In December, NYC became the largest city in the country to agree to phase out the use of fossil fuels in all new building construction. The NY City Council has passed a bill prohibiting natural gas hookups in new buildings, beginning next year.
NYC’s largest source of carbon emissions is from buildings- at 27%, more than double the amount that buildings account for in other places.
The appliances that run on gas — stoves, furnaces, boilers, and water heaters — also come at another cost. When natural gas combusts indoors, it releases a mix of particulate matter, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, and volatile organic compounds — air pollutants that harm respiratory and cardiovascular health.
With the new bill, New Yorkers can expect to see some changes by the end of 2023, when developers of new buildings under seven stories won’t be allowed to put in gas-powered stoves, boilers, or water heaters. Instead, these buildings will use electricity, relying on a mix of technologies like heat pumps and induction stoves to replace gas and oil.
Amy C. Poster, a seasoned risk and regulatory affairs executive, and Ann Davlin, Chief Strategy Officer at Dynamhex have been appointed to the Solar One Board and started their service on January 1, 2022. These new Board members join at a time when Solar One is increasing its role in assisting New York City in reaching its ambitious climate change mitigation targets.
It’s easy to forget how unusually hot parts of the country got over the summer- we’re looking at you, Pacific Northwest- now that it’s January and temperatures have been dropping into the teens overnight. But 2021 is the fifth warmest year ever recorded, and the past seven years have all been record-breakers when it comes to heat.