In less than four years, the movement to eliminate pollution from buildings has prompted societal-scale changes and technological innovations that have swept across the US, forever changing the spaces in which Americans live, work and play.

That’s according to a new report published in February from the US-based BDC. Innovation Acceleration: How building decarbonization has transformed the US building sector in just four years tells how a combination of bold policy actions and monumental shifts in public perceptions and consumer preferences is taking place from coast-to-coast.

Four years after Berkeley, California, became the first city in the US to require 100% electric new construction, one in every five Americans lives in an area that has passed a policy requiring or encouraging building electrification. Some 100 municipalities and four states have adopted these policies, and more are in the progress of doing so this year. Millions of residents will be able to tap into incentives to electrify their homes passed in the landmark federal climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, starting this year.

Move to all-electric buildings 
As a result of this policy momentum, change is happening astonishingly fast. The report finds that the US has become one of the leading nations in the race to decarbonise buildings.

According to the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, US heat pump shipments outpaced gas furnaces throughout every month of 2022, signalling American households’ strong preference for all-electric space heating and cooling over gas. Last year it was also reported for the first time in US history that more households use electricity for heating than gas. Some 30 years ago, only 25% of homes used electric heating. That number is surging thanks to heat pumps’ explosion in popularity and advanced efficiency compared with older electric heating options.

Figures from the UN Environment Programme show that the US now ranks second in the world in growth of heat pump sales, trailing only Europe, but ahead of China and Japan. In January 2023, charged political debate over gas stove pollution and its link to childhood asthma triggered an avalanche of media coverage throughout the nation. It created another ripple effect – unprecedented consumer interest in induction cooktops. Google search interest for induction hit an all-time peak that month. The global market value of induction cooktops is projected to almost double in the next five years.

Coast-to-coast, from Los Angeles, to New York City, to the Pacific Northwest, to Washington, DC, Maine and up near the crest of the Rocky Mountains – in Crested Butte, Colorado – cities, states, corporations and other private entities are reshaping every building type imaginable to be all-electric: apartments, homes that are brand new and more than a century old, retail stores, schools, restaurants, offices and skyscrapers. In the entirety of one state in the north-west corner of the US, Washington, the vast majority of every new building will be all-electric starting in June this year.

As a result, the report notes that the entire landscape of building in the US has permanently changed. The all-electric movement has transformed numerous sectors and industries and will forever alter how American households perform basic necessities such as heating and cooling their living spaces, cooking their meals or getting hot water.

Four years after Berkeley, California, became the first city in the US to require 100% electric new construction, one in every five Americans lives in an area that has passed a policy requiring or encouraging building electrification.

Innovative companies are responding to these market signals. New technologies such as cold-climate heat pumps and battery-powered induction stoves are rolling out and solving some of the most challenging aspects of making buildings 100% electric.

Because they deliver unmatched efficiency and are pollution free, electric appliances lower energy usage and save money on bills, while making buildings healthier, safer, more comfortable and with better indoor air quality. All-electric buildings create a better quality of life for Americans while slashing a massive portion of US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

A growing body of scientific research has also exposed the concerning health risks of living in homes with gas appliances like stoves and furnaces, and added greater urgency to the building decarbonisation movement. Studies have shown that gas appliances leak toxic chemicals and carcinogens such as benzene even while turned off, and research last year attributed pollution from gas stove use to one in every eight cases of childhood asthma in the US. Because methane is an extremely potent GHG, leaks in the delivery system also compound climate change impacts.

A year of historic federal action 
Last year marked two historic firsts – it was the first time US Congress passed a major law aimed at addressing climate change, and it was also the first time a US president touted the benefits of getting a heat pump in an official address.

According to modelling, the IRA could cut annual emissions enough to close two-thirds of the remaining gap for the US to reach its 2030 climate target (50% below 2005 levels). Building decarbonisation will be a key part of the law’s aims to slash emissions from the building and power sectors. The IRA’s tax credit programme is estimated to spur installation of 7.2mn heat pumps in the US in the next decade.

