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Large commercial and residential buildings must overcome various hurdles before implementing deep retrofits or capital projects that help achieve building decarbonization. In this section, we address technical barriers and questions often faced by building owners and retrofit project developers.

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title	Decentralized Systems and Tenant Equipment

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title	Decentralized Systems and Tenant Equipment

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Access to Occupied Spaces.

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Lease Concerns.

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Regulatory Limitations - Rent Stabilized Apartments

The building owner is required to provide free heat and hot water.
No mechanism to recover investment in new systems is necessary to achieve decarbonization.
Buildings are capital constrained

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Split Incentives (tenants pay for energy).

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title	Infrastructure

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title	Infrastructure

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High temperature renewable resources are limited and face hurdles:

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Deep Bore Geothermal
Renewable Hydrogen
Carbon Capture and Sequestration

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Biomethane
Electric Boilers
High-temperature thermal storage

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Hight-temperature industrial heat pumps
Waste Heat Capture and Reuse
Fission

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Utility Capacity Limitations:

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title	Building Electric Capacity Upgrades

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Electric riser capacity
Switchgear expansion
New service/vault expansion/point-of-entry space constraints

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Capacity competition with other electrification needs:
- Space heat and cooling
- DHW
- Cooking
- Pumps and motors

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title	Local Network Electric Capacity Upgrades

Excess Distribution Facility Charges (EDF)
Contributions in Aid of Construction (CIAC)

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title	Gas Utility Earnings Adjustment Mechanisms (EAM) focused on System Peak Demand Reductions

Partial Electrification concepts achieve deep decarbonization but do not necessarily achieve peak gas demand reductions (debatable)

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title	Total Connected Loads and Peak Demand drive need for capacity upgrades

Demand reduction strategies do not obviate capacity limitations unless the utility accepts the solution as a permanent demand/load reduction strategy.

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Battery Storage:
- Fire danger
- Space constraints
- Electricity distribution limitations
- Structural loads

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Building Automation/BMS/Demand Response:
- Cost
- Integration limitations; Blackbox software
- Microgrid development
  1. Cost
  2. Lack of expertise

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On-site Generation:
- Space constraints
- Gas use; Zero carbon fuels availability is non-existent
- Structural loads
- Pipe infrastructure

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title	Thermal Storage

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Space constrains
Structural loads
Technology limitations:
- Vacuum insulated storage tanks
- Phase change material (DHW, space heating)

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title	Geothermal (ambient temperature), Deep Bore Geothermal (high temperature) or Shared Loop District Energy Systems provide cooling and heating with lower peak demand than standard electric equipment

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Building pipe riser limitations; need additional riser capacity:
- Building water loops are typically “top down” - cooling capacity is typically located at rooftop mechanical penthouses; cooling towers at roof.
  1. Some exceptions to this rule
- Space Constraints

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Drilling Difficulty:
- Outdoor space constraints for geothermal wells
- Difficult permitting
- Mud and cuttings disposal
  1. Contaminated soil disposal
- Overhead clearance constraints for drilling in basements/garages

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Shared Loop/Thermal Utility Limitations:
- Requires entity that may operate in public ROWs and across property lines
- Utilities are limited by regulations for gas, steam or electric delivery versus shared loop media (ambient temperature water).
  1. Only utility entities can provide very long amortization periods
  2. Utilities are best suited to work amid crowded underground municipal ROWs.

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Deep Bore Geothermal Limitations:
- Requires test drilling and geological assessment
- Seismic risk
- Drilling equipment is very large - more akin to oil and gas development equipment
- Subsurface land rights and DEC restrictions

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title	Other Energy Efficiency/Conservation Measures with proven/attractive economics (these measures are limited by lack of capital or knowledge)

Lighting with lighting controls
High-efficiency electrically commutated motors (ECM)
Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) on pumps and motors
Retro-commissioning tasks and maintenance

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title	Behavioral Modification

Staggered work scheduling
Telework
Submetering and billing: potentially creates split incentive between landlord and tenant:
- Water
- Electric
  1. Onerous regulatory compliance
- Heat and Cooling
  1. Rent stabilized buildings prohibit billing for heat

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title	Facade and Windows

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Work must be completed at the end of facade/window useful life; very long useful life

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Building code

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Glazing reduction at odds with aesthetic/marketability concerns

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Difficult installing with occupied spaces

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Reduce Local Law 11 recurring cost via overcladding

Aesthetic concerns
At odds with historic preservation
Capital intensive
Lot line limitations

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Technology Limitations

Need higher R-value/inch for thinner wall assembly:
- Vacuum insulated panels
- Aerogel panels/batts
- Zero-GWP blowing agents for closed cell spray foam (nitrogen blowing agent needs to be more widely adopted)

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title	Ventilation

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title	Ventilation

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Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV)

Space constraints
System tie-in point accessibility/feasibility

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Rooftop Supply Air (Reznor) Unit Alternatives

Heat pump alternatives to eliminate resistance heat
Combine with ERV

UI Step

HVAC Load Reduction (HLR) Technology

Vent or capture exhaust gases
Space constraints
System tie-in point accessibility/feasibility

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Central vs. Decentralized Ventilation Systems

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Direct Outside Air System (DOAS)

Modular perimeter ducted air heat pumps:
- Competition for leasable space
- Space constraints

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Ventilation Points-of-Entry

Aesthetic concerns
Lot line facades/building setbacks
Competition with leasable space
Space constraints

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title	Heat Pump Limitations

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title	Heat Pump Limitations

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Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF)

Fire and life safety concerns about volume of refrigerant gas located within occupied spaces.

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Regulatory risk from new refrigerant policies

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PTAC and VTAC

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Ducted Supply/Exhaust Air Source Heat Pumps

UI Step

Domestic Hot Water

Central DHW Systems:
- Limited domestic production
- Performance not confirmed by independent third parties
- More demonstration projects needed
Decentralized DHW Systems

UI Step

More open-source interconnection between devices/interoperability is needed to achieve energy distribution flexibility and capacity expansion:

Air source that has a manifold connection to interconnect with water source or refrigerant gas distribution
Interconnectivity/simplified heat exchange between refrigerants/water/air, etc.
Other options and add-ons

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title	Crossover Device or “Magic Box” Technology

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title	Crossover Device or “Magic Box” Technology

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Multi-purpose technology for heating, cooling, heat exchange and ventilation, filtration, and/or domestic hot water

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Domestic production and supply chain is limited

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Small players operating in this space

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Technology is not tested over long operational periods

Daikin, Nilan, Zehnder, Drexel und Weiss, Minotair, Build Equinox, Clivet

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title	Zero Carbon Fuels Limitations

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title	Zero Carbon Fuel Limitations

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Green Hydrogen

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Renewable Natural Gas

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title	Low-Carbon Fuels

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title	Low-Carbon Fuels

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Biofuel

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Biomethane

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title	Renewable Energy Procurement Limitations

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title	Renewable Energy Procurement Limitations

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REC Purchasing

NYSERDA monopolizes REC purchasing from renewable energy projects

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title	Pending Carbon Trading Programs Limitations

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title	Pending Carbon Trading Programs Limitations

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Deployment timeline is highly uncertain

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Price per ton of carbon is highly uncertain and will likely be volatile/low based on previous emissions trading scheme outcomes

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Key

High temperature renewable resources are limited and face hurdles:

Utility Capacity Limitations: