City and County of Denver | Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan (Building Electrification)

Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan (Building Electrification)

Lotus led the development of the City and County of Denver’s Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan, a roadmap for beneficial electrification in existing buildings. As part of this process, Lotus convened stakeholders from across the metro area and the State to understand the impacts of electrification on the workforce, disproportionately impacted communities, building owners of all sizes, homeowners, equipment manufacturers, and other stakeholders.

Lotus managed a variety of engagement activities ranging from surveys and one-on-one interviews, to large focus groups and workshops. In addition to the public input that helped to shape the plan, Lotus worked with subcontractors to complete a building stock and technology transition analysis and a grid and cost impact analysis. The final plan includes not only details on the technical components of electrification, but also the various levers (i.e., policy, financial, incentive, programmatic, and communications) that can be triggered to support full electrification of Denver’s applicable building stock over the coming decades. 

Lotus has been lucky enough to consistently work with the City and County of Denver since 2016. Other work Lotus has completed for the City and County of Denver includes:

-Completed GPC-compliant GHG emissions inventories every year since 2017, CDP Reporting, and developed Denver’s first municipal operations inventory (2020).

-Completed a life-cycle GHG analysis for waste.

-Completed an embodied carbon analysis for buildings. (see below)

Lotus developed the maps below to use data to inform Denver’s Electrification plan. The maps showed inequities and helped identify vulnerable populations.

Lotus partnered with Denver to create our Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan. The plan was practical and achievable yet pushed the boundary of what is possible. They excelled at project management, keeping the project partners on task. They led fun, engaging discussions with a variety of stakeholders whose insight helped shape the plan. Once all the quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed, they synthesized the findings into a plan that could be understood by the public, and not just limited to those with an electrification background. We are thrilled with their work and would recommend them for future projects!
— Grace Rink, Executive Director of Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency
 
Lotus has been an exceptional partner in the development of a key technical roadmap that will lead to strong policy implementation. They are helping us address all the challenges and opportunities regarding building electrification in existing buildings.
— Jan Keleher, Building Electrification Specialist, Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency, City and County of Denver