Electric Building Act fits climate goals

New York’s Climate Action Council is right to keep a tight focus on electricity as the solution to reaching New York’s climate goals.

While deploying biogas and hydrogen in the existing natural gas pipeline system would conveniently allow National Grid to continue using its existing assets and operating on its same business model, they are not broad solutions. These fuels may have small niche markets, such as on-farm biogas or “green hydrogen” used as an energy storage technology (like a battery) to support the electricity grid and balance renewable electricity production with demand, but it is a mistake to suggest these fuel options can allow any gas utility to continue “business as usual” and perpetuate the combustion of large volumes of gaseous fuel.

And it’s important to note that biogas, while not a fossil fuel, still releases carbon and

NOX when burned. So its use can only be justified in sitespecific situations where the greenhouse gas emissions, such as from a dairy operation, can be minimized.

We can — and must — green our buildings with electricity alone. Heat pumps actually use little electricity, and constructing new homes with heat pumps is cheaper than fossil fuel hookups. Heat pumps will help bring down the cost of electricity because they level out electricity use throughout the day-night cycle. The technology may be unfamiliar to many, but it already has a proven track record.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie must support the All-electric Building Act and related legislation. We need to transition buildings to run on electricity — not more gas.