Los Angeles is taking steps to move toward net-zero carbon emissions—beginning with its own city buildings.
Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion on March 22 instructing city staff to look into switching city-owned buildings from gas-powered systems to renewable energy systems, and to evaluate potential costs and timelines to retrofit the buildings.
City buildings account for 32 percent of the city’s carbon emissions, according to Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who introduced the motion last June.
“As our electric grid has shifted to cleaner, renewable energy sources, the electrification of previously gas-powered systems within our city buildings, in particular, has become an increasingly critical step to reduce the City’s total carbon emissions,” Raman wrote in the motion.
Raman touted the benefits of retrofitting city buildings in her motion.
The councilwoman said that emissions from city buildings fell 44 percent from 2008 to 2017 after the Department of Water and Power began evolving their energy generation over that time period. In contrast, she said power that was used by gas-powered equipment only saw a 3 percent emissions reduction in the same time period.
Raman went on to say that retrofitting city buildings would also result in “significant health benefits for our communities.”
“Burning combustible fuels in buildings produces air pollutants indoors as well as outdoors,” she said. “The negative health impacts that result from these air pollutants are disproportionately felt by vulnerable, frontline communities. To reduce and reverse these impacts, it is critical that the city lead by example in reducing emissions from municipal assets that contribute to this pollution.”
City staff will also identify buildings with maximum projected benefits of retrofits and develop a funding plan for immediate retrofitting of the top-ten high-priority buildings to serve as a model for the process going forward.
City staff is to report back on their findings by May 22.
Councilmember Nithya Raman did not respond to a request for comment by press deadline.
