Silicon Valley Pivots Its War on Gas Appliances

Readers of our newsletter might recall our coverage of local cities and towns restricting the use of gas appliances in new construction through the enacting of various building codes aimed at furthering the state’s climate change initiatives. As a champion of these new building codes aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, Berkeley had found itself on the losing end of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that held the city’s ban on gas appliances to be infringing on federal law.

In January of this year, the Ninth Circuit rejected Berkeley’s request for a new hearing, officially ending the saga and effectively sending a message to the various municipalities throughout the state that had enacted similar laws.

In the wake of this decision, we have seen a wave of cities reacting cautiously to avoid being swept into similar litigation. In February, the Palo Alto City Council agreed to stop enforcing its ban on gas appliances. Other cities, such as Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, and Cupertino have all followed suit by suspending the enforcement of comparable laws while simultaneously looking into ways to continue with their energy efficiency goals.

Instead of outright banning gas appliances, we are seeing a shift toward a strategy being labeled as the “one margin” standard, which strongly encourages builders to continue to utilize electric appliances by making it otherwise difficult to meet the energy efficiency requirements through the installation of gas appliances alone. This type of approach has already been adopted in cities such as San Jose, while Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton have all begun to conduct study sessions to assess the viability of adoption.

The good news for restaurant owners and other proponents of gas stoves is that these pivots toward energy efficiency standards, as opposed to outright bans of gas appliances, should result in further flexibility in the installation of gas stoves, barbecues, and even fire pits. This is because 75%+ of emissions from a home are typically a direct result of water heaters and furnaces. So, while the use of electric water heaters and furnaces (i.e., heat pumps) may become all but necessary to keep up with the new codes, gas stoves should still be a feasible inclusion – at least for now.

While environmentalists may be lamenting the changes resulting from the Ninth Circuit’s decision, most homeowners we encounter seem to be happy to have a choice in their cooking appliances. And for those individuals, we note that now may be a good time to revise those permit applications and install some gas appliances before the laws change again.

As always, the DeLeon Team is continuously monitoring these changes to keep our clients informed. If you are interested in working with our Buyers Team, please give me a call at (650) 543-8528.

by Alexander J. Lewicki, Esq.