Carbon-free buildings

Carbon-free buildings

San Francisco fast-tracks all-electric standard for major renovations

With the state set to pause code updates in October, the city is racing to close what some saw as a loophole in its existing all-electric building code.

By Alison F. Takemura . 8 August 2025
Electrification

This Massachusetts town banned gas — and housing boomed anyway

Critics say stringent, pro-electrification building codes and restrictions on natural gas will impede housing developers. A Boston suburb is proving them wrong.

By Sarah Shemkus . 6 August 2025
Carbon-free buildings

California halts building code updates in a blow to electrification

Local jurisdictions may still be able to adopt ambitious codes that help homes ditch gas and promote heat pumps under exceptions in the new law, AB 130.

By Alison F. Takemura . 4 August 2025
Carbon-free buildings

New York becomes first state to commit to all-electric new buildings

The state finalized rules ensuring most new edifices will install electric heat pumps and stoves instead of gas appliances, lowering costs and improving air quality.

By Alison F. Takemura . 30 July 2025
Electrification

Massachusetts test shows big savings from free heat pumps and solar

Low-income residents on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard who participated in a home electrification pilot saw their utility bills drop by more than half.

By Sarah Shemkus . 17 July 2025
Heat pumps

Need air conditioning? Consider the heat pump.

Heat pumps provide both cooling and heating, typically pay for themselves in energy bill savings, and can allow you to sidestep the cost of replacing a furnace.

By Alison F. Takemura . 3 July 2025
Geothermal

Geothermal energy keeps utility bills low in this Texas neighborhood

The development outside Austin taps into natural heat deep underground to run heating and cooling systems for the planned 7,500 homes and other buildings.

By Terry L. Jones . 27 June 2025
Electrification

In California, plans to move low-income neighborhoods off of gas advance

Neighborhood-scale decarbonization is an efficient way to electrify communities that might otherwise be left behind.

By Twilight Greenaway, Inside Climate News . 26 June 2025
Heat pumps

SoCal rejects plan to phase down new gas furnaces and water heaters

After an opposition campaign waged by SoCalGas and others, regulators tanked rules that would’ve encouraged, but not required, a transition to electric heat pumps.

By Alison F. Takemura . 10 June 2025
Heat pumps

Electrifying this affordable housing complex made financial sense

In Sacramento, California, property owner BRIDGE Housing moved ahead with a heat-pump-plus retrofit designed to save both itself and its residents money.

By Alison F. Takemura . 30 May 2025