SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- The city of San Jose has become the nation’s largest city to ban natural gas in all new commercial buildings in an effort to continue to reduce its carbon footprint.
On Tuesday, city council voted 8-3 to approve an updated natural gas infrastructure prohibition ordinance, making all-electric construction sites the new normal for the nation’s 10th largest city.
“From the annual threat of wildfires to the monthly burden of high energy bills to the daily dangers of dirty air, the climate crisis is an ever-present reality in San Jose,” said Olivia Walker, a research associate at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
“If we want clean air, lower construction costs, savings on our energy bills, and a stable climate for decades to come, we’ve got to start building for that future,” Walker added.
“I don’t think that there is a better time to move on climate action than right now especially in buildings when a lot of our spaces are empty and it's a great time to make renovations, a lot of developers are taking advantage of this time to put out new projects.”
Currently, the city’s ordinance bans natural gas in new residential buildings including single-family homes, low-rise apartments and condominiums -- Tuesday’s vote will expand the current ordinance to newly-constructed apartment and commercial buildings.
San Jose joins 40 other cities and counties across the state to approve codes that will require or encourage new buildings to be powered by clean electricity.
“Buildings represent in California 25% of all greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and globally 40% of all greenhouse gases … it is absolutely essential that we come off our addiction to fossil fuels and move into an all-electric building technology,” said William Leddy, architect and vice president of Climate Action for the American Institute of Architects California.
“And the fact that they [city of San Jose] are taking this big step is absolutely inspiring.”
But despite the new changes, activists say the code represents a significant step in the right direction but it is weakened by the exemption of gas fuel cells.
The exemption will allow some new industrial and commercial buildings to use natural gas as an alternative power source.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting -- councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco, Pam Foley and Raul Peralez opposed the exemption as they feared it would create loopholes to continue to use natural gas.
“The problem with this is that the fuel cells currently are not economically feasible or viable if they’re powered by renewable energy, so they are hooked up to fossil gas lines,” said Linda Hutchins-Knowles, co-founder of Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley.
“It’s a huge problem because the staff did not have time to actually analyze how this will affect San Jose’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets,” Hutchins-Knowles added.
“And we in the environmental community are deeply concerned that this is like a pandora's box that will actually undermine our abilities to reach those goals.”
“Change is hard, the trick here is to have cities like San Jose take the lead and show how this can be done and be a positive thing for the community.”
Activists say they are hoping the state of California will follow suit and adopt statewide all-electric code requirements next year, citing untapped business opportunities set to rise from these changes.
“I think there’s a huge business opportunity with going all electric ...but I do think as we move into a new low carbon economy there are going to be plenty of opportunities developing for all of the building trades to reap the benefits of this big shift in our energy resources,” Leddy said.
“Predictions are that there are trillions of dollars involved in making these transitions to a zero-carbon footprint in the future,” Leddy added.
The city will now meet with local businesses and labor unions to assess how to best apply its new code before it officially becomes part of the city’s municipal code.
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