Boulder is edging closer to following in the footsteps of two other Colorado cities, Lafayette and Crested Butte, in banning natural gas in new construction.
The Boulder City Council completed a first reading on Thursday, March 21, of an energy code update, which would electrify all new homes and buildings in Boulder, with a few exceptions for commercial buildings like laboratories, hospitals and commercial kitchens. A public hearing and staff presentation are scheduled for the April 18 city council meeting. Approval of the code could happen at that meeting.
As for feedback, city staff have an idea of what the public will bring based on the input they have already received.
Carolyn Elam, the city’s sustainability senior manager, said a common misconception about the code is that it requires residents to replace their existing appliances, even if they’re not building a new home or doing a significant remodel.
“There’s nothing in there that does that,” Elam said.
The code updates 2020 energy efficiency requirements in line with Boulder’s climate goals, which aim for a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (compared to 2018), carbon neutrality by 2035, and carbon positivity by 2040.
The main updates from 2020 are all-electric requirements for all new residential and commercial buildings. Additions of any size also fall under the requirement — meaning, all new appliances installed as part of an addition must be electric.
Remodels are more complicated. If they involve renovating more than 50% of a building’s square footage, redoing mechanical systems like duct work, and significantly affecting the building’s efficiency by replacing windows or reconfiguring insulation down to studs, electric equipment must be installed as the primary source of space and water heating.
“All three of those things have to be occurring to trigger the transition to all-electric,” in a remodel, Elam said.
Gas appliances would still be allowed for backup space and water heating in such cases, as well as for smaller applications like cooking.
Remodels that revamp 50% or more of the building’s square footage and replace mechanical equipment, but don’t affect the home’s efficiency by replacing insulation or windows, must make the space electric ready. But installation of electric appliances is not required.
On the commercial side, there are also new requirements for EV infrastructure in new construction. For instance, parking lots with fewer than 11 spaces would have to wire all spaces for easy installation of future EV charging stations.
Half of new Boulder homes are over 5,000 square feet
Elam said another common misconception about the code update is the worry that buying a new appliance would require expensive upgrades to electric. But unless a hefty remodel is accompanying the upgrade, a gas appliance can replace a gas appliance. Even in the case of a remodel, there are some exceptions, as detailed above.
The previous energy code update in 2020 introduced aggressive energy requirements for new homes larger than 3,000 square feet. Elam said these requirements essentially mandated the use of electric appliances for heating and water heating to meet efficiency standards. Since nearly all new single family homes in Boulder are larger than 3,000 square feet, much of the new construction in the city has already been all-electric. This year’s code update formalizes this requirement.
Even before the 2020 update, homes over 5,000 square feet were subject to a net-zero energy requirement. According to Elam, an analysis preceding the 2020 update found that half of the homes built in Boulder between 2017 and 2020 exceeded 5,000 square feet. And because of the energy requirements, about half of those homes were voluntarily built to be fully electric.
“They were already going to go electric on space and water heating,” Elam said, as that was essentially required, “so they would go ahead and just build all-electric.”
Gas stoves and fireplaces have persisted in new residential construction. This year’s update would eliminate that option.
One argument against electrification revolves around concerns about the fossil fuel-heavy electric grid. Almost half of Colorado’s electricity still comes from coal and natural gas, which raises the question: Is using a heat pump really cleaner than a gas furnace if the heat pump’s power comes from gas anyway?
According to Elam the grid is “plenty clean” and “getting cleaner by the day.” She cited a city staff analysis, indicating that, sometime between 2015 and 2018, Colorado reached a point where using a heat pump connected to the grid produced fewer emissions than gas furnaces.
The energy code update has raised legitimate concerns about affordability. Elam noted the already-high costs of construction and ownership in Boulder. With stricter energy requirements, there’s concern about potential increases in short-term costs.
Elam said she and her team put forth requirements that should pay for themselves within 10 years. Although stricter insulation requirements may increase construction costs, for instance, the savings on heating and cooling expenses should offset the increase, she said. And failing to address climate change by continuing to rely on gas infrastructure poses significant societal costs in the long term.
If the code update is approved by council at the April 18 meeting, city staff have proposed a July 1 effective date. If councilmembers have significant feedback, Elam said the code could have a third reading at a city council meeting in May.
Absolutely typical head in the sand response by a City Council and staff on pursuing an agenda that will cost residents more money and deliver a questionable contribution to energy conservation given the existing infrastructure that delivers electricity.
Pretty stupid and expensive. I need to redo the wall finishes in my house soon, and had been considering upgrading the insulation from fiberglass to foam as part of the project as there would be a great opportunity to do that.
But if this law passes in its current form, I won’t put in better insulation to make the house more energy efficient because–and on top of the additional cost for insulation–replacing a perfectly functional gas-fired furnace and a gas hot water heater would cost more than $10,000.
The missed opportunity would mean my home will be less energy efficient for another 30 years or more. This ordinance would create a substantial disincentive to do the simplest, best thing to increase energy efficiency–and worse, it makes the payback period for the additional capital investment in insulation longer than the expected life of the improvements.
Why does the city want to place financial obstacles in the way of people who want to reduce their energy use?
Please ask Carolyn Elam to publish the city staff analysis that suggests an air source heat pump will produce fewer emissions than a high-efficiency natural gas furnace. My own experience (with a ~1000 sq. ft. house) suggests an ASHP will use > 5 MW-h of electricity over the heating season. Using the latest EIA carbon intensity data (for Colorado in 2022), generating this electricity will emit > 2.5 metric tons of CO2, equivalent to ~500 therms of natural gas. My (95.5% AFUE) natural gas furnace used an average of ~350 therms/yr of natural gas over the eleven years from 2011-2022, so it seems like the heat pump isn’t even close to parity right now. In fact, the carbon intensity of our electricity supply will need to fall by >30% before the emissions from the heat pump will be lower.
Given recent events of forced and accidentental power outages from the snow storm and high winds, I believe forcing all electric is putting people of boulder in danger. If there is an electricity outage, I still have my gas fireplace for heat, gas stove/oven to cook and my hot water heater for warm showers, thanks to my gas appliances. Everyone in this 4 season climate should have 2 sources of heat and a way to cook food without having to hook up a generator. Dont make new homes all electric and major remodels forced to remove their gas appliances. We are not there yet.