Hochul backs eventual ban on gas furnaces and stoves in new buildings

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul is endorsing a measure to phase out the fuels that warm more than 80 percent of homes in New York.

In her State of the State address Tuesday, Hochul backed a ban on the sale of fossil fuel based heating equipment beginning in 2030 for single-family homes and smaller buildings and 2035 for larger and commercial buildings.

That would mean if a gas furnace failed or needed a replacement after that date, it would have to be with an electric or other non-combustion system. The proposal does not include gas stoves, according to the governor’s office.

But she did also support ending the use of gas stoves in new construction under a different timeframe. She is pushing, for a second time since last year, for a prohibition on fossil fuel equipment in new construction statewide that would include gas stoves with new dates of 2025 for small buildings, including single-family homes, and 2028 for larger ones.

But a ban on gas stoves wouldn't apply to existing homes. The new construction requirements could ultimately have myriad carve outs for industries that use gas, such as restaurants.

“No one is going to come and take your gas stove,” Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said Thursday when asked about a potential ban on gas stoves. “But as you begin making a transition, everyone will have to switch out appliances over the year… in the due course of swaps, what can you do to incentivize shifting from gas into something different, like an alternative induction stove or whatever is available at the time.”

In a follow up statement later Thursday, Hochul's office said the governor "has been clear that we have to take bold steps on climate to protect the health and safety of our children, and 30 percent of state greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. The equipment phase out proposal would not apply to gas stoves. Both proposals include regulatory processes to examine which exemptions are appropriate."

Environmental groups largely hailed the proposals, with some calling for even more aggressive action. Hochul’s pitch mirrors elements of the plan advanced late last year by a council tasked with coming up with a way to achieve New York’s landmark 2019 climate targets.

“I think the governor has really set the stage for us to get this done,” said Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), who has sponsored and advocated for a gas ban in new construction starting in 2024. “There are, of course, some details that need adjusting to really hit the prime level of impact that we want to see with the gas ban, but I'm sure that we're going to be able to work something out with the governor to make that happen.”

The proposals face heavy opposition from some of the state’s gas utilities and the fossil fuel industry, as well as concerns from restaurateurs, business groups, homebuilders and other real estate interests.

“Governor Hochul’s plan on electrification will take away New Yorkers’ freedom to choose how they heat their homes, cook and drive,” said Rocco J. Lacertosa, CEO of the New York State Energy Coalition, Inc., which represents the downstate oil heating industry and advocates for supporting renewable biodiesel as an alternative to electrification and traditional oil fuels.

Last year, Hochul’s proposal to ban gas and other fossil fuel equipment in new buildings no later than 2027 failed to gain traction, with support from Assembly Democrats falling short. Groups with backing from the fossil fuel industry ran ad campaigns attacking Hochul for the proposal and raising alarms about electrification requirements in the state’s draft climate plan.

New York City in 2021 approved a law that will prohibit buildings with less than seven stories from installing fossil fuel equipment starting in 2024 and taller buildings in 2027. But that measure has exceptions: for commercial kitchens, laundromats, manufacturing operations, hospitals, crematoriums and emergency power.

The restaurant industry will push for an exemption to the state ban on new construction for commercial kitchens, said New York State Restaurant Association president and CEO Melissa Fleischut.

“It's how quickly it heats up and how quickly they can cook a meal and prepare a meal compared to an electric stove or electric stovetop,” she said. “We're also concerned about reliability. When the power goes out, lots of times restaurants are called on to continue to feed people who don't have the option to cook at home.”

Hochul’s spokesperson Katy Zielinski said the governor’s “zero emissions new construction” proposal would have a regulatory process to determine exemptions, which could include “emergency backup power, buildings for manufacturing processes, commercial kitchens, laboratories, laundromats, hospitals, crematoriums and critical infrastructure such as backup power for wastewater treatment facilities.”

Hochul will have to gain backing from lawmakers to make the landmark bans on fossil fuel equipment a reality. Many Senate Democrats are supportive of the measure to ban gas equipment in new construction.

While Hochul’s proposal will ban gas stoves in new buildings, it will not include a phaseout of the sale of new gas stoves in existing buildings. However, the state’s climate plan approved in December by the Climate Action Council recommends a prohibition on the replacement of fossil fuel cooking and clothes drying equipment starting in 2035.

New York is an outlier in terms of gas stoves: 62 percent of New York households have a gas cooking appliance, according to federal data. Nationally, 68 percent of households use electric stoves instead.

Recent research has highlighted the health risks of gas stoves, which can contribute to higher levels of harmful pollutants in homes and increase the risk of asthma for children. That’s led to some discussion at the federal level of a ban on gas stoves.

“We recognize that New York now is largely cooking with gas, one of the leading states doing so, and there needs to be a pathway to electrification,” Seggos said. “This is not going to be an overnight situation, but certainly as we begin building new homes, new buildings, that are powered by electricity rather than natural gas or other means, that electrification of cooking and heating, for that matter, is part of this mix.”

California is advancing a regulatory proposal to end the sale of new gas furnaces and water heaters in 2030. Washington’s building codes council has advanced a ban on gas heating for new commercial buildings. Berkeley and Los Angeles are among cities that have moved to ban the sale of gas stoves there.

If New York advances the ban on fossil fuels in new construction, it would be the first state to do so legislatively. A specific date for phasing out replacement fossil fuel equipment is also a significant signal, said Amar Shah, a manager on the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Carbon-Free Building team.

“This would be very significant,” he said. “ Actually seeing policymakers start to signal, ‘Here are the timelines we're thinking about,’ and turning that into specific policy that industry, workforce, policymakers, community groups can begin planning around — we've heard from many that there's sort of a chicken and the egg situation.”

Gallagher said more of her upstate colleagues are now supportive of pushing new buildings to electrify. One detail of the governor’s proposal that’s a concern is the definition of small versus large buildings: While Gallagher’s bill separates them at six stories, the state’s climate plan, which Hochul appears likely to mimic, defines small buildings as those three stories and less.

Gallagher worries that the climate plan's definition would lock in fossil fuels for thousands of new apartments and other buildings in the coming years.

“It could potentially mean that a large percentage of that build out is going to fall through the cracks and end up with gas infrastructure, which in many ways will defeat the purpose of pairing this with the housing plan,” she said.