SC 08-29-19 Written CommunicationsFrom:Scott Shell
To:City of Cupertino Sustainability Commission
Subject:Building Electrification
Date:Thursday, August 29, 2019 8:45:31 AM
Attachments:190821 Cost effectiveness of all electric buildings.pptx
Dear members of the Cupertino Sustainability Commission,
I am unable to make your special meeting today, but I wanted to write in support of building
electrification.
Our 65 person architectural firm has been designing all electric buildings since 2001, and can attest
that it is affordable, reliable, and a good solution for our clients.
Our largest client is the University of California which now prohibits gas for heating or hot water on
all new buildings on all ten of their campuses for all building types including academic, student
housing, office, labs, etc.
When electrification reach codes started to be discussed, I reached out to the mechanical engineers
we work with and interviewed them asking if the building industry as a whole was ready for all
electric buildings and if it was cost effective. Their answer was YES. I’ve attached a slide deck
summarizing their comments and showing dozens of all electric buildings from different firms.
If there is a problem with our buildings after construction, our firm is responsible and I get those
phone calls, so we have to be very confident in a solution before we recommend it to our clients.
We are now recommending to all our clients today to go all electric.
I would like to strongly advocate for an electric reach code similar to Menlo Park.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/28/menlo-park-opts-for-a-natural-gas-ban-almost-as-
restrictive-as-berkeley/
In their staff report to council they say why they decided on requiring all electric (with exceptions)
rather than relying on incentives—because incentives are only partially effective.
https://www.menlopark.org/DocumentCenter/View/22645/H4---20190827-Reach-codes-CC
Here is the excerpt:
“For example, Sonoma Clean Power offered significant rebates to electrify the rebuild of homes after
the 2017 wildfires. Permit applicants could choose between higher energy efficiency standards for a
$7,500 rebate or all-electric standard for a $12,500 rebate. In addition to the all-electric rebate, a
homeowner would save on upfront construction costs by not installing natural gas infrastructure. As
a result of the rebate program, only one-third of permit applicants or homeowners choose the all-
electric home. It showed that incentive type regulations based on cost savings fall short on achieving
the desired outcome.”
So Menlo Park decided to require electric for everything but gas stoves and fireplaces in single
family--the two appliances that people cared about.
In multifamily it is now typical to have electric stoves and not have gas inside each unit because
running the gas piping is too expensive.
They also made an exception for Life Science Research Labs for heating only based on one
developers advocacy, and the Council put in place an appeals process for cases that they could not
foresee. Only one person spoke in opposition at the council meeting.
I believe the Reach Codes that require a 5% or 10% more energy efficient design will not be a strong
motivation. Our firm is required to beat Title 24 energy code by 20% by many clients and it is just
not that difficult to do.
So I encourage you to recommend an all electric requirement, with exceptions as you see
appropriate.
Sincerely,
Scott Shell
Scott Shell FAIA, LEED® AP BD+C, CPHC®
Principal
Pier 1 The Embarcadero, Bay 2
San Francisco, CA 94111
Casa Adelante, 2060 Folsom, San Francisco
Maceo May Veterans Apartments, Treasure Island
Balboa Upper Yard Family Apts, San Francisco
Malcolm Harris, Principal
We have a number of all-electric multifamily housing projects.
I’m a huge, huge fan of this change to all-electric multifamily housing.
It is better in every way, a great simplification of the system.
Less expensive, higher performance, less maintenance, more sustainable.
It is a major cost saving move that pays for a lot of other upgrades.
At Maceo May we saw big savings from eliminating gas fired hydronic
heating, the gas connection, and the solar thermal required by T24.
The savings paid for continuous exterior insulation, energy recovery
ventilators (eliminating Z-ducts), electric resistance heat, and PVs.With
these upgrades we are beating Title 24 by 20%, getting more Green Points,
and lower GHGs on a grid that’s getting cleaner.
The occupants get better indoor air quality benefits from the energy
recovery ventilators.
Hunters Point Shipyard Block 52, San Francisco
Hunters Point Shipyard Block 54, San Francisco
681 Florida, San Francisco
Malcolm Harris, Principal
Overall the system is just much simpler—there is just one energy
system —electrical, rather than two.
The gas fired boiler & hydronic systems are very problematic at every
step from design to construction to maintenance.During construction
there are often leaks.Commissioning is a constant challenge, and there
are lots of tenant complaints in first few months.Operations is
challenging as maintenance staff are not equipped to operate the digital
BMS system.
Casa Adelante 127 residential Units, 9 stories, under construction. Developers: TNDC/CCDC, Architect:
Mithun & YA Studio.
Maceo May 105 residential units, in permitting. Chinatown Community Development Center, Swords to
Plowshares.
Balboa Upper Yard Family Apts 120 residential units, in design development. Developer Mission Housing
Development & Related California.
Hunters Point Shipyard Block 52 136 residential units total, Design Development. Developer McCormack,
Baron, Salazar.
Hunters Point Shipyard Block 54 136 residential units total, Design Development. Developer McCormack,
Baron, Salazar.
681 Florida 136 residential units total, In Design Development. Developers: TNDC & MEDA
Santana Row Lot 11
UC Davis Webster Hall Replacement
American Geophysical Union
Hormoz Janssens, Principal
Almost all our projects are all-electric, I have only been using gas systems
where required by the client.
Electric is almost always less expensive or cost neutral. Very rarely is it
more expensive. Often it is our value engineering option.
Most project types work just fine. We are doing a 500,000 sf all electric
office for Microsoft, with major cost savings using heat pumps vs a
central plant.
We do lots of detailed cost analysis with developers to find the most
cost-effective solution. For example, at Bay Meadows our all electric
design for 1 million sf of development was significantly less expensive
than a traditional rooftop package unit + boiler + reheat system.
UC Santa Cruz Student Housing West
270 Brannan, San Francisco
Chatam University Dining Commons
Hormoz Janssens, Principal
The space requirements are smaller for all-electric, instead of having two
to three separate systems for space heating, cooling, and hot water, we
can do it with a single heat pump system, that space can be used for
other things or the building made smaller for more savings.
Maintenance is less than most conventional systems because you have
just one system. Maintenance is just like an air-conditioning system, it’s
the same thing in reverse, and you eliminate the boiler.
A huge benefit for heat pumps is reducing water use. Using an air source
heat pump for cooling rather than a cooling tower has large water
savings.
We’ve done several all electric commercial food service projects that
have been very successful. The Chef’s quite skeptical at the beginning,
but now say they will never go back to cooking on gas.
UC Santa Cruz Student Housing West
UC Irvine Student Housing West, Developer ACC
UC Riverside Dundee Residence Hall, Developer ACC
David Phillips, Associate Vice President for Energy & Sustainability
UC Office of the President
The University of California has committed to carbon neutrality by 2025.
We are prioritizing all-electric new buildings (required starting June
2019), and then electrifying existing buildings & systems over time.
Our studies show that all electric mechanical equipment capital costs are
comparable for academic & lab buildings, and the costs are lower for
residential buildings. Twenty year life cycle costs are comparable for
Academic and labs buildings, and lower for residential buildings.
UC has many all-electric housing projects, office buildings, and
laboratories now in place and many more in design.
UC’s carbon neutrality strategies are pragmatic: don’t allow growth to
increase carbon emissions; and then transition existing buildings and
systems off fossil fuels over time.
Decarbonizing Your Campus thru Electrification, SCUP 2019
Exploratorium, San Francisco
Packard Foundation, Los Altos
Marin Country Day School, Corte Madera
Scott Shell, Principal
We have completed a dozen or so all electric buildings. 10-15 years ago it
was not common in California, and we saw some cost premium on those
early projects.
In the last 5-7 years all-electric has become much more common on our
projects which are primarily commercial and educational. It is now
generally cost neutral or less expensive. There are more manufacturers
providing equipment, and the subcontractors are more familiar with
installing it.
Last year we had an all-electric project go to bid and the total cost came
back higher than expected. In an attempt to reduce cost, we asked the
mechanical contactors to price a standard gas heating system instead.
They came back with no cost savings between gas and all electric, so the
client decided to stay with the preferred all-electric option.
Mark Day School, San Rafael
Boulder Commons
Lick Wilmerding High School, San Francisco
Scott Shell, Principal
When the University of California, one of our largest clients, decided to
prohibit gas in new projects that really got our attention. It now seems
irresponsible to recommend gas to our clients who may then have to
retrofit them before that equipment reaches the end of its life in order to
meet their carbon goals or local mandates to decarbonize. We don’t want
to be saddling our clients with stranded assets.
Last year I interviewed seven leading mechanical engineers that we work
with asking if the building industry is ready to go all electric. They agreed
that the vast majority of buildings can go all-electric, and the cost is
competitive with a few exceptions.
Most of our all electric projects also include PVs, it is LESS expensive for
our clients to get their electricity from PV than from their utility. With a
power purchase agreement there is no out of pocket cost. Some clients
decided to fund the PVs themselves since it provides a favorable financial
return. Ten years ago solar was seen as an expensive solution for projects
with big budgets. It is amazing to see how quickly that has flipped.
Batik Apartments, Seattle
Cascade Apartments, Seattle
4700 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle
Shawn Oram , Principal
Ecotope has completed 26 central heat
pump water heating projects since 2008,
mostly 100-500 unit projects. Partial list:
1200 NE 45th, Seattle
August Apartments, Seattle
Jackson Apartments, Seattle
Coliseum Place, Oakland
Peter Waller, Principal
We have several current all-electric multi-family projects. In our
experience it has been indispensable to have a knowledgeable
energy/Title 24 consultant on the team to help guide both analysis and
design.
It is critical to share information about best practices and lessons learned.
By sharing best practices we can reduce mistakes.
We work with both non-profit and for-profit housing developers that own
and operate lots of buildings. It is important to make sure everyone is
aware of the potential challenges that come with new technology.
The life span of the current generation of heat pump water heaters may
be less than the traditional gas fired boilers, depending on operating
conditions.We expect the life span will increase as the market becomes
deeper and more sophisticated,but we try to be open about this reality
with our clients.With that in mind provide access for maintenance and
future replacement down the road.
.
Altamira Family Apartments, Sonoma
Quetzal Gardens, San Jose
Valley Glen, Dixon
Plaza Point, Arcata
Sean Armstrong, Redwood Energy
All-electric construction consistently reduces construction costs and
ongoing utility bills.
It saves between $2,500 and $5,000 per residence for the developer to
not plumb gas. When infrastructure and appliance costs are added up, a
recent study done by Rocky Mountain Institute found a median
increased cost of $8,800 more per house for gas infrastructure, piping,
purchasing appliances and venting
Only education is preventing developers from profiting from the
technological innovations available in the all-electric domain.
Developers have been choosing all electric construction because it cost
less to build and that trend has been going on for 24 years now.
New construction is easy technically and financially and because the
construction cost savings justify going all-electric.
Cloverdale, Corporation for Better Housing
Colonial House Apartments, Oxnard
Atascadero, Corporation for Better Housing
Sean Armstrong, Redwood Energy
New construction is easy technically and financially and because the
construction cost savings justify going all-electric.
Because an all-electric building can achieve higher mechanical system
efficiency than a gas burning building, it is lower cost for developers
building all-electric to comply with the Title 24 Energy Code. We
documented this is our report A Zero Emissions All-Electric Multi-family
Construction Guide, see the graphic on page 7.
https://fossilfreebuildings.org/ElectricMFGuide.pdf
152 N. 3rd, San Jose
Peter Rumsey, Principal
There are great examples of all electric buildings for virtually every
building type that are cost effective. It is very easy for our firm to design
these systems, we are very familiar with them.
For Multifamily projects we are seeing a lot of developers use electric
heating with high levels of insulation in apartments that don’t need
cooling.
All electric air-cooled VRF heat pumps are very common on multifamily
projects up to ten stories where cooling is needed; this is very cost
effective.
Developers are using VRF systems on small to medium sized commercial
buildings. Production home builders have been using central heat pump
heating and cooling units for many years. And we are seeing a surge in the
use of larger heat pumps for generating hot water systems. Central hot
water systems can have a cost premium, but it is very small as a
percentage of the building cost.
The Tidelands Housing, San Francisco
The Exploratorium, San Francisco
Pier 70, Building 12
Peter Rumsey, Principal
Large 20 story multifamily high-rise require a water source heat pump and
that equipment still has a cost premium.
Cooking remains a hard sell in many cases, a lot of people are very
skeptical of giving up gas. Technically this isn’t a problem, the experts at
the Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon say an electric fryer
provides better and more even heat than gas. Induction ranges are
excellent.
