Lixia Wu

CEM, Ph.D.

Cushman & Wakefield | Director of Energy, Engineering & Sustainability

Speaker

Track C: Clean Energy Transition

Session C1: Decarbonizing the Energy Sector: Strategies and Challenges

April 23, 2025 | 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Scaling Up Building Decarbonization: Strategies and Challenges from a Large Property Portfolio

Building decarbonization is imperative for global climate stability, energy security, and the general well-being of communities. As the urgency to decarbonize the built environment grows, large-scale building portfolios present both a significant challenge and an unparalleled opportunity. Decarbonizing at scale requires a holistic approach that balances technical feasibility, financial viability, and ensures operational reliability. This presentation explores into portfolio-wide strategies, including data-driven decision-making approaches, prioritization frameworks, and scalable technology solutions such as building electrification, deep energy retrofits, and renewable energy integration. It will also highlight best practices at the individual building level, showcasing successful case studies demonstrating cost-effective, high-impact solutions that can be scaled up to the 2000+ property portfolio. From policy misalignment to financial constraints to workforce limitations and stakeholder engagement, overcoming these hurdles is critical to success. This presentation explores how to navigate these obstacles, leverage policy and utility incentive structures, and align stakeholders around long-term decarbonization goals.

Speaker Bio

Lixia Wu, Ph,D., CEM.
Lixia Wu is a Director of Energy, Engineering & Sustainability at Cushman & Wakefield Global Occupier Services, where she leads a team responsible for the large commercial property portfolio energy management, intelligent building controls and building decarbonization offering services to help clients reduce energy consumption, improve sustainability, and achieve net-zero goals.
In previous roles, Dr. Wu was a Vice President of Marketing and Sales as the Head of global technical sales team and Director of Engineering for a start-up company Bes-Tech, which specializes in energy-efficient building systems technologies, continuous commissioning services and innovative products, which focuses on reducing peak energy demand, minimizing energy usage, and maximizing energy efficiency. She worked on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) funded energy programs.

Dr. Wu is a senior member the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) and currently serves as a vice chair of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) technical committee 7.9. She is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM). She holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from University of Nebraska Lincoln, a M.S. in Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning Engineering from Lanzhou Railway Institute.

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