Arlington Greens are sponsoring a panel discussion of experts on building only carbon neutral houses and offices as the only pathway to Arlington becoming carbon neutral by 2050, a goal set by the Arlington County Board in 2019. Panelists include GWU professor Scott Sklar, Larry Smith of Arlington Green Homes LLC, Demetra McBride of the Arlington County Department of Environmental Management, and Delegate Patrick Hope, 47th district

The panel will be held on Wednesday, 6:30-8 PM, at the Arlington Central Library (1014 N. Quincy Street, Ballston). Arlington Greens chair John Reeder will moderate; attendance is free and questions are encouraged from anyone attending.

The county board adopted a carbon neutral goal for the entire county by 2050. Its community energy plan (CEP) indicated that at least 62 percent of total carbon emissions in Arlington VA come from homes, offices and buildings (mainly in the form of natural gas heating and electricity largely sourced from natural gas and coal).

The CEP goal was that carbon emissions in Arlington starting in 2012 would drop by 36 percent by 2021, Reeder indicated, but carbon emissions from homes and buildings actually declined by only 11 percent. Arlington population grew by 11 percent, total housing units by 12 percent, and total office space by 8 percent during this period using fossil fuel-based building technology.

A carbon neutral home uses no operating energy from carbon sources, and would mainly rely on on-site geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels; in addition, construction materials would have little or no embodied carbon from fossil fuels, but rely on wood and recycled materials.

Delegate Patrick Hope (47th district, Arlington) will address how the statewide building code can be changed to allow Arlington and other localities to impose a carbon neutral building code within their localities for new houses and office buildings. Professor Sklar will address carbon neutral office buildings and a green home builder Larry Smith discuss how to build carbon neutral houses. Demetra McBride will discuss details of the CEP.