Drew Shula opens day two of the Net Zero Conference with opening remarks set against a beautiful backdrop of a pristine Maine lake, where he was born and raised. Shula is the Founder & CEO of Verdical Group, and the Founder of the Net Zero Conference. He shares his Top 5 climate activist influencers to follow, and his Top 5 current trends in the sustainability world today. What's in your top 5? Light up the chat in our virtual platform. Shula discusses the courage required to take on radical transformation toward a low carbon economy, comparing our collective global climate action to "turning a tanker." The Net Zero Conference is about inspiring change, sharing cutting edge content, and making a dent in the universe. Shula closes with a special memorial message for green building leader Lance Hosey, AIA Fellow, LEED Fellow, who passed away August 27, 2021. 

Join us for the following Keynote sessions:

1. Dr. Kimberley R. Miner, Climate Scientist
   • Dr. Kimberley R. Miner is a Scientist and Systems Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in California, where she researches and forecasts climate risks. Her work has taken her to the most extreme environments in the world- from Antarctica to Mt. Everest- where her team secured a Guinness World Record for identifying the highest altitude pollutants. Dr. Miner’s research has been highlighted by CBS, the New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, and Sports Illustrated. Before coming to NASA, she worked with the Department of Defense in Washington DC, assessing climate risks to national interests. Dr. Miner is a Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security and Co-chair of the NASA HQ Interagency Forum on Climate Risks, Impacts, and Adaptation. She is a graduate of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (MPA) and the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute (Ph.D.), where she was a Fulbright, Switzer, and Department of Defense fellow. She is a Black belt, certified Wilderness Firefighter and First Responder, and mom to a lively cattledog.
      
2. Jedidiah Jenkins, NYT Best Selling Author and Entrepreneur 
   • Join this conversation between Jedidiah Jenkins and Verdical Group's Karen (KYo) Young as they discuss ways to reconnect with nature and the importance of reusable mugs.
   • Jedidiah Jenkins is a travel writer and public speaker. He has written two books, ‘To Shake The Sleeping Self’ a memoir about cycling 14,000 from Oregon to Patagonia. And ‘Like Streams to the Ocean,’ a collection of essays about love, family, friendship and career. He is Executive Editor of Wilderness Magazine. He is also co-founder of Byta, a travel mug designed to change the way we drink and promote a reusable economy.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. Keilhauer: Designing for the Environment
   • Provoking, iconic, and covetable, Keilhauer is recognized around the world for design excellence. Every piece in our expansive offering features unparalleled craftsmanship, thoughtful details, and incredible comfort. Made from the finest materials, and with the utmost consideration for the environment, we believe that everyone deserves to be made a little more comfortable. For more information, contact Keilhauer at 1-800-724-5665 or visit www.keilhauer.com.
      
2. Intro to the Building Decarbonization Practice Guide 
   • Speaker: Kyle Pickett, William J Worthen Foundation
   • The Design Professional’s Practice Guide to Decarbonization of the Built Environment offers the practice knowledge architects and engineers need to understand, scope, and integrate cost-effective systems in the design process. This resource presents how to evaluate alternative systems, plan for the impacts of all electric building system solutions, and how to navigate the complex Code-compliance issues that are presented by the use of natural gas systems as the baseline for Code-required energy performance in a concise and visual format.

Leading utility providers come together to discuss their most exciting new initiatives and interact with audience members in a virtual Q&A session.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. GBES 
   • Learn about how GBES can help you pass your green building credential exam.
      
2. Plant Based Buildings to Achieve Net Positive Whole Life Carbon
   • Speakers:
     • Padraig McMorrow, IBI Group
     • Ari Bose, IBI Group
     • Adam Weis, IBI Group
     • Kira Hunt, IBI Group
     • Michelle Roelofs, ARUP
   • The urgent need for solutions to mitigate climate change has motivated IBI Group to develop a prototype Mass Timber building using plant-fibre materials for structure, insulation, and finishes. This prototype building is a viable solution to reorienting the construction industry as a leader in the new green economy. Beyond this immediate solution we have charted a process for our system to utilize fast growing plant materials including bamboo, cork, cellulose, hemp, and straw, reducing demand for high-value non-renewable resources. The project included an investigation of biomimicry strategies to further improve the sustainability of the design. Our design supports circular economies, using regenerative local agriculture practices to produce bulk insulation materials that store CO2 in the built environment and soil. Our mass timber solution has a net positive carbon footprint, and is ready for construction in today’s regulatory and industry supply chain.

