NOx is a harmful pollutant that endangers human health and the environment. The Air District has clear legal authority to regulate NOx from stationary sources, such as appliances, due to its negative health and air impacts.

By moving to a zero-NOx appliance standard, the District is eliminating a major source of pollution in our neighborhoods. It also presents an opportunity to transition to clean electric appliances of new and existing buildings in a way that prioritizes environmental justice communities.

When the District updates a rule, it must follow a 10-step process outlined in detail here. In short, the District announces its intention to create a rule or amend an existing rule, hosts stakeholder meetings to gather input, prepares a draft rule, hosts public workshops to solicit input on the draft rule, conducts environmental and socioeconomic impact assessments, presents a draft rule to the Board of Directors for approval at a public hearing, and finalizes the rule and implementation process.

The Air District protects Bay Area communities from health-harming air pollution by regulating stationary sources of pollution. The District has regulated NOx pollution from appliances for decades, due to its negative health and air impacts. The District is proposing to amend its current regulations to be even stronger and more health protective.

Electric appliances cut pollution. All major gas appliances in our homes and commercial buildings have zero-emission counterparts on the market: heat pump water heaters, air source heat pumps, induction cooktops, and electric dryers.

Heat pumps are highly efficient zero-emission electric technology that can be used for water heating, and for heating during the winters and cooling during increasingly hot summers.

A statewide transition to all-electric buildings is going to require the talents and skills of workers from across the economy. A recent study found that electrifying all of California’s existing and new buildings by 2045 would create over 100,000 full-time equivalent jobs in various sectors of the economy.

The electrification of homes and vehicles can play an important role supporting an electricity grid that is resilient and reliable in the face of new challenges with climate change. Heat pumps can be connected to smart thermostats (load shifting) which can respond in real time to conditions on the grid. Heat pump water heaters can also pre-heat water during non-peak hours.

Rural areas may experience more frequent power outages and have to wait longer for power to be restored as critical infrastructure and urban communities typically get priority. For these reasons, many energy providers are offering rebates for solar and battery energy storage to ensure continuous power. Generators are also an option, which many rural homes already have.

Most homes will not need an electric panel upgrade to increase the amount of electricity brought into a home for new appliances. Many homes already have enough electrical capacity at 100 amps or more. Also, electric appliances are being designed to use less power and standard outlets, which means that they can be installed immediately without any new wiring or panel upgrades. Recent Design Guidelines for Home Electrification illustrate how to switch to electric appliances without upgrading electrical service capacity.

Technologies like the 120V heat pump water heater can plug into a standard wall outlet and eliminate the need for new wiring to help with emergency replacements. We expect other emergency same-day water heater replacement services to be available throughout Bay Area counties by 2027. For example, Peninsula Clean Energy plans to provide a comprehensive county-wide one-stop-shop (“turnkey”) service that will include emergency same-day gas water heater replacement service with clean electric models, and similar models should emerge in other counties in the next four years. Also, a TECH Clean CA pilot is offering same-day, no-cost loan water heater installations to use while the heat pump water heaters are installed.

There will be enough supply to meet demand when these rules take effect. Heat pump shipments are already on the rise; heat pumps outpaced gas furnace shipments every month in 2022. These rules will further drive the heat pump market by signaling to manufacturers that there will be increased demand and giving them 4-8 years lead time to ramp up supply.

The electrification of homes and vehicles can actually play an important role supporting an electricity grid that is resilient and reliable in the face of new challenges with climate change. There are multiple ongoing efforts to add renewable electricity sources, electricity storage solutions, and improved load management. These efforts are ongoing and will address our future increased needs.

Additionally, these rules apply only when appliances need to be replaced so this gradual transition will allow utilities ample time to plan and prepare the grid for the increased demand. Most appliances are replaced every 10 to 20 years so we must take advantage of equipment life cycles to avoid locking in decades of fossil fuel infrastructure, and perpetuate the public health, safety, and affordability risks borne by vulnerable households.

In addition to the services mentioned above, state and federal incentives for low-income households are currently available and more are coming. In the Bay Area, a low-income household could receive more than $20,000 in potential subsidies when stacking federal, state, and local incentives. Low-income households and landlords with apartment buildings where at least half the units are occupied by low-income households could install new appliances at little or no cost.

Neither your gas nor electric furnace will work in a power outage. At least not your newly purchased ones, which is what these rules apply to. Modern gas furnaces and many water heaters need electricity to operate, and therefore cannot be used in an outage. Your best option to keep the lights on is to pair solar and energy storage systems (e.g., batteries) with your all-electric home.

Plus, the natural gas pipeline distribution system and electric grid both go down on occasion, and gas takes longer to restore. During California’s wildfires and earthquakes, utilities must turn off the gas, and it typically takes two to three times longer to restore gas lines than electric power.

A number of free services are available to help home and building owners in the Bay Area make the switch from gas to electric appliances, including BayREN’s Home Energy Advisor, the Switch is On, and QuitCarbon’s free services that provide a plan, contractors, and financial incentives. In addition to these services, by 2027, one-stop-shop services will be available across the entire Bay Area to provide convenience and efficiency to clients.

Currently, one-stop-shop services, which consolidate and deliver local funding and retrofit services to building owners through a single point of entry, are supporting home and business owners in their switch from gas to electric appliances. The following one-stop-shop service providers are already active:

• In San Mateo County, Peninsula Clean Energy’s current home upgrade program and forthcoming one-stop-shop service

• In Alameda County, East Bay Community Energy and Blocpower’s Health-e Home program

• In San Jose and Menlo Park, Blocpower’s one-stop shop services

• At the state, California Energy Commission’s direct install program