Air quality officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are expected to approve the nation’s first rules later this month to phase out new gas-fired water heaters and stoves in homes and businesses beginning in 2027, an important step in efforts to curb harmful and global warming. reduce emission limits of buildings.
The California Air Resources Board last year approved plans to phase out sales of gas water heaters and furnaces statewide by 2030, but won’t consider introducing regulations for them until 2025. The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates emissions across much of Southern California, is also years behind. Once again, the Bay Area leads the state in environmental innovation.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will vote on March 15 on rules that will phase out requirements that only zero-emission water heaters and stoves be sold and installed in homes and buildings beginning in 2027. The rules do not apply to other appliances such as gas stoves or clothes dryers, which emit far fewer pollutants than water heaters and ovens.
Many cities in California, including Los Angeles, have banned new gas hookups, but these are the first rules to effectively ban the sale of gas appliances. Ending the burning of fossil fuels in homes and businesses is not only good for the health of residents, it is also necessary to combat climate change and air pollution and should be followed across the country.
People may not think of homes and other buildings as major polluters, but in California they are full of appliances such as dryers, stoves, ovens and water heaters that run largely on natural gas. Together they produce four times more smog-forming pollutants than the country’s gas-fired power plants. Gas boilers and the elimination of blast furnaces in the Bay Area are expected to reduce more than 3,000 tons of nitrous oxide emissions annually and prevent 85 early deaths, thousands of asthma attacks, and lost school and work days each year, with the greatest benefits coming to communities of color. most affected by air pollution.
But there are serious obstacles and equity issues associated with building electrification, and elected officials in the Bay Area, Southern California and other parts of the state must work hard to address them in order to make the transition a success. It won’t be an easy task, probably even more difficult than the state’s efforts to replace gas-powered vehicles with electric vehicles.
The biggest hurdle is the acquisition cost. Electric appliances are still more expensive than gas appliances. Installing a new heat pump costs an average of $2,900 more than a gas furnace, and a heat pump water heater costs about $850 more than a gas furnace, according to the Bay Area Air District. However, they can be offset by cost savings, including reduced utility bills and tax credits, rebates and other state climate incentives made available under federal law to reduce inflation, and state programs for low-income residents. An analysis by SPUR, a nonprofit public policy organization, found that low-income single-family homes can actually save $8,000 in upfront costs by replacing gas stoves and water heaters with heat pumps if they take advantage of existing state and federal subsidies.
Businesses, manufacturers and the construction industry have called for delays and other regulatory changes, questioning whether the phase-out is feasible given the limited availability of heat pumps and wiring and airflow requirements that make installation difficult in older homes. Those are certainly legitimate concerns, but that’s why the proposal is entering years of lead time before it goes into effect. The rules will send an important signal to manufacturers and contractors that there will be demand while giving them time to build capacity. The cost of heat pumps and should decrease over time.
The electrification of household appliances brings additional challenges, as they are often emergency purchases – things you don’t think about until they break and need to be replaced immediately. And it is not always easy to simply exchange your current equipment for an electric version. Your home may need electrical panel upgrades, new 240-volt outlets, or other modifications that can be expensive and can’t be done overnight.
Promising changes are on the way, including devices that allow electric heaters to be installed without upgrading your electrical panel, and models with heat pump water heaters that plug into standard 120-volt outlets. But it’s not available everywhere yet. Too many contractors are still unfamiliar with or hesitant to install heat pumps and it takes training and education as well as financial incentives to move them in that direction.
The shift won’t happen overnight, as these devices can last 20 years or more, and it will be decades before the region’s 1.8 million homes in nine Bay Area counties that currently have devices on use gas, phase them out. But it’s coming. This is just the beginning.
Source: LA Times