has been selected to receive $18 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's Support for Energy Codes and Innovative Codes program to help develop the state’s Building Performance Standard (BPS). The state’s BPS will be focused on large commercial buildings of 50,000 square feet or greater. These currently account for 80% of commercial building energy usage in the state. A second phase of BPS requirements is also planned, which will apply to large multi-family residential buildings of 100,000 square feet or greater. Some of the funding will also be used for workforce development and education in the building trades at the state and county level, including new apprenticeship programs. Hawaii is one of 19 states that have received $240 million total from this DOE program. More information on Hawaii’s planned BPS can be found here.

 

 

In October, the City Council of Bend, Oregon unanimously passed a resolution that commits to building all new city buildings, or major renovations to city buildings, with electric equipment. It also commits to upgrading existing buildings with electric equipment where financially feasible. The resolution emphasizes that not taking this action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would “exacerbate the impacts to the natural and human environments that have already started to manifest in the state,” especially as evidenced by the large wildfires in the area over the last few years. The city has already committed to reducing fossil fuel consumption in city facilities by 40% by 2030, and by 70% by 2050, compared to 2016 baseline levels. The state of Oregon has also already set a deadline for electric utilities to transition toward 100% clean electricity by 2040.

 

 

In late October, the Biden Administration greenlit a massive lithium and boron mine in southern Nevada. The mine is expected to produce enough lithium for over three hundred thousand electric vehicles per year once it is fully operational. This move came despite substantial opposition from environmental and conservationist groups, who are concerned about the effect the mine will have on the local environment and on an endangered species of wildflower, in particular. This conflict highlights the tension between long-term energy and decarbonization goals and combating environmental degradation and shrinking biodiversity. Substantial investment in electric batteries at all levels of the supply chain was part of the Biden Administration's climate plan and is an important aspect of building decarbonization. Adding battery storage capacity to the grid, and to homes and appliances, allows for building electrification to become a more efficacious decarbonization strategy. You can read about the approval of the new mine here.

 

 

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Indoor Environments Division will host a webinar entitled “Going Smoke- and Vape-Free in Multiunit Housing!” from 2–3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 19. The webinar is intended to provide attendees with information on why smoke- and vape-free multiunit housing is important, how policies can eliminate or reduce secondhand smoke and aerosol exposures, and how to implement smoke- and vape-free policies. As described in ASHRAE Position Document on Environmental Tobacco Smoke, numerous negative health effects can be avoided through the elimination of indoor smoking. More information on the webinar, and a link to register, is available here.

 

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