Officials from the governor’s office were not immediately available for comment. In her State of the State address in January, Ms. Hochul pledged “zero on-site greenhouse gas emissions for new construction by 2027 at the latest”.
A state decision would follow similar gas bans in New York City in December and dozens of small US towns in recent years as they seek to switch from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.
In the short term, the new laws won’t do much to reduce New York’s carbon emissions, as many older buildings won’t be affected and new structures will use electricity generated by burning fossil fuels anyway. .
In the longer term, however, carbon emissions are expected to decline as the state’s 2019 climate law requires all electricity generation to come from clean sources by 2040, including 70% renewable energy from here 2030.
The gas industry has warned that switching from gas will drive up costs for consumers, as electric heating is much more expensive.
With the economy recovering from the pandemic, New York’s gas consumption has increased to about 3.44 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2021, from about 3.39 bcfd in 2020 when lockdowns depressed the demand. That figure compares to a record high of 3.63 bcfd in 2018, according to federal energy data dating back to 1997.
Gas use by residential and commercial consumers in New York slipped for the third consecutive year in 2021 to around 1.97 bcfd, the lowest since 2016, while consumption increased for industrial customers by 0.24 bcfd and electricity producers 1.23 bcfd.
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