Encinitas proposes work-around for all-electric building requirement

Instead of banning natural gas hookups in new homes as originally planned, Encinitas may strengthen its energy efficiency requirements to encourage the construction of all-electric structures.

An ordinance proposing to do this won initial approval from the City Council last week in a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Bruce Ehlers voting against. Ehlers said he wanted the ordinance to also include new standards for buildings that are taller than three stories.

“I don’t want to open a loophole and I feel that’s what’s happening here,” Ehlers said.

City staff members and consultants told him that state law requires new, four-story buildings to follow a different set of construction standards, and that’s why they’re not being included in the proposed ordinance, which also would exempt non-residential structures and small homes — ones that are less than 1,500 square feet.

The ordinance proposal will need to come back to the council for a final vote later, and then must be submitted to California’s Energy Commission and Building Standards Commission for review.

Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo and San Jose have adopted similar ordinances, city sustainability analyst Madelyn Wampler said.

These municipal ordinances create a new set of standards for energy efficiency, with stricter ones applying to new home construction projects that include natural gas hookups. Under the Encinitas proposal, a new all-electric house would need to have solar panels and an electric heat pump water heater, while a new home that offers gas hookups also would need to have more attic insulation, more solar panels on the roof and a high-efficiency space heating system, Wampler said.

This isn’t the route that Encinitas officials originally envisioned when they decided to pursue new environmental construction standards some two years ago. In October 2022, the council approved a gas hook-up ban, or what’s called a “decarbonization requirement.” But after the city of Berkeley was sued over its gas-hookup ban, Encinitas suspended its requirement and monitored what was happening with the Berkeley court case.

Ultimately, an appeals court ruled in April 2023 that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act “pre-empted the city of Berkeley’s all-electric ordinance” and then later denied Berkeley’s request for a rehearing, according to an Encinitas city staff report.

Berkeley has decided not to appeal the latest court decision, so Encinitas now needs to consider other options if it still wants to encourage the construction of all-electric buildings, the city staff report continues. And, there are good reasons for doing so, the city’s sustainability analyst told the council.

The city’s Climate Action Plan ranks transportation as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with 55.6 percent of the total, but the use of natural gas comes in third, with 17.1 percent, Wampler said. There are also indoor air quality concerns related to using natural gas as a cooking fuel, council members said.

Mayor Tony Kranz said he has shifted over to using an electric induction cooktop, instead of a gas-powered stovetop. It’s a wonderful change, but it does require buying compatible pans, he noted. People who want to try an induction cooktop on a temporary basis can borrow one for several weeks from the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, he added. Visit https://solanacenter.org/2023/09/29/pick-up-an-induction-cooktop-at-solana-center/ to reserve a cooktop.

Henry is a freelance writer.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .