San Diego wants to decarbonize buildings, except its Convention Center
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Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center in July. Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images via Getty Images
San Diego has big plans to decarbonize buildings across the city as part of its pledge to slash emissions.
Yes, but: The city's 2.6-million-square-foot Convention Center is getting a renovation, which will include new natural gas appliances the city has committed to phasing out of private and public buildings.
Driving the news: The San Diego Convention Center's west kitchen is getting a $4.7 million refresh after approval this fall from the city-created nonprofit that operates the facility. It'll get new natural gas stoves, water heaters, fryers and other appliances, despite city commitments to phase those out of buildings in the coming years.
- The Convention Center Corp. board also approved a $1 million contract to design a retrofit of the facility's heating and cooling systems, but has not committed to electrifying those systems as part of the project once it awards a construction contract.
Why it matters: Mayor Todd Gloria pushed and the City Council in 2022 approved a climate action plan intended to reach net-zero emissions citywide by 2035. Roughly 25% of the state's emissions come from residential and commercial buildings, per the California Air Resources Board.
Details: The city's emissions-cutting blueprint aims to phase out 45% of natural gas usage from existing buildings by 2030, and 90% by 2035.
- It also called for the city to pass a requirement this year prohibiting new buildings from being built with plumbing for natural gas.
- The city released a draft of that policy in April, but paused the effort after a federal appeals court ruled against a similar law in Berkeley. A spokesperson said the city is waiting until the case is resolved before moving forward.
- The climate action plan calls for the city to eliminate half the natural gas usage in municipal buildings by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
What they're saying: "The time horizon of the City's 2035 target for 100% phase-out of natural gas is in part because some external conditions need to catch up to what is a very ambitious goal," said Corey Albright, chief operating officer of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. "One of those conditions is the viability of electric appliances and the quality of their output."
- "We anticipate that by the 2035 target, commercial electric kitchen appliance technology will be on par and we will be prepared to replace those assets by then with their useful life expectancy being exhausted," he said.
- "The Convention Center is a large-scale, light industrial facility, which is supported by complex systems and operations," city officials said in a written statement. "The City does continue to work with the Convention Center on sustainable practices and development opportunities in alignment with the Climate Action Plan."