The sun sets on the skyline of midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City on April 23, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images
New York state is poised to become the first state in the country to pass a law banning fossil fuel combustion in most new buildings, getting rid of gas stoves, furnaces and propane heating in favor of climate-friendly appliances like heat pumps and induction stoves.
The law would likely take effect in 2026 for most new buildings under seven stories and in 2029 for larger buildings. Following weeks of negotiations, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers included the ban in the $229 billion state budget deal, with a final vote to enact the law anticipated this week.
While other states like California and Washington have used their building codes to advance electrification, New York will be the first state to pass a law to advance zero-emissions new homes and buildings. The statewide ban would follow legislation passed by New York City in 2021 that bans natural gas hookups in new buildings by the end of this year.
New York was the sixth-largest natural gas consumer among the states in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas fuels 46% of the state’s electricity generation. And in 2021, the residential sector — where three out of every five households use natural gas for heating — comprised over one-third of the natural gas delivered to New York residents, the agency found.
The New York state and New York City zero-emissions building legislation would collectively prevent up to 6.1 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2040 — equivalent to the annual emissions of just over 1.3 million cars, according to studies by the think tank RMI.
“New York state is leading the way in ending America’s devastating addiction to fossil fuels,” said Food & Water Watch Northeast Region Director Alex Beauchamp. “The rest of the country must now catch up.”
The law could include exemptions for emergency backup generators, hospitals, laundromats and commercial kitchens, and would not apply to existing residences that use gas-powered appliances. Therefore, the ban wouldn’t curb emissions from existing buildings in New York, which account for roughly 32% of the state’s overall emissions.
A statewide ban would bolster New York’s commitment to source 70% of its electricity from renewables like solar, wind and water power by 2030 and achieve a net-zero emissions electric sector by 2040.
More from CNBC Climate:
“Our budget prioritizes nation-leading climate action that meets this moment with ambition and the commitment it demands,” Hochul said Thursday during a budget speech in Albany.
Prohibiting natural gas from buildings is part of a national movement to curb climate-changing emissions and transition to clean energy, especially amid mounting concerns over the environmental and health impacts related to gas appliances. Some research has found that children in homes with gas stoves are at greater risk of asthma and other health issues.
While environmental groups have celebrated the impending legislation, Republicans have largely condemned bans on gas in new construction as federal overreach. Oil and gas companies, labor unions and business groups have argued that a ban would trigger higher costs for buildings that use electricity for heat compared to those that use gas.
The mandate may also be unpopular with residents. A recent poll conducted by Siena College found that 53% of all New York respondents said they opposed phasing out gas stoves in new homes.
“Democrats strongly support Hochul’s proposal on prohibiting fossil fuel-burning equipment in most new construction within the next several years, however Republicans and independents are even stronger in their opposition,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
States including Texas and Arizona have blocked cities from implementing natural gas bans, citing that consumers should have the right to choose their energy sources.
New York’s ban is likely to face legal challenges as well.
Last month, for instance, a federal appeals court ruled that Berkeley, California cannot enforce a ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings, saying a U.S. federal law preempts the city’s regulation. That decision could have ramifications for similar efforts by more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Copper Mountain Solar in El Dorado Valley, pictured on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Boulder City, Nevada. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Bizuayehu Tesfaye | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Solar stocks sold off overnight as investors see Donald Trump leading in the U.S. presidential election.
Solar stocks are falling on fears that a possible Trump victory would spell trouble for the Inflation Reduction Act, which has fueled a clean energy boom in the U.S. through tax credits to expand solar energy.
The benchmark Invesco Solar ETF was down 7% in overnight trading on brokerage Robinhood. The solar panel manufacturer First Solar tumbled 8% overnight. Residential solar stocks Sunrun and Sunnova fell 6% and 2.6%, respectively. Inverter manufacturer Enphase tumbled 5% and Nextracker was down nearly 5%.
