San Francisco's 2030 District: Performance and Implications for Urban Energy Efficiency
Abstract
Buildings are responsible for 40% of the United States’ total energy consumption and
a proportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation activities are
responsible for another 30%, of which a significant amount is linked to workers’ daily
commutes by car. Individual investments in home energy retrofits are helpful in the
fight against climate change, but the greatest opportunities in the built environment
lie with commercial properties in urban cores. As one of 15 cities subscribed to the
2030 Challenge, San Francisco has organized 40+ downtown properties to reduce their
aggregate energy consumption and commuter-based emissions by 50-100% by 2030. This
master’s project analyzes energy consumption by District properties against a city-established
baseline and reduction target. It also calculates a commuter emissions baseline for
the San Francisco 2030 District (SF2030D), and compares it to the District’s current
performance as measured by a custom survey. The results show that SF2030D has outperformed
its peers and reached its 2030 energy target within its first reportable year (2016).
These findings have significant implications for the 2030 Challenge’s design, and
may position SF2030D as a leader in the pursuit of energy efficiency innovations at
the district scale.
Type
Master's projectSubject
urban sustainability2030 District
San Francisco
building energy efficiency
transportation emissions
2030 Challenge
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14122Citation
Johnstone, Eleanor (2017). San Francisco's 2030 District: Performance and Implications for Urban Energy Efficiency.
Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14122.Collections
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