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Committee forwards ordinance to make new municipal buildings all‑electric
Summary
The committee recommended sending an ordinance to the Board that would amend the Environment Code to require new municipal buildings and major renovations be all‑electric, citing greenhouse gas and safety concerns; staff detailed waiver/alternative compliance pathways and planned outreach and technical workshops.
Chair Sandra Lee Feuer moved item 2 to the full Board with a positive recommendation after presentations from the Department of Environment, Public Works and the Budget Analyst.
Cindy Comerford, climate program manager at the Department of Environment, told the committee the ordinance would require all new municipal construction and major renovations to use exclusively electric energy systems, excluding natural gas. Comerford said buildings account for 44% of San Francisco’s emissions and that 94% of municipal‑building emissions come from natural gas use. She listed climate, safety and health rationales: methane’s short‑term potency, pipeline incidents nationally and locally, and respiratory health impacts associated with combustion pollutants.
Comerford described cost and energy modeling drawn from a limited Arup study and a 2019 state cost‑effectiveness analysis: equipment‑level construction costs could be approximately cost‑neutral (around ±$1 per square foot in the limited study) and energy savings ranging from 9% to 48% annually in modeled cases. She said the ordinance includes a waiver and alternative compliance pathway for emergencies or cost‑prohibitive circumstances and that the Department is planning workshops and an electrification expo on Feb. 25.
Julia Lowy of the Bureau of Architecture expressed departmental support and noted several recently built or in‑construction all‑electric municipal facilities, citing the Southeast Community Center as an example. Heather Green of Long Term Capital Planning acknowledged cost concerns and said the ordinance targets whole‑building major renovations rather than routine maintenance, a distinction she said is important for fiscal feasibility.
The Budget Analyst summarized fiscal items in the report and classified the measure as a policy matter for the Board. Supervisors asked practical questions about heat pump water heater technology for large buildings and about the city’s Better Roofs Ordinance requiring photovoltaic installations; staff said technical briefings and vendor participation at upcoming workshops would provide further detail.
Chair Feuer moved the ordinance to the Board with a positive recommendation and the committee took the motion without objection. The Board will consider the proposed Environment Code amendment in a future hearing.
