The University of California, Davis constructed a new hot water heating system powered by electricity to replace old, natural gas-powered steam equipment. The project, named the Big Shift, will reduce UC Davis’ overall carbon emissions by at least 40% and enable the University to achieve Scope 1 and Scope 2 decarbonization by 2025.
Together with direct electrification, energy efficiency, and renewable electricity projects, the University of California1 (the University or UC) is procuring biomethane to replace 40% of its natural gas needs. This biomethane procurement strategy is an integral part of the University of California’s plan to reach net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2025.
To help energy users and policymakers better understand this rapidly evolving technology, this primer focuses on the application of green hydrogen for industrial process heat and provides a high-level analysis of both the potential and challenges of this technology. It is intended to enhance the knowledge of energy buyers, policymakers, and other key stakeholders and inspire deeper multistakeholder discussion and collaboration to ensure that green hydrogen plays an appropriate role.
When constructing a new distillery in Kentucky, Diageo decided to use electric boilers powered by a mix of 100% renewable wind and solar energy sources rather than conventional thermal processes. This choice — in addition to several sustainability features — resulted in significant avoided emissions and furthers Diageo’s commitment to reach to net-zero carbon across its direct operations, as part […]
This brief was prepared by C2ES with the generous support of Breakthrough Energy, LLC. for the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) and C2ES Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC) to inform discussions on pathways for decarbonizing thermal heating loads for the industrial sector. This brief presents several pathways that can enable large-scale deployment of clean industrial heat. First, it identifies the scale […]
Thermal energy is a key component of energy use in the United States and around the world, particularly in the industrial sector. Energy used for process heat and space heating accounts for 75 percent of global final industrial energy demand. In the U.S., fossil fuel combustion to produce heat and steam creates about 52 percent of U.S. industrial direct greenhouse […]
While policy solutions have been implemented for decades to expand the development of and access to renewable electricity, low-carbon renewable thermal technologies in particular, and low-carbon technologies for industry in general, have not benefitted from such widespread policy support. In order to be effective, any framework to reduce GHG emissions must address thermal energy. In a new report by the […]
On January 27, 2021, Global Efficiency Intelligence (GEI) and David Gardiner and Associates (DGA) released Electrifying U.S. Industry: A Technology and Process-Based Approach to Decarbonization, a new report to the Renewable Thermal Collaborative. The report finds that there is a significant opportunity to decarbonize the industrial sector by shifting heat production away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels to clean sources such as […]
Today, in a report to the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC), the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and David Gardiner and Associates published a report that is intended to help commercial, industrial, and institutional (C&I) organizations set targets for renewable thermal energy usage. Drawing on interviews with leaders on the energy consumer side and case studies from renewable thermal […]
Today, in a report to the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC), David Gardiner and Associates (DGA) published an issue brief and factsheet regarding the role of renewable thermal technologies in state renewable portfolio standards and thoughts on what renewable electricity markets can tell us about the future of renewable thermal energy. The issue brief finds that although the unique characteristics of […]