As soon as this month, air quality officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are expected to adopt the nation’s first rules phasing out new gas-fueled water heaters and furnaces in homes and businesses starting in 2027. When they do, it will mark a significant step in the effort to curb health-damaging and planet-warming emissions from buildings.

The California Air Resources Board adopted plans last year to phase out sales of gas water heaters and furnaces statewide by 2030 but isn’t going to consider setting rules to do so until 2025. The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates emissions across much of Southern California, is also years behind. Once again, the Bay Area leads the state on environmental innovation.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is set to vote on March 15 on rules that, starting in 2027, will phase in requirements that only zero-emission water heaters and furnaces be sold and installed in homes and buildings. The rules don’t apply to other appliances such as gas stoves or clothes dryers, which release far less pollution than water heaters and furnaces.

Many cities in California, including Los Angeles, have banned new gas hookups, but these are the first rules that would effectively ban the sale of gas appliances. Ending the burning of fossil fuels in homes and businesses isn’t just good for the health of residents, it’s necessary to fight climate change and air pollution and should be replicated across the nation.

[They are out of their minds. And they ARE coming for yours, mine and ours. ~ Beege]