Nanaimo British Columbia city council has voted to ban natural gas as the primary heat source for new homes starting July 1, 2024.
Council vote means natural gas won’t be used to heat new homes in Nanaimo | Nanaimo News Bulletin:
August 29, 2023 - "Natural gas will not be the primary heat source in new homes built in Nanaimo starting next year. City council, at a meeting Monday, Aug. 28, voted 5-4 to accelerate adoption of the zero carbon step code to 2024, six years ahead of the province’s timeline of 2030.
"Two dozen people made presentations at Monday’s meeting, including environmentalists, home builders, gas fitters, and representatives from Fortis B.C. and B.C. Hydro. The council vote followed a recommendation last month by the city’s governance and priorities committee to implement the highest level of the zero carbon step code as of July 1, 2024.
"Ting Pan, the city’s manager of sustainability, said the code doesn’t specify energy sources, and also noted that ancillary heat sources such as gas fireplaces, for example, would still be permitted. But speakers on both sides of the debate indicated that the highest level of the zero carbon step code will effectively eliminate natural gas as an energy source for space and water heating. That sounded perfectly fine to many of the speakers at the meeting, who pointed to forest fires and record-setting summer temperatures and called on council to take climate action....
"Some presenters preferred the province’s 2030 timeline. Jason Wolfe, Fortis B.C. director of energy solutions marketing and sales, argued for the city to adopt the lowest level of the zero carbon step code for now, and continue to allow both natural gas systems and electricity as primary energy sources in home-building.... However, Robyn Wark, B.C. Hydro’s manager of market transformation, said Nanaimo can count on its electricity supply in the coming years.
"Kerriann Coady, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders Association Vancouver Island, said from her association’s perspective, concerns about electricity grid capacity should be addressed before adoption of the highest level of the zero carbon step code, and she requested council hold off on accelerating the timeline to 2024....
"A minority of council members indicated they would have preferred the province’s 2030 timeline.... Council voted 5-4 in favour of requiring new homes to meet the highest level of the zero carbon step code starting July 1, 2024."
City of Nanaimo Bans Natural Gas as Primary Heat Source | Chris Barron Real Estate | August 30, 2023:
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