Let’s leave gas in the past — especially for buildings

By David Suzuki

Heat pumps are more efficient and affordable than fossil gas heating and air conditioning — even in cold climates. Studies show they can be twice as efficient as gas heating in below-zero temperatures and up to five times in warmer conditions. They also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and health risks related to burning gas.

Their efficiency makes heat pumps the lowest-cost way to heat and cool homes and buildings, and they’ll likely become more cost-effective as their prices drop and gas prices rise. Other alternatives to gas heating are also available — such as geothermal and heat from waste water.

That’s why it’s smart for governments to enact policies and regulations to encourage a switch from gas in households and buildings, as Vancouver did in 2020 when city council voted for a ban on gas for heat and hot water in new buildings. (It doesn’t include stoves or fireplaces.) Vancouver was considered a climate leader for this initiative, and many other jurisdictions worldwide have implemented or are planning similar policies.

Bowing to pressure from some developers and gas company FortisBC, a new Vancouver city council, elected in 2022, is backtracking, stoking fears about affordability. With little or no public consultation, council voted 6-5 to reverse the bylaw. A final vote is scheduled for November 26. Many builders, restaurateurs and other business people support the ban.

Betsy Agar, director of the Pembina Institute’s buildings program, told Corporate Knights that overturning or delaying the ban is a step backward. “Local governments should collaborate with the provincial government to ensure new homes meet the highest standards for efficiency and electrification,” she said. “This approach not only reduces emissions but also lowers energy costs for residents.”

Some critics say rescinding the ban is a simply a way to help developers reduce up-front costs — even though the regulation would significantly reduce home and building owners’ energy costs over the longer term.

Buildings are responsible for a large percentage of a city’s greenhouse gas emissions — 55 per cent in Vancouver. (Forty per cent comes from gas-powered vehicles.) Overturning the ban could make it difficult or impossible for Vancouver to meet its climate objectives. “It would set us back … potentially tens of thousands of tons of GHGs,” city sustainability director Brad Badelt told council, adding it would also create confusion in the industry and potentially roll back retrofits.

Whether misleadingly called “natural gas,” or falsely promoted as “renewable natural gas,” fossil gas (which is mostly fracked methane) is not just subject to volatile fossil fuel markets and price spikes, it’s also bad for human health, whether it’s used for home heating, cooking or fireplaces.

But the fossil fuel industry, with support from sympathetic governments and media, wants to keep raking in profits and is touting fossil gas as a climate solution. It’s not. Methane is a far more potent heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. Although it has a relatively short lifespan compared to CO2, it can trap as much as 80 times more heat over a couple of decades. Methane concentrations have more than doubled over the past 200 years and account for an estimated 30 per cent of global heating.

Studies also show that using gas in stoves, fireplaces and heating systems creates excessive indoor air pollution from carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde, particulate matter and more. Associated health issues include cancer, heart disease and childhood asthma. Research shows that one-eighth of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. are caused by cooking on gas stoves — as much as from second-hand smoking.

With so many available, affordable solutions to the climate crisis and related health risks, there’s no reason to keep propping up the fossil fuel industry — especially when it appears to be just a way to save developers a few dollars.

Vancouver has long been a leader in climate and other environmental initiatives. It’s time for council to do even more for the city and its residents and to set an example for other municipalities. With a final vote on the amendment to rescind the ban scheduled for November 26, it’s not too late for council to reconsider this decision.

Let’s all push all governments to give gas a pass, not just for heating, but stoves and fireplaces too!

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington.

Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.

REFERENCES:

They can be twice as efficient:

https://www.squamishchief.com/highlights/heat-pumps-outperform-gas-even-in-coldest-temperatures-finds-canadian-researcher-7523946

Efficiency makes heat pumps the lowest-cost way:

Other alternatives:

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/david-miller-its-not-too-late-for-vancouver-to-reverse-course-and-lead-on-climate-once-again

Bowing to pressure:

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/07/30/opinion/unrelenting-gas-industry-fortisbc-refuses-take-no-answer

Support the ban: