Letter from Councillor Zondervan about Reintroducing the Green New Deal for Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL Quinton Y. Zondervan City Councillor To: Cambridge City Council From: Quinton Zondervan, City Councillor Date: February 7, 2022 Reintroducing the Green New Deal for Cambridge Subject: To the Honorable, the City Council: The Resolution to Create a Green New Deal first introduced by Senator Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019 calls for a ten-year national mobilization to completely transform and decarbonize the country's economy through 100% renewable energy and a jobs guarantee. This approach has become the blueprint for addressing climate change through a lens of equity at the scale and pace called for by science, and our nation's young people have risen up through the Sunrise Movement to demand its implementation. Frustrating gridlock has prevented meaningful progress even under President Biden, however, and progressive cities like Cambridge cannot afford to wait for top-down solutions. In 2021 I worked with Councillor Carlone, Sunrise Cambridge, and others to introduce the Green New Deal Zoning Petition. This proposal offered one of the first municipal adaptations of the Green New Deal concept by establishing a mechanism for emissions accounting during the special permit process, charging new commercial developments for all of their emissions, and using the money to fund emissions reductions projects and green jobs training programs that would prepare unemployed or underemployed Cambridge residents and young people in particular for good-paying green careers. This zoning petition was discussed by the Planning Board on June 29, 2021 and by the Ordinance Committee on September 21, 2021 before the previous council let it expire without taking action. The feedback we received during last year's process has substantially informed our resubmission of the proposal. The Planning Board told us that aspects of the proposal related to charging for emissions and promoting green jobs did not belong in zoning. The Law Department cautioned us to avoid creating legal interdependencies within the municipal code. And CDD reminded us that future emissions reductions should be regulated through the Building Energy Use Ordinance rather than the special permit process. In response to this feedback and with support from several colleagues on the Council, I've retooled the proposal as a three-part package which accomplishes all of the original objectives in a way that is more compatible with our municipal code. Two of the components are before you on tonight's agenda, and the CITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139 Email: [email protected]

third is a set of amendments that I will formally introduce at the upcoming Ordinance Committee hearing on amending the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO). The three pieces are complementary to each other and they are all essential to fully realizing the green new deal concept, but they also each stand on their own as individual pieces of legislation. Part 1: Emissions Accounting Zoning Petition. This petition amends Article 22 of the zoning code (Green Building Requirements) to clarify and standardize what must be provided through the existing emissions accounting requirement, including an embodied emissions calculation for new non-residential buildings. Crucially, the current language doesn't define "total greenhouse gas emissions": (c) Net Zero Narrative: A written description of how the Green Building Project is being designed in response to the City's Net Zero Action Plan, which seeks to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions resulting from buildings by reducing their energy use intensity and promoting renewable sources of energy. This information is provided for advisory review by CDD staff, and CDD may provide a questionnaire template to the developer for completing this narrative. At a minimum, this narrative shall include te tonowing information. (1) anticipated building envelope performance, including roof, foundation, walls and window assemblies, and window-to-wall ratio; (2) anticipated energy loads, baseline energy simulation tool assumptions, and proposed energy targets, expressed in terms of site energy use intensity ("EUI"), source EUI, and total greenhouse gas emissions; While CDD offers a handy template and checklist to assist developers with compliance and steer them owards a complete product, an analysis of three recent special permit applications subject to Article 2 eveals that compliance is inconsistent and often insufficient. I reviewed PB-375 (Ragon Institute 2.0) PB-385 (180 Fawcett Street), and PB-386 (The Garage in Harvard Square). This table summarizes what was and wasn't specified for each project: 180 Fawcett Project Status and Ragon Institute The Garage (PB-375) Street (PB-385) (PB-386) Requirements Under Review Just Applied Approved Project Status Page 87 Page 55 Page 13 Energy/Emissions Section Green Building Report Net Zero Narrative Site EUI Source EUI V V Total Emissions Net zero alternative V V X Tenant plug loads X Annual emissions to 2050 X X Embodied Emissions X X