The market for all electric buildings and heat pumps has been making
significant inroads in California, and this had gotten the attention of
manufacturers. General Contractors and mechanical subcontractors are
getting more familiar with this approach as well.
Title 24 used to discourage electric heating of all types and is now more
neutral on the issue. I understand that future versions of title 24 are going
to be more encouraging of some types of electric heating.
Alexander Valley Medical Center
Goldman School of Public Policy + Housing
SMUD Office & Operations Building, Sacramento
Ted Tiffany, Principal
We have designed quite a few all electric buildings. The Goldman School
of Public Policy is as designed all-electric and construction cost compared
favorably to gas. This also allowed for individually metered apartments so
tenants paid their own utility bills.
The UCOP did a robust cost analysis of various building types and in almost
all cases it found lower life cycle costs with all-electric buildings. It is
important to manage TOU rates. First cost savings are partly dependent
on if you can eliminate the gas service, which in most cases you can; if you
do this generally makes the construction cost less than mixed fuel
buildings.
https://www.ucop.edu/sustainability/_files/Carbon%20Neutral%20New
%20Building%20Cost%20Study%20FinalReport.pdf
Ted Tiffany, Principal
For most building types and sizes, there is no technical reason preventing
the industry from shifting to all-electric buildings.
Laboratories and Hospitals can be more of a challenge as all electric due to
the high outside air loads, demands for sterilization, and high hot water
loads.They are possible, but more challenging.
Sonoma Clean Power
Silver Oak Winery
Albany High School
J. Craig Venter Institute Lab, San Diego
SFO Consolidated Admin Facility
Integrated Genomics Lab, LBNL
Eric Solrain, Principal
Integral currently has dozens of all-electric buildings recently complete, in
construction, and in design. There has been a big sea change in recent
years towards all-electric. Around 50% of our work is currently electric.
There is lot of momentum in Multi-family Residential and in Commercial
projects moving to electric systems.
Comparing the construction cost of all-electric to gas depends on what
you are comparing it to. If comparing to a high-performance design such
as LEED Gold then all-electric is cheaper. If comparing to moderate
performance building then all-electric is cost neutral. If comparing to the
most basic design, there may be a small cost premium.
There are some significant code changes in California energy code in 2019
that will make all electric even more cost competitive, especially for
multifamily.
435 Indio, Sunnyvale
415 Mathilda, Sunnyvale
380 N. Pastoria, Mountain View
Eric Solrain, Principal
All electric has several big advantages:
•Electric equipment takes up significantly less space and that space can
be used for other things. At 1700 Webster the gas option filled the roof
with equipment, while the heat pump option had much less equipment
so they were able to put a nice deck and pool on the roof.
•Getting gas service to the equipment, and a flue out through the
building can be challenging problems and cost money. Getting make-
up air to gas boilers can be challenging.
•For large multi-family projects heat-pump dryers avoid all the problems
associate with venting.
•There have been good advances in heat pump choices in recent years.
Aermec and Climacool make excellent equipment, that can heat and
cool simultaneously with robust controls.
•There are huge climate benefits to shifting from gas to electric. London
is completely redoing it’s 10 year old decarbonization plan which was
drafted when they had a dirty electric grid. Their grid is much cleaner
now so they are quickly revising the plan to promote electrification.
Edwina Benner, Sunnyvale
Stoddard Housing, Napa
Casa Adelante, San Francisco
Nick Young
In multifamily buildings with individual heating and hot water systems
for each unit it’s a no-brainer to go all-electric, from a cost, modeling,
technology, and code compliance perspective. All-electric should be the
standard design for these projects.
For Multifamily buildings with central domestic hot water there are also
excellent options using electric heat pumps. We are seeing these
projects go with Sanden, Colmac, and Nyle heat pumps.
A significant challenge is that Title 24 doesn’t have a modeling pathway
for central hot water systems. The CEC is working on fixing this, targeting
the 2019 code cycle.
Our all-electric multi-family projects include: Edwina Benner Plaza in
Sunnyvale, 2437 Eagle Ave in Alameda, St Paul’s Commons in Walnut
Creek, Stoddard Housing in Napa, Casa Adelante in San Francisco, and
Maceo May in San Francisco.