Buildings Hub Live

Atlas Public Policy is excited to host our fifteenth episode of “Buildings Hub Live,” where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us on Thursday, May 30 at 1:30 PM EST as we sit down with Lauren Ross, Deputy Director of Energy Justice at the DOE's Office of Energy Justice and Equity, and Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates, to discuss the decarbonization of affordable housing, both in new builds and retrofits. 
 
Is decarbonization currently a luxury good, and how can we expand access? What programs are housed in the DOE to broaden decarbonization for low- and moderate-income households? How are private contractors engaging with the affordable housing's decarbonization? Tune in to find out!

Atlas Public Policy is excited to host our thirteenth episode of “Buildings Hub Live,” where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us on Friday, February 9 at 1:30 PM EST as we sit down with Sara Ross, Co-Founder of UndauntedK12, and Ryan Kmetz, Energy Program Manager at the Maryland Energy Administration, to discuss progress and developments in the electrification of K-12 public school buildings. Why is building electrification important for student health and performance? How is recent federal funding accelerating the electrification of public schools? How are various state initiatives supporting this effort? Tune in to find out!

Atlas Public Policy is hosting its fourteenth episode of “Buildings Hub Live,” where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us Wednesday, May 1 at 9:30am EST for a discussion on progress and developments in electrifying buildings in cold climates with Marnese Jackson, Executive Director of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition, and Michael Stoddard, Executive Director of Efficiency Maine.
 
Just over one-third of buildings in the United States are in cold climates. It is often thought that electric heating technologies like air-source heat pumps can't perform in these climates, but technologies have improved and deployment is soaring in some famously cold regions. The Midwest and Northeast are the two coldest regions nationwide, and also rely most on piped gas, propane, or fuel oil for space heating. 

So how are practitioners in these places helping customers electrify their buildings and save money on their energy bills? What role do federal, state, and local governments play? RSVP today to find out!

Join Atlas Public Policy as we host the twelfth episode of “Buildings Hub Live,” where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us Thursday, December 14 at 2:30 pm EST for a discussion with Jenna Tatum from the Building Electrification Institute and Panama Bartholomy from the Building Decarbonization Coalition about the top building policy moments and market trends in 2023.

This conversation highlights the biggest developments in the buildings space from 2023. Learn about the Berkeley ruling and its aftermath, state and local electrification wins, federal regulatory actions, IRA and IIJA funding news, building code challenges, and stove-related bills, among other items. 

Atlas Public Policy hosts the eleventh episode of "Buildings Hub Live," where we sit down for a discussion with Karen Zelmar from the U.S. Department of Energy on the federal home electrification rebates. 

The Inflation Reduction Act appropriated billions to electrify buildings, with a particular focus on low-income communities. This critical injection of funding will support efficiency gains for residential buildings, across all demographics in an all-of-the-above historic effort.

What can we expect from this program? What is expected and required of states in the funding process, and how will funding be disbursed? How does the average consumer apply for and take advantage of this program? And who qualifies? Tune in to find out!

Developing a skilled, qualified workforce is essential to decarbonizing the US buildings stock. Contractors serve as the key interlocuters with potential adopters as they decide what to install and provide important information on available technologies, incentives, benefits, and costs. But do we currently have the workforce necessary to achieve our building decarbonization goals, and if not, what programs and initiatives exist to change that?

We sat down with Mary MacPherson from the Department of Energy, Harley Stokes from the BlueGreen Alliance, and John Doherty from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, to learn more about the role of workforce development in scaling building decarbonization nationwide. 

Atlas Public Policy is excited to host our ninth episode of "Buildings Hub Live," where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us for a discussion on building decarbonization across the Midwest, as we sit down with Molly Graham from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and Dr. Missy Stults from the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

As of 2020, only 20 percent of households in the Midwest used electricity for primary space heating, and it is the region most dependent on piped gas and propane for home heating. Likewise, only 14 percent of regional households are all-electric, and just about 5 percent of homes report having a primary heat pump. 

What opportunities exist to decarbonize and electrify the Midwest and facilitate efficiency gains across the region? Which states are leading the charge to electrify the built environment, and what should we expect from policymakers across the region going forward? How might the injection of federal climate funding turn the tide and move the needle on Midwest electrification?

Atlas sits down with Joe Wachunas and Amruta Khanolkar of the New Buildings Institute to discuss the future of electric water heating in US buildings and the role of heat pump water heaters in the energy transition.

What percent of US households rely on fossil fuels for water heating? What does the heat pump water heater (HPWH) market look like? How might federal, state, and utility programs accelerate HPWH adoption? Tune in to find out!

We sit down with Kristy Egg, Marketing Director at Egg Geothermal, and Eric Bosworth, Senior Program Manager at Eversource Energy (MA), to discuss the prospect for deploying thermal energy networks throughout the United States. How can we scale these district geothermal systems to electrify buildings, campuses, and communities across the country? Could we retrofit existing gas infrastructure to support carbon-free thermal energy networks? Tune in to find out!

Atlas Public Policy is excited to host our sixth episode of "Buildings Hub Live," where we spotlight the changemakers and technologies leading the charge to electrify our built environment. Join us as we sit down with Brady Seals, Manager of the Carbon-Free Buildings Program at RMI, and Ruth Ann Norton, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, to discuss the critical intersection of public health and building sector electrification.