District of Columbia Department of the Environment – Nikita Bankoti – 2018

Goals

The District of Columbia’s (DC) Department of Energy and Environment is the leading authority on energy and environmental issues affecting DC. In June 2017 when President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the historic Paris Agreement, DC reaffirmed its commitment to adopt, honor, and uphold the goals in the Agreement. DC committed to the C40 Cities Deadline 2020 initiative, making pledges to become carbon-neutral and climate resilient by 2050, and to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2032. To support those goals, DOEE enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Nikita Bankoti to assess how to develop a “Paris-Compliant” climate action plan and to build an analytical roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Solutions

Bankoti started by evaluating the climate action plans of cities around the world, who have committed to the C40 goals. She developed a framework for the new plan by integrating those findings with the DC’s existing plans. This framework includes action points for existing and new buildings; clean and renewable energy; energy modernization; transportation, and waste management. She documented innovative best practices on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cities across the U.S.

Bankoti analyzed the DC’s building energy benchmarking data and developed a quantitative model to demonstrate the economic merits of energy improvement projects. The model included:

• A cost–benefit analysis of the energy savings required from key sectors

• The cost of implementing energy improvement projects

• The savings generated

• The payback period for undertaking the improvement measures

This information will enable DOEE to be more effective in ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in existing buildings.

Potential Impact

Bankoti’s initial framework acts as a building block of the DC’s carbon neutrality planning. Her roadmap will help identify and track current and future buildings, optimized for cost and energy savings. Implementation of the energy savings solutions identified by her analysis is expected to result in annual energy savings of approximately $2,202,400 for K-12 schools; $3,884,140 for multifamily housing; and $1,144,700 for office buildings.