Join us as we share strategies that were used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that can be translated to preparing for a more resilient facility and workforce in the face of expected future disruptions from climate change.

Google has committed to running entirely on 24/7 carbon-free energy – everywhere, at all times – by 2030. Through this goal, Google aims to prove electric decarbonization is possible – and create pathways for others to follow. A key element of success will be improving access to detailed energy data and modeling. That's why Google has partnered with Tomorrow, a company building data transparency technology for everyone to better understand their own electricity usage. Together, Google and Tomorrow are helping propel the movement towards a cleaner grid for all. Through partnerships and access to better tools, we can tackle the hurdles that stand in the way of a clean energy transition and help other companies and cities make similar commitments towards a carbon-free future.

To bring net zero innovation to scale requires de-risking, fine tuning and piloting new approaches and technologies to prepare for broad adoption. Join us as companies from the USGBC Los Angeles Net Zero Accelerator (NZA) cohort present how they are solving for IAQ, energy efficiency, and waste management “inside the box” (or, as we say, the building envelope). These thought leaders and change makers are now seeking guidance and pilot opportunities from our community to help them—and by extension all of us—increase occupant health, building decarbonization, and circular economies.

Presenting companies include: Clean Robotics; HydroidMeter; HyperBorean; Origen Air; Peak Power; Thermenex; and Wynd. All of which will have key representatives in the Chat for Q&A and will also have virtual exhibit booths.

As the California Community Colleges continue to demonstrate leadership within the State by setting ambitious goals for a more sustainable future, the San Bernardino Community College district has met this challenge head on. Since adopting its own sustainability plan, SBCCD has spent the last decade on the path toward building a cleaner environment and sustainable future for the community it serves. The steps taken and commitments made in educating and partnering with industry, architectural, and engineering experts, have positioned the district to achieve the Chancellor's Office Climate Change and Sustainability Resolution Goals for 2030. Recent district projects such as the new Technical Education project at Valley College exemplify these goals and achievements in pursuit of a net zero future.

Replicable residential design options are proposed in Tier 2 cities which show great potential growth, for the 5 distinctive climate zones of India, by incorporating an "Integrative Design approach." This provides the user contingent choices, amalgamating passive & active techniques, which in turn provides an integrated design of buildings. The user can opt for a design option from four levels of energy efficiency cases, which are arrived at based on careful selection of Building Envelope, Lighting, Ventilation, and choice of Material & Equipment. The iterations help the user systematically evaluate, the best-case scenario with respect to Energy performance, Carbon dioxide emission, Daylighting & Natural ventilation analysis, Cost-Benefit & Life Cycle Analysis, thereby able to mitigate the adverse effects of Climate change on the built structure.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. Climate Justice Can't Happen Without Racial Justice
   • Speaker: David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England
   • Thanks to TED Countdown for allowing us to share this important content from their 2020 Countdown event. Why has there been so little mention of saving Black lives from the climate emergency? For too long, racial justice efforts have been distinguished from climate justice work, says David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England. In a stirring talk about building a new movement to care for the planet, Lammy calls for inclusion and support of Black and minority leadership on climate issues and a global recognition that we can't solve climate change without racial, social and intergenerational justice.
      
