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Policy Solution

Building waste heat limits

Mandate

Summary

Window AC units reject heat to the outside and can increase outdoor temperatures. Evaluating and setting a threshold 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.

Overview

  • Climate:

    Cold, Hot/Dry, Hot/Humid, Temperate

  • 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 Types:

    Buildings and Built Form

  • Sectors:

    Buildings

Impact

  • Target Beneficiaries:

    Residents

  • Phase of Impact:

    Risk reduction and mitigation

  • Metrics:

    Energy use by area, building, and use

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

Benefits

  • Cost-Benefit:

    Low

  • Public Good:

    N/A

  • GHG Reduction:

    Medium

  • Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):

    Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

  • Co-benefits (Social/Economic):

    Save on utilities