San Francisco’s fuel ban on new buildings might immediate statewide motion
San Francisco this week was the last, and perhaps largest, city in the US to ban natural gas in new buildings.
In a meeting on Tuesday, the city’s board of directors passed a law that stipulates the construction of new residential and commercial buildings for the exclusive use of electrical energy, starting with projects that submit permits in the next year. This ordinance will cover about 60% of the city’s current development pipeline to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and tackle climate change, District 8 supervisor Rafael Mandelman said at the meeting.
“San Francisco has long been taking climate change seriously, and today – after another catastrophic fire season, record streak of unhealthy days, extreme heat waves, and even a day when the sun didn’t rise – we San Franciscans have the opportunity to do another incremental but important step to take to save our planet, “he told his colleagues at the meeting.
The board’s unanimous vote concludes nearly a year of deliberations with the Zero Emissions Building Taskforce, said Mandelman, which brought together affordable housing and mixed-use developers, architects and engineers, labor and construction trades and community officials to draft the legislation. It complements the approval of the city’s electrical preference ordinance passed last fall, which calls for higher energy efficiency standards for natural gas buildings, and an ordinance passed earlier this year mandating the all-electric construction of new municipal projects.
The vote also adds San Francisco to the growing list of nearly 40 California cities to enact such ordinances since Berkeley’s historic ban on natural gas infrastructure in July 2019. Experts say San Francisco’s move could carry enough weight to overturn similar laws from cities like Los Angeles, and could even push Governor Gavin Newsom, D, into nationwide action.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is currently considering updates to its Title 24 building energy efficiency standards, Earthjustice Staff Attorney Matt Vespa said. As a former mayor, Newsom has a very special relationship with San Francisco, which could inspire him to follow suit with the city, Vespa said.
“We really expect the governor’s leadership on this issue,” said Vespa. “Hopefully San Francisco is signaling that San Francisco is doing this, the governor, that the time has come to really address this issue as part of their climate agenda.”
Arguments for fully electric construction in California
Residential and commercial buildings are responsible for approximately 25% of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the California Air Resources Board. Senate Bill 32 requires California to cut its statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, and some argue that the building sector should be the primary target of those efforts.
Part of this argument is based on the flammability of natural gas. In an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mandelman and retired fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said there are more than 75 gas leaks or emergencies reported every hour in California, an incredible risk in a state that has seen some of the hottest temperatures.
“Firefighters and first responders know the incredible amount of effort it takes to contain even a relatively small incident. As we face a number of historic forest fires and heat waves, and on top of a global pandemic that is already weighing on our emergency response measures, the last thing we need to be is to add to the threats we face, “it says the contribution.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the utility that supplies almost the entire state of California, is helping the move to all-electric new builds. In a June letter to the CEC, a PG&E executive said the utility “welcomes the opportunity to avoid investing in new gas facilities that may later prove underutilized as local governments and the state work together to set long-term decarbonization goals reach”.
With the CEC considering embedding an all-electric construction mandate in its 2022 update, Mandelman hopes San Francisco can serve as a model to overcome inevitable obstacles such as the transition of plumbers and pipe fitters in the gas industry. Mandelman said he worked closely with Local 38, the regional plumbers and pipeline builders union, to outline a just transition for these workers amid the San Francisco ordinance.
“This commitment will ensure our workforce can look forward to a future in which ongoing environmental initiatives are coupled with opportunities for good union jobs in San Francisco,” he said at the board meeting.
Mandelman also stressed how a move to all-electric building can be gradual to ensure industries don’t become overloaded. The San Francisco ordinance contains two provisions that specifically address concerns about the city’s gastronomy, which is particularly challenged at this time of “extraordinary uncertainty,” he said. These regulations allow projects, including a commercial kitchen space, to submit mixed-fuel building permits by 2022. The regulation also provides for an “ongoing waiver process” for new restaurant buildings where gas is essential or electrical alternatives are not feasible.
“I believe this limited restaurant waiver will allow the continued use of gas in new buildings in the future where appropriate and necessary for a particular restaurant, while ensuring that we are clear and determined about the move in San Francisco start with natural gas. ”said Mandelmann.
