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.
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