The Boulder City Council has moved closer to adopting a new energy conservation code that would ban gas in most new construction. The code now appears likely to go into effect in December 2024.
Following in the footsteps of two other Colorado municipalities, Crested Butte and Lafayette, Boulder will require all new residential and commercial buildings to use electricity instead of natural gas, with a few exceptions, including commercial kitchens. More than 70 local governments, plus the State of New York, have passed such bans nationwide.
On Thursday, May 16, councilmembers unanimously voted to move the energy code to a final procedural vote that will take place in June. They pushed the code’s implementation date from July to December.
“Moving to the all-electric requirement is a very exciting step. We need to not install new fossil fuel infrastructure,” Mayor Aaron Brockett said.
A third reading of the code is needed as city councilmembers had requested minor amendments that didn’t affect the main tenets of the new conservation code, just how it’s implemented. A mistaken replication in one of the compliance pathways was removed, and the point system for commercial building energy efficiency requirements was tweaked. Councilmembers also asked city officials to report back later this year with an amendment on using off-site solar to meet energy code requirements for commercial properties.
What’s in the code regarding gas
The new code is an update to the city’s 2020 energy efficiency requirements. The main changes include all-electric requirements for new residential and commercial buildings. Additions (not all remodels) of any size also fall under the mandate, meaning all new appliances installed as part of an addition must be electric.
The exceptions to the electric requirement are for commercial cooking, hospitals, laboratory facilities, emergency generators and certain large industrial spaces.
The code aligns with Boulder’s climate goals, aiming for a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2018, carbon neutrality (removing as much carbon from the atmosphere as Boulder emits) by 2035, and carbon positivity (sequestering more carbon than it emits) by 2040. It is also in line with a growing body of research linking emissions from gas stoves to childhood asthma and other potential health risks.
If you’re not building a new home or making an addition, this code update won’t affect you — yet. You can still buy a new gas stove to replace an existing one. However, if you decide to substantially remodel, it could.
Remodels that involve renovating more than 50% of a building’s square footage require electric equipment as the primary source of space and water heating. This requirement also applies to work that overhauls mechanical systems like ductwork or significantly affects the building’s efficiency by replacing windows or reconfiguring insulation down to studs.
While this update is seen as important for achieving Boulder’s climate goals, the 2020 energy code already imposed aggressive energy requirements for new homes larger than 3,000 square feet.
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 the last several years. This code update formalizes that requirement and takes away the option for gas stoves and fireplaces that have persisted in some residential builds.
The third reading and likely vote to adopt the code will happen in June. The code changes are expected to go into effect on Dec. 1, 2024.
All with adopting an all electric code, necessitates the city of Boulder to provide low interest loans for solar panels and battery backup systems. Further, we need to work with Xcel Energy to move electric lines underground so as to avoid blackouts as the residents of Boulder experienced.
No Erik, what we need is Boulder Power and Light, municipalize. Xcel failed to maintain their detached line, reported from an employee before the Marshall Fire. This line was a partial ignition source the fire. They never conducted a PSPO, a Personal Safety Power Outage for a worse wind and extreme event on 30 Dec., ’21. The April 6-8 ’24 event was not just a travesty, it was proof of their culpability 30 Dec. the first time around, in a drier environment and a much stronger wind. What’s more the city bought a second substation and paid $1200 some a month maintenance for it to protect the water treatment plant from breaching sewer into Boulder Creek. This was done after the consideration of a more expensive generator precisely to avoid power being cut to both substations. Xcel had an agreement not to cut both. Why has the city not sued Xcel for this legal violation?
Good, if were going to have a progressive council, at least do some progressive things, which they have largely failed to do. This is one of the things on their agenda that I can be supportive of. Now do gas powered lawn tools, now, without a phase in. Also, dump Xcel.