Ah yes, lets make the new houses that will never be built to be even more expensive to operate. It takes about 3 times as much electricity to heat up your stove electrically, and a gas stove costs you half as much to operate. But that doesnt really matter much when you can create a problem and direct taxpaypers’ money to “solve”.
Berkeley has become the first city in the nation to ban the installation of natural gas lines in new homes.
The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to ban gas from new low-rise residential buildings starting Jan. 1.
The natural gas ordinance, introduced by Councilwoman Kate Harrison, requires all new single-family homes, town homes and small apartment buildings to have electric infrastructure. After its passage, Harrison thanked the community and her colleagues “for making Berkeley the first city in California and the United States to prohibit natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.”
“It’s an enormous issue,” Harrison told The Chronicle. “We need to really tackle this. When we think about pollution and climate-change issues, we tend to think about factories and cars, but all buildings are producing greenhouse gas.”
The city will include commercial buildings and larger residential structures as the state moves to develop regulations for those, officials said.
The ordinance allocates $273,341 per year for a two-year staff position in the Building and Safety Division within the city’s Department of Planning and Development. The employee will be responsible for implementing the ban.
The ordinance applies to buildings that have been reviewed by the California Energy Commission and determined to meet state requirements and regulations if they are electric only, said Ben Gould, the chairman of Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission.The way the ordinance is written, the city’s regulations will update as the state commission approves more building models without having to return to the City Council for a vote.
In 2009, the city adopted a Climate Action Plan that aimed to reduce emissions 33% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The plan also commits the city to using 100% renewable electricity by 2035.
The city determined in a report last year that gas-related emissions have increased due to 18% population growth since 2000. The report also noted that the burning of natural gas within city buildings accounted for 27% of Berkeley’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2016.
“To put that in context, (the 27%) is equivalent to 20 million gallons of gasoline a year,” Harrison said.
As the city’s population soars, the need for more housing has also increased. From 2014 to 2017, the Planning Department approved building permits for 525 residential units, and 925 built units were approved for occupancy. More housing is expected, particularly with the Adeline Corridor Plan, which calls for the construction of 1,400 units along Adeline Street and a portion of South Shattuck Avenue.
Instead of having natural gas pipes, electric-only buildings install heat pumps and induction cooking, Gould said.
“Think about a refrigerator and how it makes inside your refrigerator cold and blows hot air out of somewhere else,” Gould said. “A heat pump works like that, but in reverse. It takes outside air and emits cold air outside and provides hot air inside. They can also be flipped in reverse and work as an air conditioner.”
As the city’s population soars, the need for more housing has also increased. From 2014 to 2017, the Planning Department approved building permits for 525 residential units, and 925 built units were approved for occupancy. More housing is expected, particularly with the Adeline Corridor Plan, which calls for the construction of 1,400 units along Adeline Street and a portion of South Shattuck Avenue.
Instead of having natural gas pipes, electric-only buildings install heat pumps and induction cooking, Gould said.
“Think about a refrigerator and how it makes inside your refrigerator cold and blows hot air out of somewhere else,” Gould said. “A heat pump works like that, but in reverse. It takes outside air and emits cold air outside and provides hot air inside. They can also be flipped in reverse and work as an air conditioner.”
