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Fuel Switching and Building Electrification

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Example Local Governments

Cupertino’s Electrification Ordinance

The City of Cupertino adopted an electrification ordinance in late 2019 to align with the city’s climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions 83% by 2050. It applies to residential and commercial ne...
Resource Local Governments

Building Electrification Initiative

The Building Electrification Initiative is a project of The Innovation Network for Communities, a nonprofit organizing communities to respond to climate change. The BEI supports pilot strategies to sc...
Example States and State Governments

Zero-Emission Residential Buildings Memorandum of Understanding

In January, 2024, nine states signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishing the goal that 65 percent of all new residential HVAC and hot water heating systems use electric heat pumps by 2030...
Resource Executive Branch

Los Angeles’ Digital Twin

Cityzenith, a Chicago-based digital twin platform, is partnering with the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge to help construct a digital twin, or virtual ...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE Report, Programs to Electrify Space Heating in Homes and Buildings

This 2020 report from ACEEE provides an updated review of state and local electrification programs, focusing on space heating, which is the largest use of fossil fuels in buildings. It provides progra...
Example Local Governments

Boulder’s Comfort365 Program

Boulder’s Comfort365 program combines education and outreach, active marketing, and financial incentives to drive heat pump adoption. The City of Boulder and Boulder County spearheaded the program, pr...
Example Local Governments

Bay Area Ban on New Gas Water Heaters and Furnaces

In March 2023, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board banned the sale of gas water heaters in the Bay Area in 2027, and new gas furnaces in 2029. Officials emphasized the rules only apply ...
Resource Congress

Report, Building electrification: Steps to start now amid an uncertain future

This 2021 report from ICF explores topics related to building electrification and how the existing energy landscape in different jurisdictions presents a variegated set of policy choices. Topics cover...
Example States and State Governments

California’s Gas Transition Pilot Projects Law

California’s SB 1221 will allow some neighborhoods in need of new gas lines to go all-electric instead — with new electric appliances provided at no cost to residents. The new law will spur up to 30 n...
Example States and State Governments

California Building Electrification Awards and Resources

This legislation would require the California Energy Commission to publish guidance and best practices to help building owners, the construction industry, and local governments overcome barriers to el...
Resource States and State Governments

RAP Report, Regulatory Solutions for Building Decarbonization

RAP’s 2020 report, Regulatory Solutions for Building Decarbonization: Tools for Commissions and Other Government Agencies, focuses on electrification as the central decarbonization solution: replacing...
Example States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ Act to Advance Clean Energy (2018)

In 2018, Massachusetts enacted An Act to Advance Clean Energy, which expanded the scope of electric energy efficiency to include measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of...
Example States and State Governments

Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act (2022)

In March 2022, both houses of the Maryland legislature passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, which calls for Maryland to reduce GHG emissions by 60% (compared to a 2006 baseline) by 2031 and for the M...
Example Local Governments

D.C.’s Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act

In April 2024, the DC Council approved a Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act, which sets DC on a course to replace fossil-fuel powered appliances and home heat with electric ap...
Example Public Utilities

SMUD Building Electrification Incentives

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), an electric-only utility, is implementing a portfolio of programs aimed at zeroing out its carbon footprint by eliminating natural gas from buildings ...
Example States and State Governments

Maine’s LD 1766

Maine’s LD 1766 “An Act To Transform Maine’s Heat Pump Market To Advance Economic Security and Climate Objectives,” establishes the Heating Fuels Efficiency and Weatherization Fund, which has the goal...
Resource States and State Governments

Massachusetts Proposed Act Driving Climate Policy Forward

In March, 2022, the Massachusetts Senate unveiled a sweeping climate bill aimed at helping the state meet its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal by 2050, which had been previously stipulated in 20...
Example Public Utilities

SMUD’s Avoided Carbon Metric for Efficiency

Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the publicly owned utility in California’s capital city, has changed its energy-efficiency metric from avoided electricity consumption to avoided carbon dioxide ...
Resource States and State Governments

Sierra Club Report, Building Electrification Action Plan for Climate Leaders

This 2019 action plan from the Sierra Club outlines the technical challenges and benefits of building electrification, particularly in California. It provides decision-makers and staff in state and lo...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE Report, State Policies and Rules to Enable Beneficial Electrification in Buildings through Fuel Switching