Trump’s campaign platform calls for the termination of the IRA, which he refers to as the “Socialist Green New Deal.” The IRA is one of President Joe Biden’s signature achievements. The law passed on party-line vote in 2022 without any Republican support.
Trump is leading in the electoral college and is projected to win the key swing state of North Carolina, according to NBC News. The future of the IRA, however, will depend not only on whether Trump wins the White House, but whether Republicans also secure control of Congress.
Kamala Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in an email Tuesday that the clearest path to victory for the vice president lies in the so-called Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states kicked off last week in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance
LAS VEGAS — In Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, a crypto PAC spent nearly $2 million on ads this cycle to support the reelection of Steven Horsford, a Democratic congressman who’s voted in favor of some major pro-crypto bills.
But watching the ads, you’d learn nothing about that agenda.
“He’s leading on jobs, bringing good paying union jobs to Nevada and rebuilding our infrastructure,” one 30-second commercial says. “He capped insulin prices at $35 a month” and “worked multiple jobs to support his hard-working single mother and siblings.”
The ad wraps up with the disclosure, “Fairshake is responsible for the content of this ad.”
Fairshake was the largest crypto-aligned super PAC in the 2024 election cycle, spending piles of cash to support crypto allies and vote out antagonists across the country. The group brought in $170 million, accounting for a huge chunk of the amount raised by crypto-related PACs and other groups, which totaled more than $245 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Crypto has accounted for nearly half of all corporate money flowing into the election, according to a report from nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen. No other sector is close. That includes oil companies and banks, which have historically been big political contributors. Crypto even outpaced Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who spent tens of millions of dollars to try to get Republican nominee former President Donald Trump back in the White House in his contest against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
A big part of the crypto industry’s strategy when it came to distributing cash was to identify key races and then flood the zone.
Horsford received an A grade based on his public comments and his voting history while in office. His campaign received money from Fairshake as well as individual donations from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, venture capitalist and longtime crypto investor Reid Hoffman, and billionaire twins Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.
Nevada is home to two of the thirteen “critical elections” singled out by Stand with Crypto, a designation the group defines as races that are “critical to the future of crypto in America.” In addition to Horsford’s election, the other Nevada race is the Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Jackie Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown. Both candidates received an A grade.
According to data shared by Stand with Crypto, 385,000 Nevadans are crypto owners, and more than 16,000 people in the state have signed up to be advocates for the group, which made a stop in Las Vegas in September as part of a multi-state tour.
The other races deemed critical were for Senate in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maryland, and for specific House contests in Colorado, Iowa and Oregon.
To reach potential voters, Fairshake isn’t talking a lot about crypto. Nor are its affiliate PACs, which have names like Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress. They’ve collectively spent more than $135 million this cycle, mostly on ads.
“Not mentioning crypto assets explicitly is probably a savvy move to avoid alienating voters who prefer traditional currencies and might be put off by connections to crypto,” said David Nickerson, an associate professor of political science at Temple University who worked in the analytics department for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.
The biggest single target of crypto money this cycle was Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Brown backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in holding hearings on whether digital tokens were tied to terrorism.
In December, Brown told journalists that he wasn’t concerned about the crypto industry’s rumblings against him.
“Bring ’em on,” Politico quoted Brown as saying to a crowd of reporters.
Some $40 million of crypto money has been directed at defeating Brown, and one PAC has paid for five ads designed to boost awareness of Republican rival Bernie Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur. The race is crucial in determining which party will control the Senate.
Protect Progress, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake, has given more than $10 million apiece to Senate candidates in Arizona and Michigan. In Arizona, the group favors Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is vying for the seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. In Michigan, the preferred choice is Elissa Slotkin, who is currently a Democratic House member.
Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California lost in the primary for Senate after Fairshake spent over $10 million in ads against her. Defend American Jobs spent more than $3 million to support Republican Jim Justice in West Virginia, who has been declared the winner, replacing exiting Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
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