This playbook explains how electrifying commercial office buildings can significantly reduce carbon emissions and deliver long-term economic value, but requires carefully coordinated decisions across technical, regulatory, and financial factors. Based on research, expert interviews, and case studies, it finds that successful electrification depends on evaluating building conditions, grid capacity, incentives, and stakeholder alignment at the same time. While benefits include lower emissions, code compliance, and job creation, challenges such as higher upfront costs, infrastructure upgrades, and cold-weather reliability must be addressed through incentives, grid investment, and improved heat-pump and storage technologies. To simplify this complexity, the study proposes decision-tree models that map key project variables to system choices and cost trade-offs, creating a practical framework to guide decarbonization strategies nationwide.

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