2. Zero Carbon to Zero Disparities: Integrating Climate Change with UN SDGs
   • Speaker: Samiksha Gadodia, The Green Ink Studio
   • UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focus on an equitable, just and sustainable developments. The session focuses on what these goals are, challenges faced by developing and under-developed nations in implementing these goals and why is it important to achieve these goals to fight climate emergency. The discussion also revolves around the economic benefits and stakeholder management for achieving the SDGs. We will discuss on how different nations around the world have come up with different opportunities for a net zero carbon future and zero disparities among the citizens followed by steps various other nations can take to overcome their challenges. After all, climate emergency and environmental issues aren't limited to a few nations. The world needs to come together and fight towards a better future. Go Green!

As the nexus of myriad considerations, the building skin combines attributes of both performance and appearance like nothing else in architecture. Explore the potent influence of the facade system in the pursuit of critical resilience and sustainability goals for buildings and urban habitat.

From the perspectives of a policymaker, an engineer, a concrete supply specialist, and an architect, this panel will focus on emerging paths to achieve lower embodied carbon and global warming potential in concrete. Two panelists have lead roles in The Bay Area Built Environment Embodied Emissions Project, aiming to reduce embodied emissions in the built environment by creating local specifications and model policies for low embodied-carbon concrete, developed through a robust regional stakeholder engagement process. The panel will discuss lessons learned from one 9-story, Type IB concrete affordable housing building and how to ensure the subcontractors are given latitude to meet carbon goals. A sustainability expert in the concrete supply industry will discuss the parameters and constraints of add-mixtures, mix design, and global warming potential.

Planning a Zero Energy building is no easy task, especially for resource constrained school districts looking to provide world-class schools that can integrate teaching, learning, and equitable sustainable design. This session will cover the cost-shifting strategies of energy-efficient design with a focus on zero carbon operation and using the building as a teaching tool for two new urban Zero Energy Pre-K through Grade 8 public schools in an under-resourced neighborhood in Baltimore City with high poverty rates. Additionally, the session will share how the design of this prototype school exceeds the educational goals of the for student-centered learning, collaborative spaces, and community use integration. The panelists will share challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned for zero energy strategies, user behavior outreach, and ongoing occupant training.

Net zero is an important part of restoring our Earth. Join us from leaders within the industry to map out new targets from ULI Greenprint, Better Building Challenge, and Science Based Targets along with methods for how to achieve Net Zero targets through energy efficiency, power grid electrification, onsite and offsite renewables, embodied carbon and circular economy strategies. You'll receive practical steps with case studies on setting targets and strategies for real estate portfolios to achieve Net Zero and stabilize Earth's climate.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. All Hands on Deck!: Join the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon to Help Build the Next Generation
   • Speaker: Holly Jamesen Carr, U.S. Department of Energy
   • As a practicing architect or engineer, you may think you’ve missed out on your chance to participate in the Solar Decathlon, a collegiate competition from the U.S. Department of Energy which challenges student teams to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables. Think again! The Solar Decathlon now offers new opportunities for professionals to participate as mentors, design and industry partners, and as learners. Join this session for an update on all that’s new for the 2022-2023 Solar Decathlon and how you can get involved!
      
2. Humanizing Resilience in a Net Zero World
   • Speaker: Ben Stapleton, USGBC-LA
   • With so many optimistic commitments happening recently, we need to humanize the work we are doing. The struggle for progress is eternal. This is the human journey, and we need to take joy in the small moments of triumph. USGBC-LA is committed to helping the local community through various workshops, the new Green Building Corps, a new Talent Portal, a centralized hub for jobs, trainings, and free recorded content, and the Net Zero Accelerator program, which is highlighting 15 exciting startups in 2021. USGBC-LA encourages you to be engaged in creating a more sustainable future for all. Learn more at www.usgbc.la.org.

Almost 85% of SFO's Scope 1 & 2 emissions derive from its natural gas-powered CUP. To reduce this, the airport is considering four alternative CUP options: one being gas-powered and three all-electric heat recovery chiller plant designs with various levels of water use. SFO wants to choose an option that: eliminates natural gas; dramatically reduces water usage; reduces the electrical load impact; and minimizes life cycle costs. This session showcases how SFO monetized the lifetime triple bottom line impacts of each option. It will then highlight how they are able to use these results to justify an all-electric option with a higher upfront cost due to its lifetime savings. Lastly, it will illustrate the contribution of this design toward SFO's carbon reduction and sustainability goals.

Net zero energy has been the north star for high-performance buildings for more than ten years, but the target is quickly shifting to net zero carbon. This change in definitions might seem abstract, but it drives real changes for building designers, owners, efficiency programs, regulators, and others. In this session, a panel of buildings industry market leaders will present key zero carbon building goals, standards, and programs. These include USGBC's LEED Zero program, ASHRAE Standard 228p (zero net energy and zero net carbon building performance evaluation), ULI Greenprint Center's Net Zero Carbon goals, and NBI's Getting to Zero building database tracking and analysis. This panel will discuss key frameworks, definitions, and market implications of today's shift from zero energy to zero carbon buildings.

Zero-carbon housing design should prioritize long-term robust building operations and community resilience. Driven by statewide GHG targets, reach codes, R&D investment and industry innovation have pushed rapid electrification in affordable housing. Electrification holds promise for long-term community health and well-being. But when the policies and investments originate with state drawdown goals, the co-imperative of resilient housing can take a back seat. This panel will discuss lessons learned from the perspectives of policy, development, technology, and design in prioritizing resilience and equity in climate-responsive housing. Speakers will address recommendations for how decarbonization policies might foreground equity and resilience concerns, a review of technical challenges in multifamily buildings, and tools to enhance design decisions and communication with residents.

Bio-based materials are a promising way to store carbon in buildings, as agricultural materials pull carbon out of the air on an annual basis. Some bio-based materials have gained a following, but are generally confined to single-family or low-rise, specialty projects. If we are to reach a net zero carbon built environment by 2050, including embodied carbon, we must find a way to scale up the use of these materials. With this case study we offer the San Francisco Bay Area and wider community a prototype to demonstrate – using the BEAM Calculator Tool – how carbon-storing (i.e. bio-based) materials can be scaled to larger residential buildings, California's most desperately needed building type. Included are examples in several other developed countries where they have scaled to bio-based materials to larger, taller construction.

Meet the Portals that are housing some of the best Climate Action career opportunities:

• USGBC-LA  |  Speaker: Ben Stapleton
• USGBC National  |  Speaker: Jenny Wiedower 
• Climate Resolve  |  Speaker: Kristina von Hoffmann
• Green Jobs Network  |  Speaker: Leonard Adler

Join us for the following Keynote session:

1. Caroline Choi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs
   • Caroline Choi is senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, and its parent company, Edison International. Choi oversees Corporate Communications, Corporate Philanthropy, Government Affairs and Public Affairs on national, state and local levels. Previously, Choi served as senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs at SCE and was responsible for the company’s regulatory strategy and policy, including regulatory affairs, regulatory operations and environmental affairs. Choi also served as SCE vice president of Energy and Environmental Policy and oversaw the analysis of energy and environmental policies; development of a long-term environmental, energy and technology strategy; and management of regulatory efforts at the California Public Utilities Commission and other state energy and environmental agencies. Before joining SCE in 2012, Choi was executive director of Environmental Services & Strategy at Progress Energy (now Duke Energy), where she led environmental permitting, compliance and policy. Choi’s other roles at Progress Energy included director of Energy Policy & Strategy and manager of Federal Public Affairs. Choi is active in national policy and community engagement. She serves on the board of Smart Electric Power Alliance, a nationwide organization that supports the implementation and deployment of clean energy and distributed resources. She also chairs the board of Veloz, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating the shift to electric transportation through public-private collaboration and public engagement. In addition, she is a member of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Statewide Leadership Council and serves on the boards of the Electric Transportation Community Development Corporation and National Forest Foundation. Choi holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Session:

1. Metropolis - Getting Interiors to Net Zero
   • Speaker: Avinash (Avi) Rajagopal, Metropolis
   • We all need to fight climate change. Yes, Interior Designers too.

