Joelle Jahn
Username
Lisa Jahn
Proposer First Name
Joelle
Proposer Email
lisajoelle.jahn@wsp.com
Proposer Last Name
Jahn
Proposer Company/Organization
JB&B
Proposer Job Title
New England Leader, Deep Carbon Reduction

Boston 2023 Areas of Focus

Proposer Additional Info
Joëlle Jahn is a Senior Associate and New England Leader of the JB&B Deep Carbon Reduction Group in the firm’s Boston office. Joëlle has worked closely with clients to provide energy and carbon benchmarking, decarbonization strategy, renewable energy analysis, and broad sustainability consulting for a variety of client types. She brings an ability to organize, analyze, and manage data while leading clients to develop net-zero energy and carbon goals. Joëlle serves as technical advisor to the City of Boston’s Zero Net Carbon Zoning Code and is co-chair of the Carbon & Energy Roundtable for Built Environment Plus. She is a published author for the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), in which her design research seeks to influence passive strategies for climate-responsive emergency shelter design around the world. She has been a guest lecturer and design critic at the BAC, Wentworth, Northeastern School of Architecture, Cornell University, and the Academy of the Arts San Francisco. Joëlle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Design & Analysis from Cornell University and a Master of Design in Energy & Environment degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Proposed Session Description
Building electrification using air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) is costly and requires a significant amount of space. Ice heating has the potential to reduce the capacity of ASHPs needed for full electrification by 50%, while also allowing for grid interactive peak shifting for added energy resilience and time-of-use savings. This thermal storage solution can dramatically reduce first costs, carbon emissions, and space required for full electrification of new construction and existing buildings.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Ice heating dramatically reduces the first cost of building electrification by decreasing the heat pump capacity required for electrification and supplementing it with lower cost ice thermal storage. This solution promotes equity and affordability of building electrification for both new construction and existing building renovations. Additionally, ice heating can help speed up adoption of electrification, thereby speeding up the phase out of fossil fuels that have an outsized negative impact on air quality and health outcomes for low- and moderate-income communities. Ice heating also supports a more resilient grid, which benefits everyone.
Learning Objectives
Identify how ice storage enables buildings to recover heat and electrify more efficiently.
Discover how ice storage can be coupled with familiar mechanical equipment to reduce capacity, space, and first cost for electrification
Explain how ice storage can enable buildings to shift peak energy use for energy resilience and time-of-use energy cost and carbon savings.
Examine how federal incentives for thermal storage can offset capital costs and improve ROI.
Has this session been presented before?
No
Additional Comments
JB&B recently referenced Ice heating at Greenbuild and at the ASHRAE Summer Conference. We have not done a specific deep dive like this presentation before though. This technology is very promising for decreasing the first cost of electrification, and it would be beneficial to share this with a wider audience - specifically the New England industry where heating electrification is the most challenging. It can directly benefit Massachusetts project teams designing for Specialized Code compliance with the All-Electric Standard.
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Session Format Details
Three 15-minute presentations followed by Q&A
Recommended Length
60-minute session

Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023

Comments about your speaker roster
Joelle has worked on a number of District Energy studies with Travis Anderson as part of the Smart Utilities process for large projects together within Greater Boston. Laura has been working together with JB&B to provide insight and help the team properly quantify time of use carbon on some of their projects. Together, they represent a variety of industry experience ranging from the policymaker/city side (Travis-BPDA) to engineering consulting (Joelle-JB&B) and technology nonprofit side (Laura-WattTime).
Reviewer 1
Schow, Mark
Reviewer 2
Schow, Mark
Proposal #
115
Committee Decision
Being Considered

Presenters

Full Description
Ice heating has the potential to both reduce quantity (and cost) of ASHPs required to fully electrify a building and to shave the peak to reduce overall heating demand. By reducing peak heating demand, ice heating helps promote energy resilience of the building and relives stress on the electric grid during times of high demand.