Around one-quarter of California's GHG emissions can be traced to residential and commercial buildings. In recent years, as cities have sought to meet climate action goals, some have enacted policies intended to stop the use of natural gas in new building projects. Berkeley, for example, banned natural gas infrastructure in new low-rise residential buildings; the measure received strong pushback from the natural gas industry, but a judge recently dismissed a challenge against it in federal court.

The state policy the energy commission approved this week is not a ban, as it maintains some element of choice for builders. Energy efficiency baselines assume the use of cleaner, more efficient electric pumps for space or water heating. While the state will not mandate use of that technology, if a builder opts not to implement it, then it would have to make other costly energy efficiency improvements elsewhere in the building.

In the future, the state could move to ban gas in buildings altogether or to require electric appliances, said Panama Bartholomy, executive director at the Building Decarbonization Coalition. With the latest code update, the commission is "basically sending a pretty clear signal to the market about where California is going, while giving the market some time to adjust and build up the supply chain," he said.

Bartholomy credits cities with prompting this first-of-its-kind statewide action on electric heat pumps.

Read the full article about decarbonization in California by Maria Rachal at Smart Cities Dive.