Washington’s Heat Pump Requirement for New Commercial Buildings

In April, 2022, Washington’s Building Code Council voted 11–3 to restrict the use of gas in new office complexes, apartment towers and other large facilities starting in July 2023.

Under the revised code, new commercial buildings would have to use heat pumps for space heating. The plan would effectively ban HVAC systems that use fossil fuels like natural gas – including most standard furnaces – or systems that use electric resistance, such as baseboard heaters, wall heaters, radiant heat systems and electric furnaces. For water heating, 50% of water must be warmed by a heat pump system, while the rest can be heated by an additional source like electric resistance or fossil fuels.