GREEN BUILDINGS COMMITTEE

NYC Just Passed a Major Building Electrification Policy. Is LA next?

January 7, 2022

In December, just days before former Mayor Bill DeBlasio transferred power to incoming Mayor Eric Adams, New York City passed a bill that will phase out fossil fuels in new buildings by 2027.

Newly constructed or gut renovated buildings under seven stories will have to be constructed fully electric starting in December 2023, with some exceptions such as commercial kitchens, affordable housing, and emergency back up power. The rule doesn't take effect for larger buildings until 2027.

In Los Angeles, LA's Green New Deal, introduced by soon-to-be-former Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2019, called for all new buildings to be net zero by 2030 and for existing buildings to be fully transitioned to net zero by 2050. While it is admirable that the plan sets a deadline for the complicated and expensive subject of existing buildings, the targets are not bold enough and little visible progress has been made toward either goal. Things may start moving this year.

In early December, days before New York's City Council voted overwhelmingly to pass the city's new buildings electrification code, Los Angeles City Councilmembers Paul Koretz, Paul Krekorian, and Nithya Raman submitted a motion laying out a four-month timeline for city agencies to conduct studies and community engagement around electrification for existing buildings.

The motion wisely calls for equity, housing affordability, and employment impacts to be major considerations. If passed, the motion will give the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, Department of Building and Safety, Housing Department, and DWP 120 days to come back with recommendations for carbon emission elimination strategies in new and existing buildings.

Not surprisingly, the introduction of the motion was not widely reported. But one hopes that the resulting plans, presumably laid out this year, will be even bolder and more newsworthy than what New York just passed.

- Michael Rochmes
Chair, Green Buildings Committee

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