NYC Moves to Stop New Buildings From Using Natural Gas

New York City is poised to bar most new buildings from using natural gas within a few years, after lawmakers voted Wednesday to make the United States’ most populous city a showcase for a climate-change-fighting policy that has been both embraced and blocked elsewhere.

If Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio signs the measure, as expected, most construction projects submitted for approval after 2027 would have to use something other than gas or oil — such as electricity — for heating, hot water and cooking. Some smaller buildings would have to comply as early as 2024.

Hospitals, commercial kitchens and some other facilities would be exempt.

Supporters say it’s a substantial and necessary move to combat global warming. Heating, cooling and powering buildings accounts for nearly 70% of the city’s emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

New buildings’ stoves and furnaces would use electricity generated partly from burning natural gas and other fossil fuels, but backers say the change still would keep millions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over time. They argue it would boost momentum ahead of a statewide requirement to use 70% renewable energy by 2030, up from about 30% now.

At the same time, states including Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas have barred cities from enacting such laws, saying that consumers should have their choice of energy sources. In Texas, the effort began before, but gained all the more steam after a February storm spawned massive power outages that left many households shivering without electricity, heat or drinkable water for days.

In New York, shifts toward electric vehicles, furnaces and appliances are “expected to create long-term upward pressure” on electricity use, according to the New York Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s electricity supply.

The organization said in a recent report that it’s still studying how those trends will affect the power system, but it forecasts that electricity demand in winter could surpass summer peaks by about 2040.

The state envisions big increases in wind and solar power, among other approaches to meet its renewable energy targets and growing demand. Some projects are in the works.

Still, some building interests worried at a City Council hearing last month that banning new natural gas hookups could strain the electrical grid. It already struggles during heat waves in the city, sometimes resulting in sizeable neighborhood outages.

James Whelan, who runs a landlords’ lobbying group called the Real Estate Board of New York, said Wednesday that it gets the importance of moving away from fossil fuels, but “these policies must be implemented in a way that ensures that New Yorkers have reliable, affordable, carbon-free electricity.”

Real estate groups also pressed to push back the deadlines for nixing gas, saying that alternative technologies — such as electric heat pumps that transfer heat between indoors and outdoors — need more time to develop, particularly for skyscrapers.

Utilities, meanwhile, have sounded economic alarms, while saying they support and are working on greening the energy supply.

“We have real concerns that, as envisioned, these [proposals] may result in increased energy costs for customers,” Bryan Grimaldi, a vice president of power provider National Grid, told council members last month. Con Edison, which serves much of the city, encouraged them to help poorer renters with what it characterized as increased costs of electric heating.

Both utilities greeted Wednesday’s vote with measured statements, with Con Ed saying that a “clear-cut path toward electrification of most new buildings is a sensible and necessary step.”