HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/1/2022 Item 7a, Barry
Delgado, Adriana
From:Bronwyn Barry <bronwyn@naphnetwork.org>
Sent:Monday, January
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:PHN supports SLO electrification ordinance
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Dear SLO City Council,
The Passive House Network (PHN - formerly NAPHN) would like to offer our support to your staff proposal to remove
the natural gas compliance pathway for new buildings.
Members of our Passive House Network and our local allied organization, Passive House California, have been building
all-electric Passive House compliant projects across the State of California since 2013. We have found them to be the
most cost-effective options when PV is already in place. Since the 2019 energy code update required on-site PV for
almost all new buildings, the switch to all-electric buildings has become a logical step for all new buildings.
We encourage the City of San Luis Obispo to join a growing movement of cities across California - and indeed the
country - removing natural gas compliance pathways from the new construction permit options in their cities. As
leaders in the high performance building space, we understand the market is often reluctant to make changes. However,
we also recognize that policy is the best lever to shift the market away from poor choices and bad habits that have
been shown to no longer serve our best health-, cost- or climate interests.
On the second recommendation by your staff - to 'find some other way to make up the projected 1500 metric tons of
Co2 that will be generated by new buildings' - we recommend that you consider using Passive House building
standards to shift your construction market towards Regenerative Construction Ecosystems. The Passive House
Network has been leading the charge to integrate operational and embodied carbon analysis into one integrated
calculation model. By supporting our work and pointing your community towards Passive House (which your colleagues
at 3CRen have already been doing), together we can transform both new and existing buildings into structures that live
more lightly on the land. Our Policymaker Overview under our website Resources Page provides a broad array of options
already being implemented by other cities. (Please feel free to reach out to PHN for additional support.)
Lastly, we applaud your leadership in moving the built environment towards deep decarbonization. Electrification is the
first step. We look forward to supporting you on your journey.
Respectfully yours,
Bronwyn Barry, RA, CPHD
1
Policy Committee Chairperson
--
Bronwyn Barry, CPHD, RA
Founding Board Member
m: 415.819.7978
To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.
www.passivehousenetwork.org
Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
2