Santa Monica’s Existing Building Stock
Through the National BPS Technical Assistance network, facilitated by the National BPS Coalition, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories analyzed building characteristics and carbon emissions from the City’s large commercial and residential buildings (>20,000 square feet). This analysis showed that most carbon emissions in the City’s large commercial and residential buildings come from the combustion of natural gas for space heating, water heating and cooking.
This data has helped staff narrow down the size and types of buildings that are the highest priority for decarbonization. Without impacting the majority of Santa Monica building owners, the City would see a substantial decrease in building sector carbon emissions by targeting carbon emission reductions in commercial and residential buildings larger than 20k square feet. Figure 1 shows the emission reductions impact of achieving net zero for buildings over 20,000 square feet. Achieving net zero for buildings larger than 20k square feet (762 buildings) reduces total building sector emissions by 44%.
Figure 2. Carbon Reductions from Buildings Larger than 20,000 Square Feet