Hedgehogs and Foxes | Torchlight #45 | The Sallan Foundation

7/28/2019 Hedgehogs and Foxes | Torchlight #45 | The Sallan Foundation

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TorchlightHedgehogs And Foxes

By: Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D., Executive Director, the Sallan Foundation

Issue: Torchlight #45

Date: February, 2013


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1 2013 the Sallan Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.sallan.org

Torchlight #45

Isaiah Berlin wrote that hedgehogs are thinkers who have one big idea, while foxes are folks

who know many things. Taking liberties with the great political philosopher, lets say that

climate hedgehogs demand whatever-it-takes action, while foxes find myriad workable waysto cut our carbon footprints. Now we are learning that every hedgehogs delight in sustained

cuts in US CO2 emissions can be ascribed

to enough different reasons to satisfy a

climate fox.

Since the US has no climate law, whats

going on? It turns out that the glut of

cheap natural gas thats been killing thecoal market and the Great Recession are

not the only drivers of lower carbon

emissions.A recent report also gives a

shout out to the rise of renewable power

and improvements in energy efficiency.

However, its authors are anxious that

natural gas prices are starting to rise and

coal could become resurgent. This

prospect, as any good fox would agree,

means that we have to know many things

and energy efficiency should stay

squarely in focus. For every city this

means, finding the many paths to

greening its old and new buildings alike.

Already in 2013, two new important

reports have appeared on ways to make New York Citys building stock more climate

friendly. One looks up to daylighting strategies and the other drills down into geothermal

power and wraps its arms around insulation.Let There by Daylight, written by an A-team in

building energy efficiency, makes the case that 114 million square feet of New York City

office space can easily accommodate the retrofitting of comprehensive daylighting controls

and achieve electric peak demand reduction of as much as 160 megawatts. Making this case


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is backed up with local legal requirements to upgrade all office building lighting systems by

2025 and estimates of energy savings that translate into $70 million in annual financial

savings to building owners.

Whats more, evidence for the real impact of daylighting is on-hand with the analysis by five

years of data on the integrated daylighting-designed New York Times headquarters.

The study team began working with the Times Company a decade ago and now it

proves that a work-horse office building can cut its annual electric use by 24% and

reduce its heating use 51% in comparison to a similar size building designed just to

meet current code requirements. These savings also translate into a 12% rate of return

on the investment the Times Company made in daylighting systems and controls.

While building operators admit to some teething problems, these performance

numbers are proof that green building design can deliver on its promises. While

critics point to the risk that an even a well-designed building relying on daylighting

can run into trouble if a light-blocking behemoth is built nearby, system controls

should still help this kind of high performance building stay high performance. As Let

There Be Daylightnotes, Daylighting is an important component of a comprehensive

lighting controls package. Energy savings from daylighting are only realized if controls

make it easy and acceptable to turn down or dim the electric lighting in the space.


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Nevertheless, it would be premature to declare, Mission accomplished. As the report

acknowledges, Many existing advanced daylighting systems are not working as

intended, or have been disabled, and often these systems are not delivering expectedsavings and it calls for a multi-year proof-of-concept project to offer financial

incentives, training and outreach along with real-world projects that would provide

opportunities for daylighting system evaluations and reporting. Foxes everywhere, stay

tuned.

Within a month of the Daylight report, the Urban Green Council, the Citys high

performance building brain trust, break climate action ground by posing a challenge to

the owners and occupants of the BigApples real estate withNYC Can Reduce

its Carbon Footprint 90% by 2050. While

Mayor Bloomberg envisions cutting New

York Citys overall carbon footprint 30% by

2030, many climate scientists and some

policy makers declare that an 80% cut by

2050 is needed to keep the planet from

calamitous overheating. The Urban Green

Council report embraces this climate-

activism by upping the ante to 90% and

focusing on buildings, currently the source

of 75% of the Citys greenhouse gas

emissions, and spells out what would put

New York City on the path to such an

enormous achievement.

Relying on building simulation modeling, the report finds that heating and cooling loads

can be dramatically reduced through air sealing, heat recover ventilation and additional

insulation, to a point where all heating, cooling and hot water can be provided by heat

pumps. The one-two punch here is the postulate that virtually all the energy to heat, cool

and light New York buildings can be provided by geothermal wells, along with some rooftop

scale solar power and that all conventional power plants can be shut down. This means that


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New Yorks electricity can come from carbon-free sources by 2050. 90x50 doesnt stop

there, but advances the claim that the savings from energy user reductions will be

comparable to the costs of the building improvements. The total amount is affordable andwill pay for itself over time if the cost of improvements falls as expected and fuel prices

increase.

90x50 gives New York City thirty-seven years to shape up and do its part to save the

planet from irreversible climate change. Hedgehogs and foxes alike should read this

55-page report with close attention and admire its ambition and its yes-we-can

attitude. But it sets the bar very high and leaves little room for inattention, error or

inertia. For the present, I have two points to make. First, the report does notdemonstrate that geothermal power is geologically feasible and technically available

throughout the City. Even with its embrace of air-to-air heat pump technology for

structures where geothermal power is not an option, it is a hedgehog one big idea

strategy. In the same energy-supply vein, the report misses the opportunity to tip its

hat to prospects for distributed power or combined heat and power systems as part of

its power tool kit. Relying on an intriguing, but one-big-idea approach to shrinking

New Yorks carbon footprint way, way down, 90x50 might just miss being a lodestone

for cities committed to outfoxing climate change.

Nancy Anderson is the Executive Director of the Sallan Foundation.

Hedgehogs and Foxes | Torchlight #45 | The Sallan Foundation

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