General Contractors have a unique opportunity to incorporate sustainability into the construction process and are responsible for building and bringing to life the design team’s intent for high performance and net zero buildings. During this session, you will hear from nationally leading prime contractors, responsible for hiring diverse suppliers, to hear what they’re looking for in subcontractor partners, and what it takes to deliver some of the most sustainable projects in the country. You’ll learn green building best practices, hear about real-world case studies, and meet the sustainability leaders on the ground building a net zero future.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. Climate Change is our Reality. Here's How We're Taking Action
   • Speakers: Al Gore, Gloria Kasang Bulus, nana Firman, Ximena Loria and Tim Guinee
   • Thanks to TED Countdown for allowing us to share this important content from their 2020 Countdown event. With the Climate Reality Project, Al Gore is helping mold future leaders to build the movement for climate survival and social justice from the ground up. He introduces us to four of the Project's graduates, each of whom confronts climate change on their own terms: Ximena Loría, founder of Misión 2 Grados, an NGO influencing public policy in Central America; Nana Firman, "daughter of the rainforest" and advocate for climate justice among Indigenous peoples; Gloria Kasang Bulus, a Nigerian activist for women and education; and Tim Guinee, a first responder and climate change fighter in upstate New York. Together, they're gathering local actors into a global, grassroots movement that aims to turn the climate fight around.
      
2. 5 Things You Need to Know to be Net Zero Ready
   • Speaker: Emma Hughes, U.S. Green Building Council
   • What happens when we take lessening the impact of buildings on the environment to the next level? For more than two decades, LEED has provided a framework for high performance buildings and spaces, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions through strategies impacting land, energy, transportation, water, waste and materials. Building on that work, USGBC has developed LEED Zero, a complement to LEED that verifies the achievement of net zero goals in existing buildings. This mini session will leave you with five key things to know to be net zero ready!

Residential communities form a cornerstone of a climate-adaptive, resilient future, such that carbon reduction technologies and associated measures that improve health, equity and resilience for people in their homes promise multiplying benefits to society, if executed with such priorities in mind. Multifamily residential buildings in particular present significant opportunities for decarbonization; the 24 hours/day operation of these buildings has great implications for energy use, occupant health and comfort, and indoor air quality demands in every season and location. This panel will lay out both the unique challenges and technical solutions to create socially just, comfortable, and healthy living spaces while achieving decarbonization goals.

Every product has a social impact footprint. What goes into a building may have complex and destructive supply chains that affect people beyond the direct building end-users. This session will be an eye-opening discussion on the various groups of people impacted by typical building material supply chains. You will discover important links between materials and people, and understand how to make smart decisions for product selection in order to support a transition to a more resilient and socially just world.

As we move towards decarbonizing our built environment, one glaring challenge with all-electric buildings is hidden in plain sight. The shift towards electric heating and cooling systems like heat pumps and VRF have also substantially increased refrigerant use. Over a 60-year life of a building, refrigerant leakage and disposal from mechanical systems can be as high as 20% of the building's whole life carbon emissions. Using whole life carbon project case studies, we will discuss the necessary steps to reduce environmental impacts of refrigerants. We will also showcase best practices and strategies that designers/engineers can use to incorporate zero or low GWP refrigerants in their projects. Project Drawdown identifies refrigerant management as the number one climate solution and our presentation will show the reason why.

In 2019 Mayor Marty Walsh committed to making the City of Boston carbon neutral by 2050. In 2020 the City began developing regulations to neutralize the emissions of its building stock. Currently, all city-funded affordable housing is required to be zero net carbon (ZNC) with most if not all of its energy produced on-site. As of 2020 all new municipal buildings will be zero-net carbon, and in 2021 the City is expected to enact legislation that requires all new buildings over 50,000 GSF to demonstrate carbon neutrality. Amidst a boom in high EUI laboratory construction, the standards are putting the potential of a carbon-neutral future to the test. This session will include representatives from the City of Boston and the consulting engineers developing the standard.

This is Part II of yesterday's USGBC-LA Net Zero Accelerator (NZA) - Inside the Box session.

