Vancouver and Quebec recently banned certain kinds of fossil fuel-based heating in new home construction. Similar, and, in some cases more extensive bans are happening around the world, from Norway to New York City.
CBC Canada points out that with the world desperately trying to cut CO2 emissions by reducing our carbon footprint, getting away from using fossil fuels to heat our homes has gained momentum globally.
But they also ask the question – are such bans necessary? And what impact will they have on people who live in those cities banning fossil fuel heating? CBC Canada notes that at least two jurisdictions in the country have implemented recent restrictions on fossil fuel heating:
- Vancouver: Starting Jan. 1, 2022, equipment for space and hot water heating in new low-rise residential buildings must be zero emissions. By 2025, all new and replacement heating and hot water systems must be zero emissions.
- Quebec: Starting Dec. 31, 2021, oil-powered heating has been banned in new construction projects. After Dec. 31, 2023, it will be illegal to replace existing furnaces with any sort of heating system powered by fossil fuels.
Why must we get to net-zero emissions?
The key goal of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Canada is committed to that goal. During the recent United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Canada, and more than 80 other countries signed a Global Methane Pledge to cut emissions of methane.
Methane is a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide – and nations have agreed to cut emissions by at least 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), more than 60 percent of building worldwide relied on fossil fuel heating in 2020. The recent surge in the price of oil and natural gas has revived the question of the cost-competitiveness of fossil fuels in comparison to renewable space and water heating technologies.
In Canada, buildings were the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, with space and water heating representing about 85 percent of residential greenhouse gas emissions and 68 percent of commercial emissions.
A 2021 report from the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices on different ways to get Canada to net-zero said its modeling consistently shows “electrification of heating as a necessary part of the transition to net zero in Canada’s building sector.”
And the IEA is in agreement with the report. In May of 2021, the IEA recommended that bans on new fossil fuel boilers need to start being introduced globally in 2025 and that most old buildings and all new ones must comply with zero-carbon-ready building energy codes.
Methane is emitted in the production of all fossil fuels, including coal and heavy oil. And while the natural gas industry touts the fuel being “carbon-neutral gas,” methane is the main component (95 percent) of natural gas, the source of 52 percent of the energy used to heat Canadian homes in 2018.
Chris Bataille is an associate researcher with the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), a think-tank based in Paris, and an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who researches decarbonization of the economy.
Bataille points out that the production of natural gas is a “leaky process” from the production wells to consumers’ stoves and furnaces. So getting rid of methane from people’s homes would reduce leaks throughout the system.
What is replacing fossil fuel heating?
The obvious answer to the question of what would replace fossil fuel heating is electric heating. This can include anything from electric baseboard heating to electric furnaces. But the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices report found the switch to heat pumps “would play an essential and growing role” in driving down emissions faster.
It should be pointed out that targeting new homes and building construction in the move to go all-electric is sensible because it is cheap and simple. Bataille says he estimates it would add between $5,000 and $20,000 to the cost of a home, which is “virtually nothing” on the scale of the total average Canadian home price of $720,850.
On the other hand, retrofitting an older home could cost up to $100,000, he estimates.
Perhaps the greatest problem facing many large cities is what to do with all the apartment buildings heated by oil or gas boilers. And the problem is even more concerning when we look at low-income and subsidized housing.
Upgrading affordable housing stock at the necessary pace presents logistical and financial challenges, according to Energy News. A case in point is the Twin Parks Tower North West in Fordham Heights, the site of a deadly fire earlier this month that was allegedly caused by a malfunctioning space heater.
The cost of residential heating varies greatly, not only from one technology and sub-technology to another ‒ depending on the system’s functionality, quality, and degree of automation ‒ but also between regions, depending on the scale of the market.
The IEA says that right now, the purchase cost of most renewable heating technologies, for example, heat pumps and automated biomass boilers, is anticipated to remain higher than for fossil fuel options.
To quote Kermit the frog – “It’s not easy being green.