ACEEE’s 2020 report reviews state-level efforts promoting electrification of space and water heating as a building decarbonization tool. Electrification has the potential to reduce buildings-sector em...
Example States and State Governments

Alaska’s HB 374

HB 374, signed into law in 2018, enables utilities to offer customers on-bill financing agreements to finance measures such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy storage devices. Also eli...
Example Public Utilities

California Fuel Substitution Test

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established the Fuel Substitution Test in August 2019 (Decision 19-08-009). The test clarifies how to demonstrate that an existing building measure do...
Resource Local Governments

Report, Building Electrification: How Cities and Counties Are Implementing Electrification Policies

The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project’s July 2020 report analyzes 12 case studies and surveys the different policy options before local communities before offering model code language on building el...
Resource States and State Governments

California New Gas Heater Ban

In September 2022, the California Air Resources Board voted to ban the sale of new natural gas furnaces and heaters by 2030. Homes will be required to install zero-emissions alternatives, like electri...
Example States and State Governments

Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard

Fuel-switching efforts by Vermont utilities have been driven by the state’s 2015 Renewable Energy Standard (RES, Act 56), which addresses building electrification and comprises three components or tie...
Resource States and State Governments

Colorado SB 264 (2021)

The bill requires each gas distribution utility to file a clean heat plan with the public utilities commission (PUC). These plans must demonstrate how the utility will use clean heat resources to meet...
Resource States and State Governments

RAP’s Building Modernization Legislative Toolkit

The Regulatory Assistance Project, with collaborators at RMI, ACEEE, IMT, ReSolve and New Buildings Institute (NBI), have prepared a 2023 Building Modernization Legislative Toolkit. The toolkit is mea...
Example Public Utilities

Mass Save Heat Pump Incentives

Mass Save, a collaborative effort led by the state’s investor-owned utilities and the Cape Light Compact, provides incentives for heat pumps in Massachusetts. It operates a comprehensive set of statew...
Example Public Utilities

Tennessee’s Energy Right Program

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), in partnership with local power companies, actively promotes electrification and fuel switching through its EnergyRight programs. Certain local power companies ha...
Example Congress

Proposed Zero Emissions Homes Act (2021)

This 2021 bill seeks to provide rebates for the purchase and installation of electric appliances and equipment in single-family homes and multifamily buildings, with additional support for low- and mo...
Example States and State Governments

Colorado’s Gas Planning Pilot Communities

Colorado’s HB 24-1370 requires the Colorado Energy Office to identify five gas planning pilot communities. These communities will target neighborhood-scale alternatives projects, which will seek to de...
Example Local Governments

Ithaca’s Energy Efficiency Retrofit and Thermal Load Electrification Program

In November 2021, the city of Ithaca, New York, voted to decarbonize and electrify buildings in the city by the end of the decade. Ithaca is the first U.S. city to establish such a plan, which the cit...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE Report, Building Electrification: Programs and Best Practices

This 2022 ACEEE report analyzes 42 programs to electrify buildings in the residential, multifamily, and commercial sectors and identifies trends, common approaches, and best practices. Though these pr...
Example States and State Governments

Colorado’s SB 246 (2021)

The bill directs the PUC to establish energy savings targets and approve plans under which investor-owned electric utilities will promote the use of energy-efficient electric equipment in place of les...
Example Local Governments

Bellingham WA Building Electrification Ordinance

In February 2022, Bellingham City Council approved an ordinance to require new commercial buildings and new apartment buildings more than four stories high to use electricity for heating and water hea...
Resource Congress

Report, Bringing Infrastructure Home: A 50-State Report on U.S Home Electrification

Rewiring America’s June 2021 report, Bringing Infrastructure Home: A 50-State Report on U.S Home Electrification, highlights the benefits of household electrification in terms of climate, household sa...
Example Public Utilities

New York Clean Heat and Building Efficiency Funding

In January 2020, the New York State Public Service Commission has approved a set of energy efficiency and electric heat pump targets to reduce energy consumption in New York. The Order established a t...