Overcoming State-Level Preemption to Electrify New Buildings: a Philadelphia Case Study

Abstract

The use of natural gas in heating and cooking negatively impacts environmental and human health. As government investments in clean energy production continue to increase, replacing natural gas appliances with electric alternatives is imperative to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect public health. As a large US city with robust emissions reduction goals, Philadelphia, PA must significantly reduce natural gas use in buildings. However, many states, including PA, have advanced legislation that preemptively restricts municipalities from banning natural gas use. Using Philadelphia as a case study, we propose policy options, including electric appliance rebates, electrification incentives, and building efficiency standards, that US municipalities can pursue to circumvent state preemption laws in electrifying new construction, significantly reducing natural gas demand, and advancing their net-zero emissions goals.

Review of the U.S. Policies, Codes, and Standards of Zero-Carbon Buildings

“…Such a local code or alternative compliance path that partially strengthens/upgrades the local base code to achieve greater levels of energy efficiency is referred to as a "stretch code" [59]. Compared with the baseline, the stretch code has higher requirements for building energy efficiency, but this gap may become smaller or even eliminated with the update of the base code [68]. Therefore, in addition to preventing the basic codes from failing to keep up with the advancement of technology and design practices, strengthening the codes also can help market participants familiarize themselves with future specifications in advance [59], thereby ensuring higher compliance after the adoption of the new mandatory codes [66].…”