01 November 2000

U.S. Climate Change Efforts
Focus on Buildings, Vehicles

By Jim Fuller
Washington File Science Writer

Washington -- Against a backdrop of growing scientific consensus that the Earth is warming -- and that human activities are at least partly to blame -- a dozen federal agencies are working closely with the private sector on major initiatives to make buildings and vehicles in the United States more energy efficient.

These initiatives are part of the Clinton administration's five-year, $6,300-million plan to help the United States reach greenhouse gas emissions targets called for by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The plan includes efforts to research, develop and deploy clean energy technologies for the four major carbon-emitting sectors of the U.S. economy -- buildings, transportation, industry and electricity.

U.S. officials will join international negotiators November 13-24 in The Hague in an effort to finalize the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol, which will require developed countries to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels by the period 2008 to 2012.

Greenhouse gas emissions -- mainly carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels - are believed to contribute to global warming.

Officials report that while vehicles and industry account for two-thirds of global warming, residential housing contributes 19 percent to total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Residential and commercial buildings together produce 35 percent of the emissions.

In 1998, President Clinton announced a new government-industry initiative called the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, or PATH. Meeting PATH's goals would reduce annual carbon emissions within the decade by an amount equal to nearly 24 million metric tons of carbon equivalent -- the amount produced each year by some 20 million cars -- and would save consumers $11,000 million a year in energy costs.

"It will be the most ambitious effort ever to help private home builders and homeowners make cost-effective, energy-saving decisions that will pay big dividends throughout the 21st century," Clinton said when he announced the program.

There are more than 76 million residential buildings and nearly five million commercial buildings in the United States today. These buildings together use one-third of all the energy consumed in the United States, and two-thirds of all electricity. By 2010, projections indicate another 38 million buildings will be constructed.

According to Laurence Doxsey, coordinator of the City of Austin Green Builder Program, "typical" buildings consume more resources than necessary, negatively impact the environment and generate a large amount of waste.

"A standard wood-framed home consumes over one acre (0.4 hectares) of forest and the waste created during construction averages from three to seven tons," Doxsey said. Often, these buildings are costly to operate in terms of energy and water consumption, he added. And they can result in poor indoor air quality, which can lead to health problems.

Doxsey said there are many opportunities to make buildings cleaner. For example, the use of solar water heating systems in only 10 percent of U.S. homes would avoid 8.4 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year.

The goal of the PATH program is to make new homes 50 percent more energy efficient by 2010 through numerous technological advances, including better windows and insulation, energy-saving appliances and more efficient heating and cooling systems. It's estimated that this would also reduce the cost of new housing by 20 percent through the use of labor-saving technologies and reductions in energy, maintenance and insurance costs. The plan would also help owners of 15 million existing homes cut their energy use by 30 percent by 2010.

The Path program, managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and including the efforts of 11 other federal agencies, offers technical assistance to individual builders and housing manufacturers willing to evaluate promising innovative technologies in their housing. PATH promotes the use of these technologies through demonstration programs with builders across the country and five large-scale pilot projects located in the cities of Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Tucson, Arizona.

For example, the pilot project in Tucson calls for a 456-hectare planned community focusing on the principles of sustainability. The homes will be designed to be highly energy efficient using insulated wall systems, photovoltaic technology, solar hot water and reclaimed water. Five builders are currently working on 17 models that will offer home buyers savings of up to 50 percent in energy costs and a 65-percent reduction in potable water usage.

Another major partner of PATH is the Energy Star program sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Energy Star saves consumers money and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the use of energy efficient products -- everything from computers to refrigerators to central air conditioning units.

The PATH program needs little new money, relying instead on existing tax credits and federal research money to help spur the development and use of more efficient building technology. The industry itself will develop and deploy the technologies for the next generation of American housing.

According to Ken Sandler, a PATH green building coordinator, it can take 10 to 25 years for a new housing product or technique to achieve full market penetration because the housing industry is so dispersed, consisting of hundreds of thousands of separate companies. By closing the gaps caused by regulatory barriers, lack of information and inadequate technical support, PATH is helping the industry get next-generation technology into the market faster.

"The housing industry gains from the program because they want to modernize," Sandler said. "They want to be more efficient, save money with labor-saving technologies, and improve their image with more environmentally-friendly buildings. So they see a lot to gain from the program."

As for commercial buildings, the Department of Energy and the building industry have just released a 20-year plan to make the next generation of commercial buildings more healthy and energy efficient. The department's goal is to reduce the energy use of new commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2010, and by 50 percent by 2020.

"This effort will focus on improving the quality, comfort, utility and cost-effectiveness of new commercial buildings," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in announcing the plan on October 4. "Thirty-two percent of the electricity generated in the United States goes to heat, cool, ventilate and light commercial buildings at an annual cost of $77,600 million."

The program will focus on the construction of high performance commercial buildings that feature a whole host of measures to increase the efficient use of energy. Such buildings, for example, might generate their own electricity with photovoltaic panels or wind turbines; and, when possible, will use products with recycled content or wood that is grown sustainably.

DOE and EPA are also working in partnership with industry to research, develop and deploy new technologies to improve the energy performance of existing commercial buildings. Current efforts focus on some of the nation's most recognizable buildings: the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center in New York, and Chicago's Sears Tower.

Another major government-industry effort is underway to develop affordable cars that meet all safety and environmental standards and get up to three times the fuel efficiency of today's cars. The program, called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, will take advantage of strides that have been made since 1993 in the production of lower-cost, light-weight materials, inexpensive fuel cells, and advanced internal combustion engines. The program aims to produce a prototype mid-sized family car capable of 80 miles per gallon (2.94 liters per 100 kilometers), with a two-thirds reduction in carbon emissions by 2004.

Finally, DOE is working with the nation's most energy-intensive industries to develop technologies that increase energy and resource efficiency. Promising collaborative efforts include improvements in the process of making steel, pulp and paper, and other energy-intensive products that could dramatically increase efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Further information on PATH can be found at www.pathnet.org

Information on high performance commercial buildings is available at www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/technology_roadmaps/