Advanced Praise for Clean Electricity

The transition to carbon-free energy won’t depend primarily - or even mostly - on energy experts. Of course, we need highly educated technologists and planners to get there. But it’s people – lots of people! - from all walks of life, across every stratum of our society, who will make the billions of decisions that all together will produce our clean energy future. It is for them that Charles Eley, drawing from his decades of leadership on energy efficiency and sustainable buildings, has created this volume.

Carbon Dioxide Emission Rates

ASHRAE has published carbon dioxide emission rates and source energy conversion factors for fuels used in buildings and for electricity use in each of the 26 EPA eGRID subregions. The updated figures result from a couple of years of work by Working Group 7.5 of Standard 189.1, which I chair. These data will be published in the 2020 release of Standard 189.1 and will become part of the 2021 update to the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). The source enrgy conversion factors take account of the increased renewable energy on the U.S.

2022 ZERO Code for California

I'm proud to annouce that the next version of Architecture 2030's ZERO Code for California is published on their website. Click here. I was the primary author of this document, as a Senior Fellow with Architecture 2030. We are now working with AIA California to promote its adoption by local governments. It is also being proposed as an addition to the CalGreen, the green building code for California.

Book Released

Clean Electricity, A practical path to zero-carbon buildings

This book is available from Amazon in both a paperback and eBook format. Click here to order.

20-Years vs. 100-Years for Calculating Global Warming Potential

Global warming potential is the metric that is most commonly used to combine the effects of various greenhouse gases (GHGs). Non-CO2 pollutants are evaluated relative to CO2 and their GWP represents the expected global warming impact relative to CO2. Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) is calculated as the sum of each climate pollutant mass multiplied times its GWP.

Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases

Just about everything we do as we carry on our lives results in climate pollution. Every gallon of gas we burn in our internal-combustion car produces about 30 lb of carbon dioxide equivalent. Each therm of natural gas we use to keep our house warm or take a hot shower produces about 17 lb of carbon dioxide. Each MWh (1,000 kWh) of electricity we use results in from 400 to 2,500 lb of carbon dioxide, depending on where we live.

ZERO Code Presentation at October 17, 2018 Seminar

I will be giving speaking on the ZERO Code for California at the annual seminar sponsored by the Golden Gate Chapter of ASHRAE, the Center for the Built Environment, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The title of the day-long event is "The Changing Face of ZNE and Responsible Grid Citizenship". The event will be live at the Pacific Energy Center and streamed live. Click here to register.