However, while this investment is significant, the IRA alone cannot transform the market to the extent needed for mass-scale building electrification. It will, however, accelerate progress in numerous states and sound a starting gun in others.

Government policy is a pivotal engine driving the building decarbonisation transition forward, because it will determine which energy system the US relies on in the future. The intensifying threat of climate change is making storm patterns and natural disasters more extreme, presenting enormous challenges to energy systems.

Safely maintaining and upgrading fossil fuel delivery systems requires enormous amounts of time and money. These investments would be best spent evolving the electric and thermal network systems we need to sustain a renewable energy future. A fully electric energy system, powered by renewable energy, will do everything that fossil fuel systems can do, but better, more efficiently and more affordably for consumers.

Gas use in buildings also contributes to the planet-heating emissions that are worsening the impacts of climate change and creating indoor and outdoor sources of pollution that are harming our families’ health, as well as sickening our communities and threatening their safety. Policymakers and regulators have the power to change this. They must assure markets that the long-term policy is a transition off fossil fuels, so companies can change the types of technologies that they’re installing for customers and manufacturing for sale.

Policies at the state and local level such as building codes, air quality regulations and ending subsidies of gas appliances and infrastructure, are helping to stop the expansion of the gas system. Effective, affordable and equitable electrification will require making large-scale investments of public and private dollars into incentives and accessible financing programmes. By lowering and eliminating upfront costs, the US can help families and communities access this transition – particularly low to moderate-income households that are generally left out of capital markets.

‘As a result of switching their homes to be all-electric, millions of people are experiencing better indoor and outdoor air quality, lower energy costs and more comfortable living spaces,’ says Johanna Partin, Deputy Director of the BDC. ‘As our momentum grows, we can’t leave anyone behind. Lower-income households and communities of colour should be first to electrify, and we must gear our funding and programmes to address pollution burdens and affordability. We will work diligently and plan carefully for an equitable and just transition to clean energy.’

Electrification marketplace is ramping up quickly 
To meet the explosion in consumer demand, the report finds that manufacturers are scrambling to ramp up production while innovators are rolling out new technology for household electric appliances. In 2022 we saw significant technological advances in water heating that allow for easy plug-in and avoid costly electrical upgrades.

We also saw a proliferation of heat pumps that are able to store energy while electricity is plentiful on the grid, and reduce electricity demand while the grid is under stress. This type of innovation will only continue to grow as states like California implement plans to stop selling fossil fuel heating appliances before 2030.

Cold climate heat pumps have been crucial in expanding building electrification in the US. Some 50% of residential gas consumption in the US occurs in nine cold-climate states, and heat pump adoption has historically been weakest in these states because older technologies struggled in cold climates.

That’s no longer the case. Existing models of cold-climate heat pumps are performing exceptionally well in extreme winter storms, but technological breakthroughs are keeping homes comfortable when it’s below –29°C (20°F). The shift to cold climate heat pump use is exemplified by Maine’s goal, set forth in state law, of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025 – a target it is on track to meet.

From Colorado to the Canadian border, cold climate heat pumps were put to a major test during an extreme winter storm in December 2022. They passed – these systems kept homes warm as temperatures remained well below 0°C day and night.

Fig 1: Breakthroughs in cold-climate heat pumps – in the hot-humid areas of the Deep South, 30% of homes use heat pumps; in the mixed-humid areas of the Upper South, 22% of homes use heat pump; it is less than 10% in the marine areas of the West Coast and less than 5% in the Northeast, Midwest and Mountain West
Source: US Department of Energy

The report notes that heat pumps and induction cooktops have the potential to rival laptops and cellphones as foundational technologies in American life. How quickly this happens will have drastic consequences for our future, because the world is building at a rapid pace.

Across the globe, the squarefoot equivalent of an entire New York City is projected to be built every month until 2060. Every new building with gas hookups will one day require expensive retrofits to be all-electric, demonstrating the importance of building all-electric from the start.

*The US BDC is harnessing the power of coalition to forge paths for effective upgrades that power homes and buildings with clean electricity. It is a cross-sector coalition to unite people, corporations, and politicians at every level to join in building decarbonisation and a sustainable future.