Local sustainability and environmental leaders in San Mateo County are coming together to discuss progress and challenges to switch from gas to electric appliances for homeowners during a free Nov. 10 event at Genentech in South San Francisco.
The event from nonprofit Sustainable San Mateo County will have local sustainability leaders discuss how to ensure an electrification transition with existing building stock, along with potential ways to accelerate building electrification, which refers to moving away from gas stoves, water heaters and other appliances to electric options. Sustainable San Mateo County will release its 2022 Indicators Report and discuss sustainability performance in the county around building energy use, the challenges of building electrification and potential solutions and policy initiatives.
One speaker is Panama Bartholomy, the director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition, which advocates for electrification solutions around building stock. Bartholomy was previously an advisor to California Assembly Speaker John Perez and has served as the deputy director of the California Energy Commission’s Efficiency and Renewables Division. Bartholomy praised San Mateo County as a leader and model for the country around building electrification and air pollution but acknowledged more must happen to reach carbon neutrality goals.
Bartholomy said the number one issue is stopping new buildings from being hooked up to gas lines, which will go against climate goals in the coming decades. He was encouraged that so many San Mateo County cities have adopted all electric requirements for codes.
“If we are going to meet our goals around climate as a state and local agencies, we have to be doing more,” Bartholomy said. “It’s great what’s been done on the new construction, but we must do more on the existing buildings. New construction makes up a small proportion of the overall building stock, so that’s why it’s really encouraging with what the city of San Mateo recently adopted around existing buildings.”
The San Mateo City Council recently passed an electric building ordinance that targets existing buildings and homes to upgrade to electric through remodels, one of the first cities in the Bay Area to do so. Panel upgrades, heat pump air conditioning and heat pump water heaters will all be subject to more stringent rules during renovation of single family homes, which the city hopes will address carbon emissions. The new rules go into effect in 2023.
Bartholomy sees other issues as determining when to stop gas appliances from being sold; getting housing, building code and electrification policies aligned; and improving the electrification marketplace for suppliers and disturbers. The scale and pace of renovation will also be an issue given the relative amount of change, particularly for low-income households.
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“We need to be thinking about instead of appliance by appliance, thinking of it more neighborhood by neighborhood,” Bartholomy said.
Contractors have also built a business around gas appliances, with few likely to change until there is an economic incentive large enough to switch, Bartholomy said. Many homeowners are likely to change out a water heater only if it fails, with contractors a key partner to helping ensure an electric switch. While state laws could ban the sale of gas appliances, Bartholomy said it was essential to encourage a switchover before that to lessen market disruption. The cost to switch from gas to electric appliances is also a challenge, along with upgrading homes that lack adequate infrastructure, like changing electrical panels or wiring. However, Bartholomy said it was encouraging that the federal Inflation Reduction Act included tax credits and rebate eligibility for panel upgrades and wiring.
“I think that will help some, but we need to have increased focus, particularly for low-income households,” Bartholomy said.
Susan Wright, sustainability program manager with the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability, will moderate the panel. Wright said as part of the county’s Community Climate Action Plan, the Office of Sustainability was exploring policies to help with costs and protect under-resourced communities and neighborhoods at risk of displacement. Wright noted the Inflation Reduction Act includes $391 billion in funding for electric upgrades, while $145 million is available through the Technology and Equipment for Clean Heating Clean California program.
“We are monitoring upcoming funding opportunities and working with our regional partners to help our community members access this funding,” Wright said by email.
Other panel speakers include Roopak Kandasamy of BlocPower, Jonathan Hartman, architect, and Jena Jadallah, an energy management engineer with Genentech. People can go to https://sustainablesanmateo.org/2022-indicators-report-launch-event/ to learn more and sign up by the deadline of Nov. 7.
I dealt with CEC staff in my last position at UC. They are all oblivious to reality but quite articulate and have the backing of many politicians who use climate change to garner votes. Their revolving door consists of getting generous grants that are authorized by bureaucrats who used to be their subordinates. Also, none them is elected but somehow manage to dictate what we should do with our lives and money. The only way to get rid of them is a massive restructuring of our government or use a hatchet to reduce their regulatory excesses. We could use a guy like Elon Musk to clean things out.
Perhaps these leaders can tell us what the purpose of this electrification will do besides virtue signaling. After all, electricity will continue to come from fossil-fuel generation plants and their emissions, as well as emissions from China, India, and other developing countries will circulate around the global atmosphere.
Perhaps these leaders could also provide case studies that spell out the costs and the return on investment from any electrification transitions. We hear from people who supposedly have transitioned, but they never provide any costs. Even with the offer of taxpayer money to subsidize costs, the homeowner must still crack open their wallets for not making a whit of difference in controlling emissions.
The "we are going to force you crowd" is in charge. So much for choice. There are incentives to convert gas to electric in existing homes to lighten the financial burden on the homeowner. Please note these incentives are funded by "us", the taxpayers. It is not such a great deal. Once electric has a monopoly, there is no incentive for efficiencies and costs will rise. Allow the free market to decide and give innovation and technology a chance to thrive.
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(3) comments
I dealt with CEC staff in my last position at UC. They are all oblivious to reality but quite articulate and have the backing of many politicians who use climate change to garner votes. Their revolving door consists of getting generous grants that are authorized by bureaucrats who used to be their subordinates. Also, none them is elected but somehow manage to dictate what we should do with our lives and money. The only way to get rid of them is a massive restructuring of our government or use a hatchet to reduce their regulatory excesses. We could use a guy like Elon Musk to clean things out.
Perhaps these leaders can tell us what the purpose of this electrification will do besides virtue signaling. After all, electricity will continue to come from fossil-fuel generation plants and their emissions, as well as emissions from China, India, and other developing countries will circulate around the global atmosphere.
Perhaps these leaders could also provide case studies that spell out the costs and the return on investment from any electrification transitions. We hear from people who supposedly have transitioned, but they never provide any costs. Even with the offer of taxpayer money to subsidize costs, the homeowner must still crack open their wallets for not making a whit of difference in controlling emissions.
The "we are going to force you crowd" is in charge. So much for choice. There are incentives to convert gas to electric in existing homes to lighten the financial burden on the homeowner. Please note these incentives are funded by "us", the taxpayers. It is not such a great deal. Once electric has a monopoly, there is no incentive for efficiencies and costs will rise. Allow the free market to decide and give innovation and technology a chance to thrive.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.