Many organizations today are working to identify ways to reduce their dependence on carbon-rich fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, oil, and propane. Their goal: to dramatically reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gases implicated in climate change, while, hopefully, also decreasing their energy costs and bolstering organizational reputation at the same time.
For most organizations, the production of heat is the largest individual application of energy, and space heating for buildings is one of the largest components of that output, accounting for more than $20 billion each year expended by the commercial sector. With most of this heat generated by fossil fuels, building heating applications are therefore also among the largest components of the carbon footprint culpability of nearly any operation.