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Board advances building-electrification steps; supervisors propose broader natural gas limits
Summary
Supervisors approved an ordinance requiring large nonresidential buildings to use 100% greenhouse-gas-free electricity and several supervisors introduced follow-up legislation to accelerate a shift away from natural gas in new municipal and private construction.
On Sept. 24, 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance (Item 3) amending the Environment Code to require nonresidential buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to provide their on-site electricity demand from 100% greenhouse-gas-free or renewable sources and to authorize the Department of the Environment director to adopt implementing regulations.
In the same meeting several supervisors introduced and discussed additional measures aimed at reducing building-sector emissions. Supervisor Shamann Walton and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, among others, discussed proposals to require all-electric new municipal construction and to incentivize or require all-electric new residential and commercial buildings. Supervisor Mandelman said the ordinance would begin Jan. 1, 2020, by incentivizing all-electric projects and imposing higher efficiency requirements on mixed-fuel projects so that natural-gas-using designs would be materially more expensive.
Supervisor Norman Brown (transcript: Supervisor Brown) framed the measures as steps needed to meet the city's climate goals, noting Mayor Breed's prior commitments to net-zero operational emissions for new buildings by 2030 and citywide decarbonization targets. Mandelman and Brown said they would pursue a phased approach: incentives and stricter efficiency standards immediately, and a ban on natural gas in new construction to follow in future legislation and stakeholder convenings.
Department of the Environment staff and supervisors referenced the city's CleanPowerSF supply and a July departmental study showing that buildings account for a large share of the city's greenhouse-gas emissions, with the majority attributable to natural gas. Supervisors and staff emphasized convening labor, environmental advocates, developers and agencies to craft implementation details and to plan retrofits for existing buildings.
Ending: The board's passage of Item 3 establishes a regulatory path for large buildings' electricity sourcing; separate proposals introduced at the meeting signal broader city efforts to push new construction off natural gas in coming months.
