San Diego leaders have declared a war on natural gas to dramatically shrink the city’s carbon footprint and reach net-zero emission by 2035.
The City Council voted unanimously this week to approve a dramatically overhauled climate action plan that calls for banning the fossil fuel in new construction while also electrifying nearly all existing buildings over the next 12 years.
Dozens of cities across California have restricted installation of gas stoves and heaters in new construction, including Encinitas. However, retrofitting entire neighborhoods would be a massive undertaking for which there is little precedent.
The new climate blueprint, authored by Mayor Todd Gloria and his team, calls for drafting a new building ordinance as early as next year. Details on electrifying existing homes, office towers and other structures have yet to be hammered out.
phys.org/news/2022-08-san-diego-natural-gas-homes.html
On Wednesday, the New York City Council voted to ban the use of natural gas in new buildings. The move makes New York the biggest city in America to ban or restrict the use of natural gas for cooking and heating.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said the ban was justified because “we are in a climate crisis and must take all necessary steps to fight climate change and protect our city.” But the hard reality is that the ban will act as a regressive energy tax on the poor and middle class. In addition to making energy less affordable, it will reduce the resilience and reliability of the energy network in America’s biggest city.
AC