The rough global benchmarks call for all new buildings to be carbon-free by 2030 and all existing buildings by 2050. The past decade has seen zero-emission buildings become much easier to build, said Eric Mackres, an expert on cities and energy efficiency at the World Resources Institute.Įnergy-saving technologies like heat pumps have become cheaper and more effective, while the cleaner grid has made electric appliances a lower-carbon option, he said.īut those market dynamics aren’t enough to achieve deep decarbonization on their own, Mackres said. Elizabeth Warren, want to do it more quickly ( Climatewire, Oct. That puts him broadly in line with his Democratic rivals, who also call for massive programs to boost buildings’ energy efficiency - though some, like Massachusetts Sen. greenhouse gases, calls for a mix of incentives that lowers the price of energy efficiency retrofits to "as close to zero up-front cost as possible." His plan to reduce building emissions, which account for about 12% of U.S. He targets 50% emissions reductions by 2030. He’s making that pitch as recent studies have shown gas contributing more to global warming than previously estimated due to leaks of methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas.īloomberg’s overarching climate plan calls for preventing new gas-fired power plants and closing existing ones, though he doesn’t want to ban fracking. Now, as Bloomberg makes climate policy a major plank of his presidential campaign, he is fighting against a system of cheap gas delivery that his previous policies helped establish. Bloomberg supported the pipeline, which was designed to transport 800 million cubic feet of gas per day. began running gas through a new pipeline in 2013 it constructed beneath the Hudson River and into Manhattan.
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The study also found that, over their entire life cycles, natural gas contributed 20% fewer emissions than the heavy heating oils.īloomberg used those results to argue for more "responsible, well-regulated development" of natural gas, including fracking. He commissioned a study in 2012 that predicted the switch from dirtier fuels would raise the city’s peak gas demand by 30%. In their place, Bloomberg steered building owners toward gas appliances - along with new gas infrastructure, like pipelines, to deliver more of the fossil fuel to New York City at a cheaper price. 6 - that city officials blamed for most of New York’s soot pollution, although they accounted for about 1% of heating sources. In particular, he pushed out two types of heating oil - No.
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In 2011, he restricted heating fuels as part of an effort to clean up the city’s air and lower emissions.