The White House has unveiled an ambitious plan to curb fossil fuel use at federal buildings in a bid to fight climate change, drawing criticism from the natural gas industry amid a growing nationwide campaign to switch buildings to all-electric power.
The plan,
announced Dec. 7, involves the first-ever federal building performance standard, which sets the goal of cutting energy use and switching to electric appliances and equipment in 30 percent of the buildings owned by the federal government by 2030.
Overseen by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, the new standard requires agencies to replace on-site fossil fuel combustion, such as gas-fired equipment, with all-electric technology alternatives where possible.
It’s not clear how many buildings would be affected by the policy, but the federal government owns or leases
9,600 buildings nationwide, totaling more than 376.9 million square feet of space.
The policy stems from President Joe Biden’s goal,
launched via executive order last December, of achieving net-zero emissions in all federal buildings by 2045—meaning that the amount of greenhouse gases produced is no more than the amount removed from the atmosphere.
In tandem with the federal building performance standard, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a proposed rule to “electrify” new or newly renovated federal buildings by phasing out on-site usage of fossil fuels for purposes such as heating and water heating.
The American Gas Association criticized the proposed rule as “an impractical, unscientific, and expensive idea that will have no environmental benefit” in a
statement. The association represents more than 200 energy companies providing natural gas service to 180 million Americans.
Electricity costs 3.4 times as much as natural gas to heat buildings, including federal offices, and significantly more than several other energy sources, argued Karen Harbert, the association’s president. She added that gas technologies and distribution infrastructure are a better way to reach decarbonization goals.
Published data from the DOE show that it costs $41.79 per million British thermal units (Btu) to heat residential buildings with electricity, versus $12.09 per million Btu to use natural gas, according to the American Gas Association.
Biden’s anti-gas crackdown comes as a growing number of state and municipal governments push for electrification, including Los Angeles, California, which will require new buildings to be all-electric in an ordinance
approved by the city council on Nov. 7.
A coalition of community groups and environmental advocates worked with the city to develop the policy, which applies to most residential and commercial buildings approved after April 1. Under the ordinance, buildings are forbidden to have combustion equipment, gas piping, or fuel gas for end uses such as space and water heating, cooking, and clothes drying.
The State of California also
announced on Nov. 7 that it is joining Biden’s National Building Performance Standard Coalition, a group of more than 30 state and local governments nationwide that are committed to cutting emissions in existing buildings.
Many governments are pushing back against the electrification agenda. As of February,
21 states had adopted “preemption laws” that forbid cities from banning natural gas.
