Policy Solution
Building waste heat limits
Mandate
Overview:
Summary: Window AC units reject heat to the outside and can increase outdoor temperatures. Evaluating and setting a threshhold for buildings' maximum waste heat can help reduce warming emissions.
Implementation: Establish a maximum allowable building waste heat. For buildings that exceed caps, owners can be required to retrofit the building to improve ventilation or install heat recovery systems.
Considerations for Use: Building owners that do not meet allowable waste heat requirements can be pointed towards resources for retrofitting and other building improvements.
- Policy Levers:
MandateMandates are government regulations that require stakeholders to meet standards through building codes, ordinances, zoning policies, or other regulatory tools. - Trigger Points:
City planning processesIncludes city initiatives such as the development of climate action plan, pathway to zero-energy, master plan, transit plan, energy mapping etc.Introducing new or updated zoning/codesIncludes codes, zoning requirements or by-laws pertaining to urban planning and building construction activity.No-regrets actions (low cost/low effort but substantial benefit)Interventions that are relatively low-cost and low effort (in terms of requisite dependencies) but have substantial environmental and/or social benefits. - Intervention Type:
Buildings and Built Form - Sectors:
Buildings
- Target Beneficiaries:
Residents - Phase of Impact:
Risk reduction and mitigation - Metrics:
Energy use by area, building, use, etc.
Impact:
Implementation:
- Intervention Scale:
City - Authority and Governance:
City government - Implementation Timeline:
Medium-term (3-9 Years) - Implementation Stakeholders:
City government, Industry, Private developers, Property owners and managers - Funding Sources:
private investment - Capacity to Act:
High
- Cost-Benefit:
Low - Public Good:
N/A - GHG Reduction:
Medium - Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions - Co-benefits (Social):
Save on utilities