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THE TREND: Cities and states are increasingly targeting domestic use of natural gas and propane for cooking and heating, with electrified stoves and heat pumps proposed as the cleaner alternative.
It’s part of a larger movement to cut greenhouse gas emissions as Democrats struggle to enact major federal legislation. Buildings are tied to between 35%-40% of the U.S.’s emissions (depending on how the math’s done), associated with everything from the manufacturing of building materials such as cement and steel to the electricity used to power them.
The Denver City Council approved a measure in November requiring residential and commercial buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to achieve 30% energy savings by 2030.
The ordinance requires a gradual adoption of electric heating and cooling systems toward that end to replace gas systems “when cost effective.” Denver says its new law will cut building emissions around 80% by 2040.
More recently, New York City’s council last month approved a new law prohibiting gas use in most new buildings under seven stories tall beginning at the end of 2023 and new large buildings over seven stories beginning in 2027.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is also backing efforts to regulate building emissions at the state level, proposing legislation requiring all new building construction to be zero-emissions by 2027. New York has historically had among the highest building emissions in the country.
Ithaca, New York, home to Cornell, has its own plan in place to decarbonize its buildings, as does Boston, Eugene, Oregon, and a number of cities in California, including Berkeley.
Mike Henchen, principal on the Carbon-Free Buildings team at RMI, noted a natural inclination for population centers to pursue restrictions on gas use in buildings for its contribution to local air pollution.
“Buildings are in cities. That’s what a city is — high concentration of buildings, and so it’s going to be a proportionately larger amount of the emissions there than across the country as a whole or in a rural area,” Henchen told Jeremy.
There is also a jurisdictional element, he said, in that buildings are a sector within cities’ and states’ immediate purview, enabling them to cut emissions there where authority to target emissions elsewhere may be limited.
“There’s just a bunch of ways that cities are already engaged in working with buildings,” he said, mentioning local building codes and departments overseeing compliance, “where they aren’t necessarily with cars, which maybe the state regulates, with industry, which the state or federal government regulate. So, it is a natural fit that it is sort of within what cities can do.”
The opposition: The argument against building restrictions from the oil and gas industry and other opponents has tended to frame the question in terms of burdensome regulations and energy choice.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America’s Energy in Depth research outfit put out a blog post this month responding to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, which supports building electrification and put out a document around the holidays lobbying for it by discussing the risks of indoor air pollution from cooking with gas.
“Ventilation stops unnecessary electrification,” the blog said, adding that electrification advocates are lobbying for “removing affordable energy solutions from homes.”
Chefs and restaurateurs have expressed their own reservations about electrification and restrictions on gas for its effect on cooking.
“To say that an electric stove is as good as a gas one is misunderstanding the art of cooking,” George Chen, executive chef and founder of San Francisco restaurant China Live, told the Wall Street Journal.
As of September 2021, at least 20 state legislatures had entertained measures preempting localities from imposing restrictions on gas use in buildings, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, with multiple proposals becoming law.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman). Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
EXXON ANNOUNCES 2050 NET-ZERO TARGET: The U.S.’s largest oil company said today it aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from operations by mid-century.
Exxon’s goal includes Scope 1 emissions, or emissions that come directly from its business, and Scope 2 emissions, or those that come from its purchases of electricity and heating. The plan notably does not include the emissions that would come from the oil and gas it produces and sells.
Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said the oil giant “is committed to playing a leading role in the energy transition.”
Exxon has been under significant pressure from environmental groups and others to cut emissions and alter its oil and gas-based business model, including from activist hedge fund Engine No. 1, which led a shareholder revolt against the company in 2020 aiming to pressure it to invest in clean energy and move away from fossil fuels.
Woods and other leaders in the oil and gas industry, on the other hand, have maintained their core products will be necessary for many years to come.
“The fact remains, under most credible scenarios, including net-zero pathways, oil and natural gas will continue to play a significant role in meeting society’s need,” Woods said at the World Petroleum Congress in December.