To bring net zero innovation to scale requires de-risking, fine tuning and piloting new approaches and technologies to prepare for broad adoption. Join us as companies from the USGBC Los Angeles Net Zero Accelerator (NZA) cohort present how they are solving for analyzing and acting on data both inside and literally “outside the box” (beyond the building). These thought leaders and change makers are now seeking guidance and pilot opportunities from our community to help them—and by extension all of us—increase decarbonization, clean construction, financing, and systems-level change across portfolios, communities and entire cities.

Presenting companies include: Dynamhex; National Energy USA; PACEfi; Verdigris; VERO; YellowTin; and Zero. All of which will have key representatives in the Chat for Q&A and will also have virtual exhibit booths.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. Enhancing Passive Systems for Thermal Resilience
   • Speaker: Aylin Ozkan, RWDI
   • In the face of climate change, and as building codes and standards evolve to promote increased building energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprints, it is also important to ensure that buildings can withstand prolonged power outages during extreme weather events to provide habitable shelter passively. This presentation will focus on going beyond typical compliance energy modelling procedures, in order to demonstrate a new approach to guide early stages of building design to improve passive performance through time-based thermal resilience metrics. It will highlight the critical measures that need to be addressed effectively to achieve high levels of thermal autonomy and passive habitability and provide practical examples of how the methodology is applied in professional practice.
      
2. Unlocking New Revenue Streams for Real Estate while De-Carbonizing Energy Markets
   • Speakers:
     • Elena Bondareva, Vivit
     • Sheree Ip, Power Ledger - Australia
     • Nat Chanitsorn, BCPG - Thailand
   • How do we prepare for a clean-energy future where we design, build, operate, and inhabit grid-interactive buildings? The real estate industry has amassed a proportional response to the energy efficiency, embodied carbon, and net-zero challenges. Still, it has remained a largely passive consumer of energy. This simply won’t do for long because the future of energy is interactive: energy has shifted from a “perishable” commodity to a tradable one. You may have heard that if you are not using your credit cards to earn rewards, you are subsidizing other people’s holidays. Well, the same holds here: if you are not mobilizing your asset, you are leaving money on the table. As an industry, we have another opportunity to step up, transforming the CapEx and OpEx business cases while slashing the costs of “doing the right thing.” See how net-zero targets can be met via the marketing budget; how every dollar spent on the RECs credits of LEED do more to fight climate change; and how a real estate asset can be an asset for the grid even without a solar panel or a battery.

By 2050, the population in California is expected to rise to 50 million people while our rainfall is projected to decrease by 10-15% due to climate change. Locally, the City of Los Angeles loses 100 billion gallons of water a year do to stormwater runoff through a largely impermeable drainage system. AHBE/MIG, Paul Murdoch Architects (PMA) and PACE Water Engineering has developed a park in South Los Angeles for the County of Los Angeles that is a model for renovating an aging park and creating a 21st Century facility that not only addresses how Southern California might implement the capture and reuse of our stormwater runoff but adds a much needed amenity to an underserved community.

Aiming to reduce embodied carbon emissions in certain construction materials, the City of Los Angeles will be the first city to fully adopt and implement the Buy Clean California Act (AB262). BCCA is state legislation that requires an Environmental Product Declaration and sets maximum global warming potential limits. The City is establishing the standard for all capital improvement projects to meet BCCA requirements as of July 1st at the local level. This presentation will provide an overview of the BCCA, the process of adopting these requirements into project delivery, and share the successes including collaboration efforts with material manufacturers and organizations, lessons learned as well as challenges such as adding concrete to the mix.

Building Performance Simulation (BPS) is a set of computer-generated calculations that help designers compare design options and predict anticipated energy consumption, daylight availability, thermal and visual comfort in buildings. BPS is key to reach Zero Net Energy and Carbon Neutrality in building design. A diverse group of experts from Arup, WRNS Studio, ENERlite Consulting, and Lionakis will discuss their methods and tools to reach those goals. In this session, the results of a survey about BPS strategies will be reviewed, followed by a discussion with four experts about their design workflow and the tools they use. Strengths and limitations of the tools, quality assurance of the outputs, benefits and challenges of BPS will be discussed.

