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The Stanford Building Decarbonization Learning Accelerator

Teaching tools for university and college educators to prepare the next generation of building professionals.

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BDLA Webinar: Policy Challenges to Cost-Effective Building Decarbonization
Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program, Michael Wara, a lawyer, scholar, and advisor in sustainability policy will discuss the challenges and solutions of wide scale building decarbonization.
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BDLA Webinar: How Infosys Proved Radical Efficiency is Radically Profitable
In 2007, Infosys founders greenlit an “unreasonable goal” to slash energy use by 50%. This is the story of how their vision grew into 50 million sq ft of green buildings, saving over $240 million.
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Updated Material!
Myths surrounding heat pumps abound. False claims such as heat pumps can’t operate at low temperatures, or concerns that they’re not actually better for the environment, can be very detrimental to decarbonization efforts. These statements are often based on outdated facts or simply not true at all. This deck aims to clear up some of these common misconceptions.
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New Presentation for High School Students
This video is geared towards high school students and explores topics such as environmental racism, redlining and its impacts on communities located near pollution sources, inequitable responses to climate disasters, and the high energy costs faced by people of color—also known as energy burden.
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Featured Stanford Resource: Understand Energy
Interested in the energy context around building decarbonization? Looking for teaching materials on energy? Visit Stanford University’s Understand Energy Learning Hub! Based on a Stanford course, the learning hub covers more than 35 energy topics. Each module has up-to-date written Fast Facts, a 10-minute take, a full-length lecture video, curated readings and videos, and an interactive quiz. Resources are free to use or adapt for educational purposes under a creative commons license.
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BDLA-Inspired Stanford/Howard University Collaborative Course
The BDLA inspired this unprecedented Stanford/Howard University partnership to create a unique, collaborative, cross-campus architecture course focusing on building decarbonization.
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New Content!
In residential buildings and restaurants, water heating is generally the largest single energy use, and gas water heaters are currently the norm in most areas. Understanding how to electrify domestic hot water systems is critical in decarbonizing our buildings, and there is new technology available to make this easier than ever. This deck provides detailed calculations suitable for engineering students, but a large portion of the content is applicable to anyone interested in decarbonization.
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What is the BDLA?

Users can access case studies, slide decks, videos, exercises, reading materials and other resources to seamlessly build decarbonization into their existing courses about sustainable buildings, or create a brand new course focused on this topic.

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Why BDLA?

Building decarbonization is the single most important paradigm shift in construction since the introduction of LED lighting or the LEED rating system.  Teaching is the key to unlocking this transformation.

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New! Energy Efficiency Learning Hub

Stanford University’s newest energy learning hub, Integrative Design for Radical Energy Efficiency, explores how optimizing systems for multiple benefits can save massive amounts of energy in buildings, industry, and transportation. Based on the work of Amory Lovins, the hub includes full-length lectures, a written guide to integrative design with examples, curated readings, and additional resources.

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Professor Testimonials

“I had the great pleasure of working with the BDLA team the summer of 2021, in the course Building Decarbonization . We planned the summer course to teach the students using the AIA Headquarters building as an implementation project. Working with the BDLA team who with their expertise brought the students different perspectives in teaching and learning. I learned a lot from this collaboration and the students have been enriched towards the action of decarbonization. The collaboration of BDLA and Howard, has fostered sharing of knowledge, created new research, and moved to create equity and climate justice for all. Looking forward to many more years of collaboration with Peter Rumsey, BDLA and Stanford University.”
Nea Maloo
Nea MalooLecturer of Architecture, Howard University
"On behalf of the Architectural Engineering degree program in the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department at NC A&T State University, we want to thank BDLA for the valuable guidance, partnership, and materials you provided on building decarbonization. I highly recommend the detailed educational materials on the website. The BDLA team is very knowledgeable and responsive to the needs of higher education instruction."
Raymond C. Tesiero, PhD
Raymond C. Tesiero, PhDAssistant Professor, North Carolina A & T State University

The Stanford BDLA teaching resources include detailed write-ups of some of the country’s best examples of building decarbonization.

Exelixis - 1951 HBP
A 220,000 square foot commercial office building located in Alameda, CA. This all-electric building uses energy efficiency to target LEED Gold. With almost 50% of its energy use generated by onsite solar, and the remaining energy coming from carbon-free sources, this building has fully decarbonized operations.
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Gundersen Healthcare: Sparta Clinic
A 35,000 square foot medical clinic that achieved LEED Gold through the use of energy efficient design. The Sparta Clinic’s energy consumption is offset by 30% with onsite rooftop solar, and the remainder of its electrical demand is purchased from the nearby Xcel Energy community solar garden. These energy sources, combined with the all electric design, make all of its operations 100% carbon free.
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