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Drawdown Georgia Project

Marilyn Brown, PhD, NAE, NAS, CEM

Regents and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainability

School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tracking Climate Solutions Seminar Series:

Buildings and Materials

January 4, 2024

Good afternoon. My name is Marilyn Brown, and with support from RCAF, I have been leading the DDGA research program since 2019, in collaboration with many universities and NGOs across the state. Today’s seminar is part of our initiative to track (and activate) the deployment of climate solutions in Georgia.

I will start off this webinar by giving an overview of our seminar ‘series’ and will highlight some of Drawdown Georgia’s recent accomplishments.

Then we will turn to today’s two fantastic speakers: Garry Harris (President of the Center for Sustainable Communities) and Jeff Smith (Energy Efficiency Manager of Georgia Power).

They will share their thoughts about the opportunities and challenges of rooftop solar in Georgia and the current and evolving policy landscape.

This session is being recorded and your mics and videos will be muted throughout.

Please use the chat option to ask questions or comment. Several graduate students are keeping an eye on the chat and will identify questions that the speakers could answer during the Q&A session.

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3 high potential buildings and material solutions for Georgia

Recycling/Waste Management

By recycling at least 20% of currently disposed paper waste annually.

Refrigerant Management

�

By retrofitting refrigeration systems in all Georgia grocery stores to refrigerant leakage rate of 8%.

By retrofitting 20% of Georgia’s homes to save 20% of energy annually.

How each solution could reduce

1 MtCO2-e in Georgia:

Cost per tCO2-e (in $2021)

Source: Brown, MA. et al. (2021). “A Framework for Localizing Global Climate Solutions and their Carbon Reduction Potential,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (31); https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100008118

$-47.5 to $-23.2

$8.4

$-0.9 to $2.3

Retrofitting

�

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Agenda

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1:00 Welcome & Intro to Drawdown Georgia (Marilyn Brown)

--Please use “chat” for asking questions

--We will be recording this session; the PPT will be posted, but not the video

1:10 Drawdown Georgia's emissions tracker (Marilyn Brown, Bill Drummond, and Oliver Chapman )

1:20 Navigating the beta version of Drawdown Georgia's solutions tracker (Taylor Clarke goes off-line to demo the tracker and data documentation)

1:35 Solution pages, CEJST/LIDAC + Gini coefficients (Marilyn Brown and Ryan Anthony)

1:45 Insights from Drawdown Georgia's website and blogs (Ansel Ahabue)

1:50 Q&A (Marilyn Brown)

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Agenda

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11:00 Welcome & Intro to Drawdown Georgia (Marilyn Brown)

--Please use “chat” for asking questions

--We will be recording this session, but will not post the video

11:10 Drawdown Georgia's emissions tracker (Marilyn Brown and Bill Drummond)

11:20 Navigating the beta version of Drawdown Georgia's solutions tracker (Taylor Clark goes off-line with a demo of the tracker and the data documentation)

11:30 Alternative mobility, biking, and EV dashboards + Gini coefficients (Marilyn Brown and Ryan Anthony)

11:45 Q&A and next steps (Marilyn Brown)

Intro to Drawdown Georgia

Since its creation in 2019, the Drawdown Georgia Research Team has expanded & diversified, & our research is making a difference�

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The Drawdown Georgia Research Team

A Research Advisory Panel was created in 2023 (more here)

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Track and Estimate Solution Impacts

Diversify Advisors & Research Team

Track and Share GHG Emissions

Profiles

Intro to the Drawdown Georgia Research Program

Mature Business Engagement

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Drawdown Georgia’s emissions tracker�

Marilyn Brown and Bill Drummond

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The Emissions Tracker provides a foundation for tracking solutions

Primary goal: help understand �Georgia's GHG emissions by making them as local, timely, and accessible as possible.

�

Additional goal:

Monitor progress toward net zero
To do this we must separately track both emissions and removals�

The Emissions Tracker is available at:

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Drawdown�Georgia

by the

Numbers��A free, quarterly,

county-level,

email-based,

subscription

newsletter

Go to drawdownga.org.

At the bottom of the page click on Subscribe to Emissions Data.

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http://bit.ly/3RKedCa

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Emissions from electricity in the residential sector declined by 10.5%�

Emissions from non-electric fuels including natural gas and propane increased by nearly 12%

Emissions from electricity in the commercial sector declined by 19.4%�

6.9% increase in its non-electric GHG emissions over the same 5 years

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Fujitsu, a major manufacturer of mini split heat pumps, is partnering with Atlanta-based Rheem to manufacture its indoor units.

Georgia is also partnering with Mitsubishi HP. Its new $30 million U.S. headquarters for HVAC products will be in Atlanta; home to its administration, engineering, training, and warehousing.

Georgia has become an innovation hub of HVAC expertise (e.g., ASHRAE HQ) supporting the decarbonization transition to heat pumps

+Heat Pumps

Kia in West Point, Hundai in Savanah, SK Battery America in Commerce recycling battery scrap.

SK battery America will open a regional IT hub in Roswell, creating 200 high-tech jobs and investing approximately $19 million in Fulton County over the next few years. The new integrated IT management center will serve the company’s facilities across the United States, including its $2.6 billion battery manufacturing facilities in Jackson County.

SK Battery America (SKBA) to recycle both cell and module lithium-ion battery manufacturing scrap from the company’s manufacturing facility in Commerce, Ga. The scrap material will be recycled at Ascend Elements’ new 154,000-square-foot battery recycling facility in Covington, Ga., which can recover 98% of battery materials and return critical battery elements to the battery supply chain.

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What has motivated adopters of rooftop solar?

What has hindered interested non-adopters?

Our Energy and Climate Survey of 1800 GA households told us a lot about barriers to adopting rooftop solar—GA is 43^rd in the nation

- Environmental benefits of rooftop solar are important motivators

- “High upfront costs” are key to non-adoption

- Solar anchors other climate solutions such as EVs and heat pumps

Source: Brown, Marilyn A., Snehal Kale, Min-kyeong Cha, and Oliver Chapman. 2023. “Exploring the willingness of consumers to electrify their homes,” Applied Energy Vol. 338 (1) 120791.

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Willingness to adopt grows with policy support

Data collected from original survey of 1,800 adults living in Georgia in 2021

Many Georgia households are willing to adopt solar and heat pumps with financial assistance

Source: Oliver Chapman and Marilyn Brown. 2023.

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To support “peer-suation” and solution activation, we’ve developed the “beta” version of an interactive Solutions Tracker for Georgia

Sector 1

Sector 2

Sector 4

Sector 5

Sector 3, Solution 1

Sector 3, Solution “n”

Landing Page

Sector 3

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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Documentation available here

Drawdown Georgia Solutions Tracker Home

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Buildings & Materials Solutions

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��

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Solutions Tracker Tour: LED Lighting and Effective Home Year Built

Goal: Enable accessible, intuitive, and powerful interaction with the Solutions Tracker

Dynamic titles, legends, and statistics

Navigation Bar

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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Solutions Tracker Tour: Heat Pumps and Homes compared with Electric HVAC Fuel

Goal: Enable accessible, intuitive, and powerful interaction with the Solutions Tracker

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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Solutions Tracker Tour: Heat Pumps and Homes compared with Electric Water Heaters

Goal: Enable accessible, intuitive, and powerful interaction with the Solutions Tracker

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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Solutions Tracker Tour: AC Efficiency and CEJST Disadvantaged

Goal: Enable accessible, intuitive, and powerful interaction with the Solutions Tracker

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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��Electricity solution pages, CJST/LIDAC and Gini coefficients��Marilyn Brown and Ryan Anthony

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Gini coefficients can measure some equity aspects of climate solutions

Measuring equity with a Gini Coefficients:

Incandescent retrofit: 0.06 LED retrofit: 0.09

The closer to this line, the more equitable

A

B

Solution	Gini
Retrofitting, AC	0.04367024
Retrofitting, Incandescent	0.06251273
Retrofitting, LED	0.09315782
Retrofitting, Wall Insulation	0.1160455
Retrofitting, Ceiling Insulation	0.1457338
Retrofitting, Water Heater	0.1544999
Retrofitting, Electric HVAC	0.19874

A

B

Less equitable

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2

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��Insights from Drawdown Georgia’s Communications Team��Ansel Ahabue�

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Georgia grants and financial incentives are promoting energy efficiency and apprenticeship programs among rural and minority communities

Groundswell: grant to boost energy efficiency in rural Troup County - "Pay as You Save", use energy savings to pay for efficiency improvements

Sustainable Georgia Futures: expands WeatheRise program adding weatherization improvements for low to moderate income black households in Atlanta

These retrofits are divided into three stages: outreach + education + customer service, on-site delivery of audits + interventions, and data processing

Sustainable Georgia Futures: headlining pilot apprenticeship program with Velo Solar for solar installment programs

Kigali Amendment: reduces hydroflourocarbon production and consumption gradually

North American Sustainable Refrigerant Council: organized a workshop in California in response to the state passing updates in refrigerative regulations that encourages supermarkets to adopt new technology in compliance.

Sprouts: debut of the CO2 based, HFC-free supermarket refrigeration system in a "warm weather market" in North America

Gwinnett County: they are installing glass recycling locations in ten locations across the county

Agnes Scott College: Green Revolving Fund that is dedicated to retrofitting the college to be more energy-efficient, with goals set at $1 million

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Questions about content

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Q1: Will the content of the Solutions Tracker be helpful?

--To policymakers, community organizations, business leaders, consumers, researchers ....?

--Which of these groups will likely be most/least interested in the data?

Q2: Do you have any solutions data that we could add to the tracker?

Q3: How useful are the Gini coefficients?

Q4: Should we link to other information?

--Where to buy and how to install solutions?

--Where, when, and why they are good for the consumer and for the environment?

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Questions about dissemination

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��

Q5: Who should we involve in future reviews of the solutions tracker?

e.g., DrawdownGA Business Compact members (N=63)?

Q6: What is the minimum documentation about the tracker data that needs to be downloadable?

--For example, here is the data documentation for Food and Agriculture�

Q7: Should we produce Drawdown GA Solutions "by the numbers"?

This PPT and both Trackers will be available here:

https://climatesolutions.gatech.edu/

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Learn more about the roadmap of 20 solutions, go here:

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100008118

Go to:

Climatesolutions.gatech.edu for more about Drawdown Georgia’s research program, trackers, and the business compact

Thank You!

For more about Drawdown Georgia:

www.drawdownga.org

For more about CPRG:

https://epd.georgia.gov/georgia-climate-pollution-reduction-grant

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Source: Derived from Princeton REPEAT Project, with calculations by

Dr. Bill Drummond, Georgia Tech

Funding Opportunities for

Solar Power Industry

Inflation Reduction Act

$10 billion in manufacturing incentives will reduce the cost of efficient appliances like rooftop solar
Increased 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) till 2032, and the conditions for full credit include an electrical apprenticeship program.
Additional credits are possible: domestically- produced hardware or ‘energy communities’
ITC for standalone energy storage

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/08/15/whats-in-the-inflation-reduction-act-for-the-solar-industry/

https://www.energy-storage.news/energy-storage-industry-hails-transformational-inflation-reduction-act/

Georgia Net GHG Forecasts: “Business as Usual” vs IRA

IRA=Inflation Reduction Act

https://blog.drawdownga.org/explore-the-climate-impact-of-the-inflation-reduction-act-with-the-ghg-emissions-tracker

Recently, Bill Drummond took Princeton’s analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act to estimate what the IRA might mean for Georgia.

He concluded that by 2030, Georgia could cut GHG emissions by 50% below 2005 levels–which is the goal of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Accord.

This suggests that the IRA could realize the “achievable scenario” that Drawdown Georgia modelled with its 20 Solutions.

Also, according to the IRA, there is lots of room for the rooftop solar industry to grow. The IRA re-instates the ITC at 30%, and this can be further expanded under certain conditions such as domestic production.

Also, the IRA includes qualifies standalone energy storage systems for an ITC, which have previously been eligible for the ITC only if they are directly linked to solar.

Details:

The 30% applies to both business and residential projects, including projects installed in 2022, and will last until the end of 2032. By default, the tax credit is 6%. To be eligible for the additional 24%, laborers and mechanics installing the solar power projects must be paid prevailing wages, and must be part of an electrical apprenticeship program.

The full 30% tax credit can increase their tax credit by an additional 10% – to 40% in total – by purchasing domestically produced hardware. Projects that are located in former ‘energy communities’ can earn an additional 10% tax credit. Energy communities are first defined as brownfields, and secondly as locations associated with fossil fuels over the last generation.

There are also provisions that community solar installations where at least 50% of customers live in low to moderate income communities can obtain of an extra 20% ITC.

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Inflation Reduction Act Home Improvement Provisions

The High Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEEHRA) will allow low-income households to install heat pumps for little to no cost.

Income Dependent Tax Rebates for

Heat Pumps ($4,000-$8,000)
Home Insulation Windows/Doors ($800-$1,600)
Updated Breaker Box ($2,000-$4,000)
Updated Electric Wiring ($1,250-$2,500)
Heat Pump Dryer ($420-$840)
Electric Stove ($420-$840)

Tax Credits for

Heat Pumps ($2,000)
Home Insulation Windows/Doors ($600)
Home Energy Audits ($150)

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Design of the Interactive Solutions Tracker

Goal: Develop an interactive solutions tracker to support “peer-situation” and activation

Landing Page: A home page introducing the purpose and goals of the solutions tracker and linking each sector landing page

Sector Landing Pages: Introduces each solution, provides information about activities and impacts, and links to each solution page

Solution Pages: Solution overview for each of the 20 solutions with multiple features enabling analysis and interactivity:

Interactive county selection and zoom
Variable selection and tooltips
Solution and Comparison variables mapped side-by-side
Descriptive statistics
Gini coefficients
Navigation buttons
Data sources for easy reference

Sector 1

Sector 2

Sector 4

Sector 5

Sector 3, Solution 1

Sector 3, Solution “n”

Landing Page

Sector 3

The market for heat pumps is relatively mature, but the technology is rapidly evolving. Entering the mainstream in Europe in the late 1970s, the technology market share has slowly expanded, first in Europe and later in the U.S. and worldwide (Nyborgab & Røpke, 2015). By 2020, Georgia was estimated to have approximately 1.14 million residential HPs, accounting for 29% of all primary occupied housing units in the state and the majority (55%) of units heated by electricity (EIA RECS, 2020). This places Georgia with the eighth highest HP adoption rate in the U.S., though it ranks the lowest among neighbors.

HPs are extremely efficient and there are now “ductless” HP options via ductless mini-split heat pumps, using in-room ‘heads’ to heat or cool a ‘zone’ in the home instead of ducted heat registers. Best used in homes with an open layout, though it does have the ability to be split into multiple zones.

Cold climate HPs are also available—so that HPs are now workable in the cold winters of North Georgia. https://www.betoolkit.org/applications/residentialspaceheating/2