Improving climate equity is an emerging policy imperative at the national level. Zero net energy retrofits are of key importance for building decarbonization and are more challenging than ZNE in new construction. Buildings will also be increasingly interactive with the transportation sector as the latter is electrified. This panel will describe a small commercial ZNE retrofit toolkit that provides replicable, integrated whole-building retrofit packages that enables small commercial multi-floor office spaces to achieve energy use intensities equivalent to ZNE through cost-effective, underutilized technologies and controls; case study examples of successful commercial building retrofits in the Bay Area which have been leased out in record time; and a modeling case study of single family residential ZNE retrofits and vehicle electrification in two disadvantaged neighborhoods in Fresno.

During this featured break, you can watch the following Mini-Sessions:

1. Cities are Driving Climate Change. Here's How They Can Fix It
   • Speaker: Angel Hsu, Climate and Data Scientist
   • Thanks to TED Countdown for allowing us to share this important content from their 2020 Countdown event. Cities pump out 70 percent of all global carbon emissions -- which means they also have the greatest opportunity to lower CO2 levels and energy consumption. Climate and data scientist Angel Hsu shares how cities around the world are leading the response to climate change by innovating new, low-carbon ways of living.
      
2. Greenbuild Presents: Developing a Corporate Sustainability Program - Lessons Learned from Informa’s CSO
   • Speaker: Ben Wielgus, Informa
   • Developing a Sustainability Program is often less a linear path and more a winding journey with successes, challenges and surprises along the way. Informa PLC. is a FTSE 100 company, and parent company of the Greenbuild International Conference + Expo. In this session, Informa’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Ben Wielgus, discusses his path to implementing a rapidly growing and constantly improving program. He’ll discuss what his team learned from missteps along the way, and how he sees the role of the sustainability professional evolving to become one of integral leadership in the organization.

Retrofitting, adaptive reuse, and renovation of existing buildings accounts for nearly half of U.S. architecture billings. However, building analysis is often time-consuming and cost-prohibitive, discouraging owners to move towards energy-efficiency with their current stock. This session discusses simple, cost-effective evaluation tools that can quickly identify pinch points, and result in more comfortable indoor conditions, and reduced operational and embodied carbons. Using Hawaii Department of Education's districtwide heat abatement program and a California multi-housing renovation project, among other case studies, we'll present a tool kit of design and engineering strategies that can be employed for any existing building. By improving what already exists, we can reduce waste and carbon while bettering communities; a payback that goes beyond utility bills.

Disneyland is of course an iconic place deeply woven into the history and cultural fabric of Southern California. While the theme park might seem an unlikely topic for the Net Zero conference, we invite you to join us in reimagining its "Tomorrowland" attraction as "Netzeroland." "The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future." ~ Walt Disney Our panel will examine the most forward-thinking concepts and disciplines of our net zero, sustainability, and nature-inspired communities and fold them into a new vision for what today's Tomorrow might look like as a theme park attraction. This reimagining of a "living future" could serve as a marquee showcase for net positive impact.

California has goals to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change. In addition to decarbonizing the electric grid and electrifying transportation, building decarbonization is key to meeting GHG targets. Building electrification will require changes for new and existing buildings. Through this transition, how will low-income communities and other vulnerable receive benefits and not be left stranded? As the impacts of climate change become more pronounced and disruptions in power supply become more likely, how can buildings more reliant of electricity be resilient, affordable, and safe? This presentation will examine these issues and will draw on findings of a study to examine the implications of electrification from an equity and resilience perspective, with a focus on buildings and end-users.

Breaking down silos, how we can work together to reduce embodied carbon on the ownership, design, and construction teams.

The Terrace at L.A. LIVE  |  Los Angeles, California

The Terrace at L.A. LIVE  |  Los Angeles, California