Where Should You Begin Your Building Electrification Journey? | Video

CIET's Ask Us Anything series is a free monthly Q&A session with industry experts.

In the Building Electrification session, subject-matter experts, Shahriar Ghahremanian and Moises de Alba answered participants' questions, including this one about where to begin an electrification journey.

Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Question: If a building owner wants to move towards net-zero, where should they begin their electrification journey? 

Answer:

Lisa: In terms of electrification, what would be a starting point if a building owner, for example, identifies that they want to move towards net-zero and want to begin their electrification journey? Where would you start them off?

Shahriar: I just want to lay this up because the electrification and decarbonization is a big task that our generation has and we need to do it. So there's no question about that one. I want to touch on something called energy hierarchy. I'm sure everyone knows about that one.

Energy hierarchy means that first we need to do energy conservation; we need to study our loads and then reduce our demand and then we switch. As we move on after the energy efficiency now it's time for the electrification or decarbonization - any of those formats.

If we just jump in without reducing the load, without doing energy conservation; just jump into the electrification, I'm not saying that it's bad, but it's not good because now it costs us more again. Imagine we didn't do any re-lamping on our facility for example, and we are still using the old lamps and lighting systems. So we didn't reduce the load on our building, so now if we want to replace and heating and cooling that we have, we have to go with the same sizing. If we reduce our demand and load, we can save on the capital cost on the new equipment as well. 

That's the first thing that I want to bring attention to everyone. We shouldn't forget that one. We should do those things first and then do the decarbonization.

Moises: I think as Shahriar is saying, we start with load reduction. Another really good opportunity for the clients and for us consultants to bring to the table is to start with a high-level plan as soon as possible. Where you start to say what do they have in their capital plan? What do you have to see? What synergies are you going to take advantage of?

The sooner the better, even if it's not the deepest dive you're going to do in this study, but you want to make sure you're not wasting time for the client. For many of these clients, if they're going to do a retrofit, let's say they have a boiler that takes care of the heating system and a chill water plan, and it is in their plan to do it next year, and you wait, and they do those retrofits, to me, it's the biggest chance to have a really cost-effective electrification of your buildings.

Starting with load reduction, and starting to see that decarbonization is not going to be a silo; you have to see it as an interdisciplinary approach. It's not just engineering. You have to think about the financial, the planning, the timelines, the policy. 

It's really important to look at load reduction and start with a high-level energy or carbon audit where you can see the synergies that you can be using.

Lisa: That's a great point as well. That integration of all the different elements that go into planning and planning for asset replacements. It's a complex process.

Want to learn more about building electrification?

The Building Electrification Strategies course is meticulously crafted to empower participants with the technical expertise needed to identify, implement, and optimize building electrification strategies for enhanced sustainability. It's two days of intensive training designed for professionals in sustainability, environmental management, and decarbonization.

• Day one delves into the Fundamentals of Electrification, exploring reasons for adoption, greenhouse gas implications, and operational costs. It guides participants in developing a comprehensive action plan covering prioritization and cost/benefit considerations.
• Day two is focused on the Implementation Phase, providing practical insights into processes, equipment selection, and workforce mobilization. Hands-on activities are provided to ensure a smooth transition to electrification.

Read more about what you can learn from this course and find an upcoming session.