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Zero Net Carbon New Development

Development Pattern

Principles for any new development:

  1. Inside existing urban boundaries
  2.  Increasingly concentrated in existing downtown core areas
  3. Mixed-use, unless adding residential above existing commercial, or filling residential in among existing commercial uses
  4. Pedestrian and bicycle oriented, which means wider sidewalks, dedicated bike paths, narrower streets, smaller turning radius, and “Eyes on the street” orientation of living areas
  5. Higher densities in downtown core areas and near transit hubs
  6. Redevelopment of core areas to place high density residential wherever on-grade parking presently exists in downtown areas
  7. New development outside downtown cores and inside urban boundaries:

Solarized (PhotoVoltaics) at > 100% of net new energy demand, in order to provide solar electricity to existing buildings, thereby taking older

buildings off the grid in the course of new development. The pattern is needed, and also works, because existing grid connected buildings in core areas likely lack sufficient sun-exposed roof area to generate all of their own power on site. And, new development outside the core areas can have excess sun-exposed roof area. So, the principle is that lower density development must supply power to higher density areas; that’s the “mitigation” for lower intensity use of the land. Ratios can be calculated which make the quantity of new power you owe inversely related to the intensity of the land use. Thus, the less intense the new development, the more solar power it owes to existing buildings

Indicators of a successful effort

Each City in Sonoma County should be independent of the grid, and

100% solar (direct PV + fuel cells using hydrogen derived from

Solar electrolysis of water

2)      Commute times average 5 minutes, implying substantial % walk to work

3)      Vehicle trips/day average < 1

New Residential Energy Use [1]

a)      Beginning immediately, all cities within the County should be pressed to adopt planning policies which grant priority processing status, i.e., project review goes to the top of the pile, to projects which accept as a condition of the Tentative Map that the entire development demonstrate a zero net energy demand from its buildings and grounds. This would best be accomplished through deployment of solar photovoltaic capacity equal to 100% of the total kilowatt-hour (kWh) demand calculated for all the buildings at full buildout. The process would be analogous to meeting Title 24 energy calcs that are required for all building permits; and the target would be a building‘s “lifetime kWh“ (kWh/L) demand number = zero.

b)      Following the onset of market rate sales of new homes that meet the zero net energy demand, press all cities in the County to begin requiring the zero net energy calcs for project approval.

c)      Following a) & b) above, press for higher level of net energy calcs to the point where PV electricity produced by the project is enough over 100% of its net energy requirements to offset the net CO2 produced in the materials used in the buildings’ construction.

                         

 Commercial Energy Production[2]

The strategy for commercial buildings is based on the goal of not only achieving kWh/L = zero for new commercial buildings, but also positioning the commercial building stock of all the county’s cities to steadily and aggressively solarize in order to supplant fossil fuel power sources as the principal supplier of energy in the county.

 

  1. Commercial buildings consist of a “warm shell” and the Tenant Improvements.

The warm shell means that the building is fully enclosed and the plumbing, heating and air conditioning capacities are in place. But, none of the interior fixtures are in place. Cities should be pressed to focus on the shell, and treat the shell the same as new residential construction, i.e. zero net energy demand for any new project‘s buildings at the shell stage, before tenant improvements.

  1. Commercial projects should be pressed to install excess solar PV capacity, on their own roofs, and on neighboring buildings from which they accept  “SPV Easements” (Solar Photo Voltaic easements).

If financed properly, the excess PV capacity can be sold profitably through contracts with the SPV Easement sellers. Essentially, the easement seller contracts to buy electricity from the commercial building developer (who is pressed by cities analogous to environmental mitigation measures) at a rate pegged to PG&E. The SPV easement plus the developer’s ability to finance PV deployment creates the electric generating capacity. The SPV easement requires payment based on the spread between the PV generated electricity and the PG&E price. The net electricity cost to the seller of the easement is lowered, and the fossil fuel generated power is supplanted by PV power. Most important, if the strategy catches on, we will create a powerful engine for accelerating the move off of CO2 producing energy.

  1. Cities within the county should be pressed to sell SPV easements for all of their own available roof space.

Next Section

 Other Resources

From brown to green: towards sustainable construction

Bedzed

[1]Note that listed requirements create maximum incentives for maximizing energy efficient design and construction, building orientation, and use of CO2 neutral materials.

 

[2]Note that A,B & C  all create maximum incentives for maximizing energy efficient design and construction, building orientation, and use of CO2 neutral materials in the commercial shell. They also create a financial incentive for the SPV easement sale to include provisions for improving energy efficiency in the building under the roof easement, because that will maximize the spread between the PV electricity cost and the PG&E cost.

 

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