Santa Barbara proposal would make most new buildings all-electric, avoiding natural gas
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The City of Santa Barbara announced this week that is "in the process" of developing new building code language which would require "most newly constructed buildings to be all-electric and avoid adding new natural gas infrastructure."
The goal is to cut local greenhouse gas emissions. According to the City, 40 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions comes from energy use in buildings, with 19 percent coming from natural gas.
Santa Barbara is preparing to transition to a carbon-neutral local electricity supply once 'Santa Barbara Clean Energy' launches, beginning in October. The city has a goal of total carbon neutrality by 2035.
Alelia Parenteau, the City's Energy & Climate Manager, reiterates that the new language would not apply to existing buildings.
“If the gas infrastructure already runs to the building, we’re not gonna touch it,” she said.
Parenteau did say, however, that the goal is for the local, state and federal governments to gradually educate and incentivize homeowners to switch their homes to all-electric.
“We see this as a real opportunity to mitigate those future emissions as well as to send a critical market signal to the industry that this is coming,” Parenteau said. “Not that we’re gonna mandate electric buildings, but that we’re transitioning towards an electric building future.
“I think the big challenge with this is we’ve spent decades telling people how natural gas is a cleaner, cheaper option. And it turns out that that’s not true anymore, now that renewable electricity is prime time.”
Parentau says potential exemptions under the new language for some new buildings, such as restaurants, are still being discussed.
The plan has raised some eyebrows, however, and not only from natural gas providers.
Steve Epstein, a prominent and longtime local realtor, stands behind the environmental considerations but says the city has only minimal room for further development. He questions how much of an environmental impact the switch to all-electric in newly constructed buildings will have in the coming years.
“I get it, we need to reduce our carbon footprint,” Epstein said. “But I don’t know that this does it.”
Natural gas is also featured prominently in Santa Barbara buildings from cooking, heating and even laundry room hook-ups. An eventual switch to all-electric buildings across the city would likely be a massive undertaking.
But Parenteau is optimistic that within 3-5 years, with the proper funding and outreach, the city will begin to see existing buildings make the transition to all-electric.
Developing electric appliance technology could make that transition more appealing for consumers.
"This is an important first step for new buildings because you're really creating this bigger market," said Katie Davis, chair of the Santa Barbara Sierra Club. "And there’s more and more electric appliances, and then the technology gets better and they get cheaper and even more efficient. So eventually that will help with the retrofit problem too.”
According to Davis, the California state government is already paying more attention to the issue. She says 42 other California cities have passed similar building code electrification updates.
She also points out that all-electric buildings produce less air pollution for those living inside compared to homes with gas appliances, like stoves. She encourages people with those stoves to remember to use fans to disperse the fumes.
Longtime Santa Barbara architect Alex Pujo says all-electric buildings are also cheaper to build.
“We’ve been going in this direction for 50 years and we continue faster now,” Pujo said. “I think the sooner we get into this, the better for everybody.”
The city is hosting a pair of virtual workshops to provide context and answer questions about the proposal. The sessions will be held Friday, Feb. 12th from 12pm – 1pm and Wednesday, Feb. 17th from 5:30pm-6:30pm. Both sessions will be recorded and available to view later.
Those interested in joining the workshops can visit this page through the city's website.
