The majority of US buildings that will exist in 2050 are already standing. This means that decarbonizing inefficient existing buildings that run on fossil fuels is fundamental to meeting local and global climate goals. Yet the typical retrofitting process depends heavily on owners and is fraught with uncertainty. Conflicting guidance, high costs, fragmented financing, and administrative burdens are all significant hurdles that both owners and service providers face. These challenges posed by current practices, processes, and methods impede the widespread adoption of retrofitting strategies aimed at enhancing building performance and reducing carbon pollution.
Decarbonizing existing buildings is challenging. We need to make it simpler, more affordable, and commonplace to achieve climate goals.
In recent years, RMI has undertaken strategic efforts to accelerate deep energy retrofits for the affordable housing market segment across Massachusetts in order to eliminate on-site fossil fuels, maximize energy efficiencies, significantly reduce carbon emissions, and enhance thermal comfort and indoor air quality for low- and middleincome residents. The ongoing initiative is designed to catalyze the growth of a viable regional market for building decarbonization, paving the way for others to follow and to scale the effort nationally. By developing, refining, and sharing industry best practices, processes, and strategies, we hope to enable other regions to apply and adapt them to those geographies as well as other building typologies and market segments.
This report outlines our progress to date and synthesizes experiences from various building decarbonization “lighthouse projects.” These projects serve as exemplary models, demonstrating innovative strategies and technologies that significantly reduce carbon emissions. The first part of this report details notable observations that enable or inhibit decarbonization projects. Key enabling components such as energy efficiency improvements, extensive stakeholder engagement, and advanced building materials are described, and common challenges are identified, including difficulties with decarbonization assessments, financial barriers, and administrative burdens.
A thriving market for building decarbonization can facilitate easier and more affordable pathways for stakeholders.
The second part distills lessons learned into suggested crucial paradigm shifts to support a broad and durable change in the market, such as adopting holistic building design approaches and integrating standardized frameworks. As a result of direct project engagements, RMI has devised foundational and strategic actions to create a landscape conducive to building retrofits that benefit low-income households.
Key takeaways
These insights are designed to address decarbonization challenges across diverse geographies and market segments, promoting industry growth, an equitable process, and rapid adoption at a scale that aligns with climate targets.
Notable observations of the current market
• Extensive alignment across stakeholders invested in achieving climate goals fosters more momentum in developing and supporting a pipeline of projects.
• Transparent knowledge sharing and exchange of project data can better inform incentive program design and raise the level of regional technical proficiency.
• Complex processes, administrative burdens, technical challenges, insufficient market capacity, economic barriers, and delayed identification of decarbonization work leads to inefficiencies and missed opportunities that hinder the rapid scale of decarbonization initiatives.
Paradigm shifts proposed
• Stakeholders could shift from viewing buildings as a collection of isolated components to evaluating buildings as comprehensive systems in order to leverage efficiencies with envelope-first and integrated project delivery approaches.
• Stakeholders could shift from conducting assessments on a building-by-building basis to developing standardized assessments and calculation tools that enable expedited decarbonization feasibility analysis and encourage scalable solutions.
• Stakeholders could shift from focusing on the incremental cost difference between a decarbonization retrofit and a business-as-usual renovation to capturing the full value of the retrofit that comprises all expected direct and indirect benefits over the life of the building.
Foundational and strategic actions suggested
• Build market capacity with innovation and R&D to bolster more efficient, cost-effective solutions and methods. Foster collaboration within the industry to drive technological advancements and best practices in building decarbonization.
• Cultivate an ecosystem of collaborating stakeholders to align supportive building decarbonization policy and financing. Integrate decarbonization into existing roles and agencies to support a more favorable landscape with lower economic barriers and better access to grants, subsidies, and finanand financing.
• Streamline the decarbonization retrofit process to engage property owners and key stakeholders early in the process, enhance adoption across various project types, and distribute benefits equitably.
This research underscores the critical need for a viable market and a streamlined process to make building decarbonization more accessible and cost-effective. By integrating key components, addressing the identified challenges, encouraging necessary paradigm shifts, and implementing strategic actions, stakeholders can stimulate a thriving market for building decarbonization and drive significant progress toward a low-carbon future.
Read the full report originally published by Rocky Mountain Institute in August 2024. The sections above were republished under a Creative Commons licence.
