Meeting the global warming challenge

My architecture firm and my legislative agenda once I'm elected to the California state assembly share the same goal: To require all new construction and remodeling to meet the 2030 target of a graduated reduction of fossil fuel usage to zero by implementing innovative sustainable design and tax strategies, encouraging transit-oriented mixed-use development, generating on-site renewable power and/or certified renewable energy credits. The overall objective is to 'get off the grid' by achieving net-zero-energy performance.

The goals set in California were inspired by the 2030 Challenge goals, in which the nonprofit organization Architecture 2030 calls for no fossil fuel use for buildings by 2030. But California's goals are focused on net-zero-energy performance instead of fossil fuel use. CEC based its definition of net-zero-energy performance, and many of its recommendations, on a report by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), which states that a goal of “no net purchases from the electricity or gas grid” may be met with energy-efficient design and “onsite clean distributed generation.” Neither agency explains how net-zero-energy performance would be calculated in a building needing to offset natural gas usage with renewable energy.