ASHRAE recently hosted its first International Building Decarbonization Conference, organized by ASHRAE’s Task Force for Building Decarbonization and the Hellenic Chapter, in Athens, Greece, on October 5-7. The conference was an information and idea exchange, between stakeholders in the built environment industry, concerning the timely and important topic of reducing carbon emissions from buildings. A primary goal of the conference is to bridge North America and Europe collaboration in decarbonization efforts. RESNET Board of Directors member and Florida Solar Energy Center Deputy Director Philip Fairey attended the Conference. He says he learned of the event through ASHRAE, where he serves as a voting member of the Residential Building Committee (RBC), SSPC 90.2 on High-Performance Energy Design or Residential Buildings and SSPC 62.2 on Ventilation of Indoor Air Quality. Fairey is the principal author, along with co-authors David Goldstein, Charles Eley, and Pieter Gagnon, of the paper titled “Evaluating Long-Term Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Buildings.” The paper discusses the development and implications of American National Standards by RESNET and ASHRAE to evaluate long-term CO2e emissions in buildings. He says some of the sessions he enjoyed and learned the most were the keynote address by Thomas Phoenix, Task-Force Co-Chair 2021-22, P.E., LEED AP, FASHRAE, ASHRAE President 2004-05, and sessions describing the extent of ASHRAE’s dedication to and involvement in building decarbonization. His top takeaways from the event were: 1) ASHRAE is fully dedicated to investing time and resources toward the decarbonization of the built environment. 2) There are tools like Building Performance Standards that offer extensive opportunities if utilized toward decarbonization in buildings. 3) European Union is developing Energy Performance of Buildings IV to specifically address building decarbonization but they also anticipate a CO2e rebound effect from the Ukraine war due to an increase in coal use in Europe. Fairey says RESNET needs to socialize its HERS® Carbon Index as much as possible, and should actively pursue partnerships with ASHRAE and any other organizations dedicated to building decarbonization. For more details on the event, visit https://www.ashrae.org/conferences/topical-conferences/international-building-decarbonization-2022-conference