OIL SURGES ONWARD: Benchmark Brent crude is inching toward $90 per barrel, rising this morning above the $88 mark before falling back down to $87 and some change. The West Texas Intermediate not far behind and trading above $85.
Louise Dickson, senior oil markets analyst with Rystad Energy, made note of a drone attack on the United Arab Emirates by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and volatility related to Russian gas exports to Europe.
“The attack raises the geopolitical risk in the region and may signal the Iran-US nuclear deal is off the table for the foreseeable future, meaning Iranian oil barrels are off the market, boosting demand for similar grade crude originating elsewhere,” Dickson said.
Outages elsewhere, such as in Libya, and lower-than-expected oil output from Russia and Brazil are also factors, she said.
DALIO’S WARNING ON GREEN ENERGY: Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio praised oil producers for keeping supply steady during the current inflationary period and said that to “cram” too much into a transition to green energy threatens to worsen inflation, Bloomberg reported.
“Thank God for the oil producers,” the hedge fund tycoon said yesterday during a panel at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week summit.
Consumer prices increased 7% between November 2021 and the year before, with the cost of energy playing an integral role.
Proponents of green policies maintain that rapidly expanding renewable energy would reduce costs for energy and is necessary due to climate change, but there have been warnings that such transition must be measured and, as Dalio said, “smart.”
“If I stopped all oil production today, our system would collapse,” Amos Hochstein, senior adviser for energy security at the State Department, said in October. “We’re not there yet.”
OPEC NOT TOO CONCERNED WITH OMICRON: The oil cartel released its monthly report this morning, which maintains its previous forecast of global oil demand growth at an average rate of 4.2 million barrels per day for the year. It expects total global consumption to average 100.8 million barrels per day.
OPEC also reiterated its expectation that “the impact of the Omicron variant is projected to be mild and short-lived,” reflecting its assessment of the virus landscape over the course of its two previous monthly production meetings, but it also noted “uncertainties remain regarding new variants and renewed mobility restrictions, amid an otherwise steady global economic recovery.”
Crude oil output increased in a number of member countries during December, including in Angola, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE, but production in Libya and Nigeria declined.
CLIMATE EFFECTS OF MASSIVE TONGA EXPLOSION: The massive volcanic explosion in Tonga that has killed at least three people and destroyed an entire island created an ash and smoke plume covering an area larger than New England within six hours, according to the Washington Post.
In theory, a massive plume could block out the sun and cool the planet. Scientists have debated the possibility of mimicking a volcanic eruption, a form of geoengineering, to counter climate change.
But it appears that the Tonga explosion is not on the scale that would be necessary for that to happen. Alan Robock, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers, told the Post that the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted in the eruption has been less than half of what would be needed for an effect on the climate.
Still, the explosion itself was truly enormous. The tsunamis that reached California and Japan were likely caused by powerful air-pressure waves, which scientists told the Wall Street Journal would possibly be the first such occurrence since the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, thought to be one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in history.
CLEARPATH ADDS HIRES: Energy policy group ClearPath has announced several new hires. Marty Hall is rejoining ClearPath’s Advisory Board after working as staff director for Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
A pair of new policy analysts are also joining the team, including Grant Cummings, a former legislative aide for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, and Casey Kelly, former fellow for the International Council on Clean Transportation.
The Rundown
Associated Press In tiny Wyoming town, Bill Gates bets big on nuclear power
Politico The renewable energy source Democrats hope will break out
Bloomberg Tale of two U.K. homes holds secret to cutting high energy bills
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | JAN. 19
10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2123 The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Securing our Energy Infrastructure: Legislation to Enhance Pipeline Reliability.”
THURSDAY | JAN. 20
10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2123 Energy and Commerce Committee and its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains.”
12 p.m. The National EV Charging Initiative will host a first-of-its-kind electric vehicle summit.
