There are more than 70 million homes and businesses across the U.S. that burn fossil fuels for heating, hot water, and cooking.
In many cities, fossil fuel use in buildings can account for anywhere between 15% and 40% of total citywide GHG emissions, especially in the Northeast. As the grid gets greener through the growing use of renewable energy, the next step is to decarbonize our homes and move away from gas heating and cooking. With more and more cities and states setting ambitious climate commitments, cities especially will need to transition away from fossil fuel-based buildings in order to meet their emissions targets. The technology for this transition- electric heat pumps and heat pump water heaters (as well as electric cooktops)- already exists and is widely used in other parts of the world. Decarbonizing our homes and buildings is greener, safer (no more gas lines), healthier (gas leaks and indoor pollution), and economical over time (electric heat pumps are much more energy efficient)!
BQuest supports The Building Electrification Institute (BEI)
BEI equips cities with the knowledge, tools, and resources they need to be successful in their efforts to innovate new policies and programs that enable market development for building electrification. BEI is currently assisting 8 leading cities, including New York, DC, Boston, and Berkley to develop and implement equitable building electrification strategies, and is seeking to expand their assistance to 20 cities. Cities are leaders and labs that can pilot the new policies and programs that are needed as “proof of concept” so that states, utilities, and others can replicate them in order to reach scale. BQuest’s support includes a matching fund component to spur co-investment from cities that BEI works with.