Decarbonisation Technology August 2025 Issue

rallying cry. However, beneath the surface of this seemingly straightforward solution lies a profound infrastructure challenge. The Urban Green Council, one of NYC’s most influential building decarbonisation think tanks, has published extensive research showing that nearly 50% of the city’s existing building stock cannot feasibly be electrified due to insufficient electrical capacity. This bottleneck is not hypothetical; it is a technical, physical, and financial barrier that directly threatens the viability of mass heat pump deployment. To fully electrify these buildings would require significant electrical service upgrades – new transformers, feeder lines, and substations – across hundreds of neighbourhoods. These upgrades often come with huge costs, require extensive permitting, and demand disruptive construction timelines that stretch into years. In many cases, especially in older multifamily buildings with legacy wiring and constrained floor space, these upgrades are not practical. This is where P2G technology, and specifically the Carbon Bridge platform, offers a paradigm-shifting solution. Rather than replacing existing infrastructure, P2G enhances it. By capturing CO₂ emissions from combustion processes and combining them with hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, Carbon Bridge synthesises RNG that can be used in the same boilers and gas distribution systems that already serve the city. In doing so, it eliminates the emissions associated with burning fossil gas without requiring any electrical service upgrades, new radiators, or structural changes to historic buildings. Quantitatively, the value of this approach is clear. Retrofitting a 10,000-square-foot prewar apartment building for electrification typically costs between $1 million and $2 million, depending on the complexity of the electrical upgrades and heat pump systems. These projects often require shutting down parts of the building for extended periods, displacing tenants and requiring extensive compliance with historic preservation rules. By contrast, installing a Carbon Bridge system to decarbonise the gas supply at the same property could cost less than half that amount, with minimal disruption, and

produce equivalent or greater reductions in CO₂ emissions by replacing fossil gas with zero- carbon RNG. This is not a uniquely New York story. The challenge of constrained electrical capacity and expensive retrofits is playing out in cities around the world. From London to Tokyo, Paris to Toronto, the pattern is the same: legacy buildings, limited grid capacity, and high retrofit costs. Even beyond buildings, key industrial sectors like steel, cement, chemicals, and long- haul transport all face electrification hurdles. Their processes require high heat or dense energy storage that electricity alone cannot efficiently provide. Hydrogen alone is often not a direct drop-in substitute. But synthetic methane, produced through P2G, can be. This insight reframes the decarbonisation conversation entirely. Instead of a binary choice between full electrification or continued fossil “ As Urban Green and other research institutions continue to highlight the limits of electrification, it becomes increasingly clear that power-to-gas is not an alternative, it is a necessity ” fuel use, P2G offers a third way: integrating existing infrastructure into a renewable energy system. It allows cities, utilities, and industries to meet ambitious climate goals without writing down trillions of dollars of embedded capital investments in boilers, pipelines, furnaces, and distribution networks. It creates a path to zero emissions that is financially feasible, technically sound, and politically palatable. As Urban Green and other research institutions continue to highlight the limits of electrification, it becomes increasingly clear that P2G is not an alternative, it is a necessity. It complements and extends the capabilities of the grid, provides long-duration storage, decarbonises hard-to-electrify sectors, and offers a bridge between today’s energy reality and tomorrow’s zero-carbon future.

Natan Shahar natan@standardcarbon.com