The Ragon Institute's Net Zero Narrative' closely follows the CDD template, making it relatively straightforward to determine the projected total emissions for this building. It's unclear from the Net Zero Narrative, however, whether tenant plug loads (energy expected to be consumed by the companies renting space in the building) are taken into account in these calculations; it seems unlikely based on the numbers. If not, the reported emissions cannot be considered "total" emissions for the proposed building. Also the source energy use intensity (EUI) is left blank, and there is an erroneous calculation in the "Misc. Equipment" row showing a value of "6600%" (of total; the apparently correct value would be more like 18%). I'm not pointing this out to be nitpicky, but rather to show that the information is not being carefully scrutinized; if it were, this kind of obvious error would have been noticed and corrected during the Special Permit review process. A Net Zero Narrative documenting anticipated energy use and emissions was not included in the application materials posted online for 180 Fawcett Street. At my request, CDD provided the Green Building Report, which includes a Net Zero Narrative, and has agreed to post it online. The report I received is quite detailed and does present several different building HVAC options, for example, but all four options presented produce the exact same emissions, which seems implausible. The four tables detailing the different options appear to be nearly identical copies of each other. In this case tenant plug loads were clearly identified as 9% of total energy use in the building which seems reasonable. For The Garage project, some energy use is reported in Appendix C of their Green Building Report, but the required Net Zero Narrative is not included, and there are no total energy use or total emissions calculations provided. Of the three reports, only the Ragon Institute (already approved) provided a clear and easy to read summary of the building's expected energy use and emissions. The current guidelines provided by CDD, when followed, yield only two snapshots of building emissions: one presumably anticipating the first year of building operation, and another anticipating some future year when the building has achieved net zero emissions. While this is helpful, it does not provide a clear picture of the "total" emissions the building will produce over its lifetime. The amendments in the zoning petition would require emissions and energy use estimates for each year the building is operating until 2050, creating a more complete picture, and providing for multiple opportunities to anticipate and present future modifications to the building in order to achieve net zero. The hope is that this will make it easier to review and identify potential opportunities for reducing or eliminating emissions from new buildings. The petition further makes explicit what should be included in the emissions calculations and what can be exempted. For example, tenant plug loads should be included, but of course these are estimates because the developer may not be able to fully anticipate what the plug loads will be. Nonetheless even an informed estimate will allow for potential modifications prior to construction that may lead to lower emissions. The petition also explicitly exempts electric vehicle charging infrastructure from the emissions calculations so as not to discourage installation of such equipment in new buildings. The petition also specifies how to calculate the embodied emissions, which include the emissions from manufacturing the building materials (primarily steel, aluminum, concrete and glass) and the construction activities. The planning board in its review last term indicated particular enthusiasm and support for including embodied emissions, as did the Net Zero Action Plan 5-year review Task Force. ' Strangely their Net Zero Narrative is not part of the Green Building Report, but is included in the overall Project Narrative instead. 3

Part 2: Green Jobs Ordinance. The green jobs component of the original petition is being proposed as a separate ordinance amending Section 2.66 of the municipal code, the Cambridge Employment Plan. These amendments would require the city to establish a Green Jobs Initiative housed in the Economic Development Division of CDD to provide recruitment, training, and certification opportunities for low-income residents of Cambridge in jobs considered to be congruent with the city's greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other environmental mitigation goals. Programs may be offered either directly through city departments or certified outside entities. Examples of green jobs include solar panel/geothermal/wind turbine installation, building energy efficiency and electrification, renewable energy procurement, urban agriculture, urban forestry, transit operations, and transportation electrification. As proposed, the new ordinance will require an annual report from the Green Jobs Initiative detailing participation in green jobs training programs certified by the Initiative, and comparing the training programs available with the job needs in relevant green industries. Any gaps identified then require the establishment of training programs to match, and if no such programs are established, an explanation as to why not. Part 3: Amendments to the Building Energy Use Ordinance. I'm proposing to address the emissions reduction goals of the original petition through amendments to Chapter 8.67 of the municipal code, the Building Energy Use Ordinance. The current ordinance requires disclosure of building emissions for certain existing buildings, but it does not require any sort of reduction. The council is currently considering a set of amendments to the ordinance proposed by CDD that would add an emissions reductions requirement and payments for excess emissions. My proposed amendment would allow those funds to be used for green jobs training programs, and would charge new commercial buildings for all of their emissions. I previously presented these proposed amendments conceptually at a December 2021 hearing of the Health & Environment Committee and I'm working closely with Councillor Nolan to formally introduce them at the Ordinance Committee this month. I look forward to working with the Council to advance this important legislation. Sincerely, cen Quinton Zondervan Cambridge City Councillor 4