by Ellen Cardone Banks
New York City has already enacted Local Law 97, requiring a 40% emission reduction by 2030 and 80% by 2050 for large buildings. To implement statewide emission reduction, the All Electric Building Act would require new buildings to be constructed without fossil fuel combustion systems by 2024 for buildings less than 7 stories and 2027 for larger buildings. Buildings last a long time, so it is important to start now to move toward clean energy.
What will we do without gas in new homes? The technology is ready. The average single-family home would save about $904 per year if built with a cold-climate air-sourced heat pump and $1165 with a ground-sourced heat pump. The NY HEAT (Home Energy Affordable Transition) Act would eliminate subsidies for new gas infrastructure, including the one that gives developers 100 feet of gas lines free for any new building, paid for by all of us in our gas bills. It would also put a cap of 6% of household income on energy bills. We are all feeling the big increases in utility bills, caused largely by the international energy market, including the Russian aggression in Ukraine, and also by vastly increasing profits for the fossil fuel companies, but people of low income are struggling the most.
Most of us will not live in newly-constructed homes in the next decade, and older homes must also be made safer and more economical to heat. Homes in environmental justice communities, those with residents of color and low income, are most likely to be drafty and affected by mold, lead and asbestos. The Energy Efficiency, Equity and Jobs Act will support retrofits for energy efficiency and removal of toxic substances for such homes, preparing them for electric heating and cooling, while providing training and employment for people living in the same communities to work on these improvements. Environmental justice communities, as defined in the Climate act, are predominantly in cities but also include some suburbs and much of rural NY State, where heating costs of propane and oil are even more burdensome than piped gas.
The fossil fuel industry is not going away without a struggle. It is engaged in a big disinformation campaign to alarm NYS residents, using direct advertisements as well as neighborhood communication networks, op-eds and letters to editors. They are telling people that someone is coming for their gas stoves, furnaces, boilers and water heaters, leaving them cold, hungry and un-showered. None of this is true. There is a long-term transition period before new gas appliances would no longer be sold; existing ones will be permitted to carry out their life spans. The Renewable Heat Now acts will lower costs to householders and prevent stranded assets as electrification proceeds. Contrary to gas industry scare tactics, grid and transmission improvements are in progress as part of the Climate law and will service electrification. Ground-sourced heat pumps actually reduce demands on the grid.
When electrifying cooking is mentioned, people think of the old electric stoves with red glowing coils that took a long time to heat up and cool down. Most of us haven’t yet seen an induction range, but serious home cooks and chefs who’ve adopted them are happy with their fast heat-up and cool-down times, their accuracy, and the healthier air in their kitchens. Recent studies show that about 18% of childhood asthma in NYS can be attributed to cooking with gas.
Heat pumps, both air-sourced and ground-sourced ones, offer both heating and cooling, the latter being important as many NY residents do not have air conditioning and will need it as climate change increases. Heat pumps have been commonplace in Southern states for decades, and there are now versions very adequate for cold climates. The gas companies are playing on fear of the new, and have made heating and cooking a partisan issue, so some feel they must defend gas stoves to be loyal to their political identification.
Sierra Club members can learn more about building electrification from these websites:
https://www.sierraclub.org/topics/building-electrification and https://rmi.org/research
And then please contact your NYS Senator and Assembly person to tell them that you support clean energy and decarbonized buildings. Find your representatives at https://nysenate.gov and https://nysenate.gov.