Gas Heaters: The Skeleton in California's Closets

When it comes to climate and air pollution, we need to face the facts, and the sooner the better. California cannot achieve its needed climate and air quality goals without a serious gas diet.  Gas is a major remaining source of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, much of which is produced in our homes and commercial buildings. Nearly 90 percent of the homes in the state rely on gas appliances to run - that's roughly 13 million homes and buildings that depend on gas combustion for water heating, space heating, clothes drying, and cooking. While we are making progress cleaning up the electricity grid, we are essentially at a stand-still phasing out gas appliances in over 10 million homes and buildings across the state. Our delay in addressing this is disconcerting given the limited time we have to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.  

Greenhouses gases from natural gas used to heat homes and buildings equivalent to all state power plants.

When most people think about sources of climate and air pollution, they rightly name power plants, refineries, and vehicles. It’s hard to believe that the places where we live and work are also major polluters.  In California, gas and other fossil fuels that heat our houses, schools, offices, and stores create roughly the same level of greenhouse gas emissions as all of our power plants, about 50 million tons of carbon per year (CARB GHG inventory).  And this does not even include all of the methane-- a gas 86 times more damaging than carbon dioxide-- that leaks out of the pipelines criss-crossing our state.

In fact, there’s growing consensus among climate experts that continued use of gas to heat our buildings is unequivocally incompatible with a safe climate and clean air (E3 California Pathways Study; LBNL Scenarios for Meeting California’s 2050 Climate Goals; UN Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project).  Despite this consensus, it is an uphill battle to secure the needed changes.  Opposition from the gas industry contributes greatly to that inertia, as well as California’s energy policies’ longstanding historical bias toward gas.  Favoring gas may have made sense decades ago when electricity was inefficiently produced from coal and other fossil fuels, and when electric equipment left much to be desired. But this no longer makes any sense today.  We now have super-efficient electric appliances like “heat pumps” that use 3-4 times less energy than conventional heaters, and can be powered by rooftop solar or the state’s increasingly low-carbon grid.  Wondering what the heck a heat pump is? Check out my other column.

While state action to shift from gas to electric heat in homes and buildings is slow, it’s not because the path forward is inherently difficult. The solutions are actually pretty simple:  

1. Continue to clean up the electricity grid. Today our electricity grid is powered by unprecedented levels of solar and wind, and is on track for even higher levels because of California’s 50 percent renewable energy requirement and our thriving renewables market. There’s work to be done to go beyond 50 percent renewables, and Senate Bill 100 (which would set a statewide goal of 100 percent clean energy) is one vehicle to get us there.

2. Improve energy efficiency standards for new homes. Despite the large cost savings of new all-electric buildings, California’s building energy codes still encourage the use of gas appliances for water and space heating in new construction and major retrofits. The energy code should be updated to reflect current technology and grid conditions and incentivize use of super-efficient climate-friendly appliances like electric “heat pump” water and space heaters.

3. Incentivize climate-friendly electric appliances.  Replacing a gas appliance with a super-efficient electric model often entails higher upfront costs for both the equipment and installation.  Homeowners, contractors, and plumbers should be incentivized to install super-efficient electric appliances that save energy and reduce emissions. Today, homeowners are not able to get energy efficiency rebates if they replace their old gas water heater with a much more energy efficient electric heater because it is considered “fuel-substitution,” and regulators wanted to avoid "fuel wars" between gas and electric utilities.  The California Public Utilities Commission should update this nearly 30-year old policy to encourage homeowners to reduce their energy bills and carbon footprint by switching to clean, super high-efficiency electric appliances. In addition, the Commission should update electricity rates to value the flexibility of demand and thermal storage capabilities of advanced electric water heating to help integrate higher levels of renewable energy into the grid.

4. Provide workforce development opportunities.  Plumbers and electricians need training and workforce development opportunities to help be the change agents needed to jumpstart the market and install millions of super-efficient electric heat pump water and space heaters across the state.  

5. Close the knowledge gap.  Most people don’t realize that gas appliances produce climate and air pollution, and certainly aren’t aware of the potentially cost-saving benefits of using more efficient electric appliances. Just as state agencies and partner groups rallied together to educate Californians about the benefits of energy efficient light bulbs and electric vehicles, so should we rally together to educate the public about super-efficient electric appliances that avoid gas altogether, slashing emissions and making our communities safer.

Cleaning up our residential and commercial buildings sector is a vital part of the equation toward meeting our climate and air quality goals. We have seen the seminal role supportive energy policies play in driving solar, wind, and electric vehicles in California, but we have not seen this same level of attention to electrifying buildings.  As CPUC President Picker stated, “we don't get to our greenhouse gas goal unless we start to supplant gas and transportation fuel with clean electricity as our first fuel.”

It’s time for switching from gas to electric heating in buildings to become a priority for state decisionmakers and a recognized clean energy solution by the public. Let’s make this happen.