Across the country, state and local governments are mandating lower building emissions, pushing building owners to full electrification. Building codes like California’s Title 24 are basically mandating full electrification and on-site renewables in new construction. Likewise, natural gas bans, which started in California cities such as Berkeley and San Jose and have also shown up in towns in New Jersey and Massachusetts, are forcing building owners to use all-electric appliances.
Building codes and natural gas bans, however, only target new construction. Our country’s building stock only turns over about 2% each year, which means we will need to target existing buildings to see a real shift toward decarbonization. Several cities, such as New York and Washington, D.C., have made a serious effort to do that with building emissions laws passed in the last several years. These laws set emissions caps for commercial and multi-family buildings and enforce financial penalties for emitting over those caps.