The Importance of Retrofits in Decarbonization

“The highly energy-intensive iron and steel industry contributed about 25% (ref. 1) of global industrial CO2 emissions in 2019 and is therefore critical for climate-change mitigation. Despite discussions of decarbonization potentials at national and global levels, plant-specific mitigation potentials and technologically driven pathways remain unclear, which cumulatively determines the progress of net-zero transition of the global iron and steel sector. Here we develop a CO2 emissions inventory of 4,883 individual iron and steel plants along with their technical characteristics, including processing routes and operating details (status, age, operation-years etc.). We identify and match appropriate emission-removal or zero-emission technologies to specific possessing routes, or what we define thereafter as a techno-specific decarbonization road map for every plant. We find that 57% of global plants have 8–24 operational years, which is the retrofitting window for low-carbon technologies. Low-carbon retrofitting following the operational characteristics of plants is key for limiting warming to 2 °C, whereas advanced retrofitting may help limit warming to 1.5 °C. If each plant were retrofitted 5 years earlier than the planned retrofitting schedule, this could lead to cumulative global emissions reductions of 69.6 (±52%) gigatonnes (Gt) CO2 from 2020 to 2050, almost double that of global CO2 emissions in 2021. Our results provide a detailed picture of CO2 emission patterns associated with production processing of iron and steel plants, illustrating the decarbonization pathway to the net-zero-emissions target with the efforts from each plant.” https://lnkd.in/gYR4iPVR

🏢🌎 The International Energy Agency (IEA) just released its 2023 Net Zero Roadmap. My takeaways for the buildings sector: - I love how much it focuses on retrofitting buildings: "Retrofitting is one of the main levers for decarbonizing the buildings sector." - Existing buildings need to undergo DEEP RETROFITS to become as energy efficient as possible with existing technology - The retrofit rate needs to be about 2.5% per year in advanced economies - This will make buildings "zero carbon ready," meaning they will be operational carbon zero as soon as the power grids they rely on are fully decarbonized - Retrofitting existing buildings for energy efficiency will lower energy intensity in the buildings sector by 60% compared to today, despite a 55% increase in the amount of floorspace in the building sector - Retrofits save building owners substantial money on energy bills, and local governments want to bolster these savings with policies that encourage retrofits and make them more affordable Our global economy will not reach net zero by ignoring buildings. Historically buildings have not gotten the same attention as agriculture or transportation, but that is changing! Full report: https://lnkd.in/ev4KsVyr #realestate #climate #retrofit

Excited for the start of Climate Week here in NYC, and spent part of the weekend digging into NYC's own updated work to decarbonize our buildings. Context: 70% of emissions in NYC come from buildings. The work to reduce those emissions largely requires retrofitting older buildings - which needs the right financing mechanisms, government incentive programs (from the IRA to local programs), and technical assistance to many building owners. Ultimately "going green" should equal "saving money" for folks (or the work will never get done). In an exciting update, Rohit Aggarwala, Dawn Miller, and team released plans last week on how the city is doing even more to accelerate this transition. From working with ConEd to decarbonize NYC's infamous steam system with the city's waste heat, to aggregating incentive and loan programs for building owners and providing additional hands-on support through the NYC Accelerator. It's an exciting time to be building scalable buildings-focused climate tech in NYC. https://lnkd.in/e_f7d2y3 Glad to be a partner in this important work.