For several years now I have been collaborating in teaching and research projects with my Mathematics & Science Department colleague Richard Leigh (Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt and former Director of Advocacy & Research at the Urban Green Council, the New York chapter of the US Green Building Council).
I joined Professor Leigh in a project entitled “90 by 50”, which was funded by the Doris Duke foundation. In this work, we charted a path for New York City to reduce its carbon emissions by 90% by the year 2050, which would drastically reduce the city’s contribution to global climate change and provide an example to other cities around the world.
The project began with the development of building energy models in the DOE2 simulation engine using the eQuest graphical user interface. The parameters of the building models were determined by using citywide studies of greenhouse gas emission and energy use that have been carried out by the city government and the utility company Con Edison. An advisory board, including prominent NYC-based architects and engineers who are familiar with the construction practices and mechanical systems used in the city, reviewed our models and approach.
Once the present day models were tuned so that their energy use and carbon emissions matched current measured levels, we developed a new set of models introducing a variety of energy and emission reducing measures, such as increased wall insulation, greater air sealing, heat recovery ventilation, improved efficiency HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) equipment, on-site solar electric panels, and the use of light shading devices (e.g. awnings). These measures can be implemented in new construction, but are even more important in the retrofitting of existing buildings, which will be responsible for most of the green house gas emissions in the upcoming decades.
Our new set of building models demonstrated that large reductions in carbon emissions are possible with present day technology. We combined these reductions with an analysis of potential reductions in other sectors in the city that produce emissions (the largest being transportation), and were able to achieve the desired 90% overall reduction. Our final analysis contains cost estimates for our proposed measures that are reasonable, especially in light of the costs associated with climate change.
The 90 by 50 report was released in February 2013 on Urban Green’s website. The report generated significant press attention, including articles in Slate, The New York Times, and Forbes. Since publication, it has been downloaded/read online over 400 times. A compilation of the articles in the press can be seen here.
I presented this work at Pratt at the 2013 Sustainability Crash Course, in the NYC metro area with my collaborator Richard Leigh at the at the NYC Department of Design and Construction Speaker Series and at a local chapter meeting of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers). I also presented our work at the national (ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings – made possible by a Pratt Faculty Development Grant) and international (CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium in Dublin, Ireland – made possible by a SLAS Mellon Grant) levels. In addition, my colleague Richard Leigh presented the work to a sold out audience at an Urban Green event for the release of the report at the Con Edison headquarters in Manhattan, and at the 2013 Greenbuild conference. In recognition of my contributions to the project, The Urban Green Council honored me with a Service Award.
In addition to publishing this work for wide distribution on Urban Green’s website and in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings of the aforementioned ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, we also published the part of the work on buildings in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development (you can download a copy by clicking here).