I participated in a trail race called Running Up For Air (RUFA) earlier this month. In this race, participants run up and down Grandeur Peak as many times as they can in a given amount of time. The race series raises awareness and funds for air quality issues in the Salt Lake Valley and beyond. The event highlighted the pressing crisis of air pollution, particularly evident during the infamous inversions experienced in Salt Lake City. In tackling this issue, it’s crucial to understand what causes air pollution. There are three main sources: point sources, such as industry; mobile sources, such as vehicles; and area sources, such as homes and businesses. While electrification of these sources presents a promising avenue for reducing emissions, it’s not a panacea. Merely transitioning all our vehicles and buildings to electric overnight might present more problems than solutions.

Electrification of transportation and buildings is essential, but it also poses challenges. Simply put, we can’t buy our way out of air pollution or climate change by merely replacing our existing items with electric ones. Adding electric vehicles and electrification of HVAC and appliances will put more stress on the electrical grid. When the grid is stressed, it is at its dirtiest as it needs to ramp up dispatchable fossil fuel-based energy, such as gas and coal. These types of dispatchable energy for the grid are also point sources for air pollution. As we start to electrify heating and cooling in buildings, the grid will become thermally dependent. Heating loads in cold climates like northern Utah will dwarf many other loads. Furthermore, the peak demands will be in the cold winter evenings, not an ideal time for renewable solar energy production again requiring dispatchable energy.

We must flatten the demand curve to make an electric future viable. Enter passive buildings.

Passive buildings offer a sustainable and effective solution to this dilemma. By leveraging design principles such as optimized orientation for sunlight, high-performance windows, large amounts of insulation, extremely tight building envelopes, and efficient dedicated ventilation systems, passive buildings minimize energy consumption and significantly reduce reliance on electricity and natural gas for heating and cooling systems to provide comfortable and healthy indoor environments.

*Image credit: PHIUS.org showing the demand reductions possible from passive buildings*

The electrical grid is anticipated to undergo more changes in the next ten years than in the prior 100 years. This creates an opportunity for us to create a grid that does not need to generate as much power for space conditioning, allowing for additional power on the grid to electrify transportation and industrial processes without putting unnecessary stress on the grid. Conservation is the key to a clean electrical grid and clean air.

*Photo Credit: Megan Hicks showing inversion and air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley from Grandeur Peak*

This change to a sustained good air quality environment will not happen instantly. We will continue to experience poor air quality in Salt Lake City and similar areas for some time. As air pollution and inversion persist and possibly worsen, the need for refuge during periods of poor outdoor air quality is obvious. However, the buildings we spend most of our time in struggle to efficiently provide occupants with clean air. In a traditional home, providing clean air indoors might mean positively pressurizing the building and constantly running the HVAC system. This traditional approach exacerbates the problem by constantly running a less-than-efficient system that leaks conditioned air to the outside. Again, the solution comes from passive buildings. These buildings can be a haven during high air pollution and inversion periods. Their tight envelopes keep the outside air outside, and their dedicated ventilation systems efficiently provide constant filtered fresh air for occupants. Additionally, the high amounts of insulation and extremely thermally resistant windows minimize heat loss, greatly reducing the building’s contribution to air pollution compared to traditional code-minimum construction.

In the fight against climate change and air pollution, conservation emerges as a fundamental pillar. While electrification plays a crucial role, passive buildings offer a complementary solution that reduces energy demand and improves air quality. Investing in passive building design and construction can pave the way towards cleaner air and a more sustainable future.