Building Code amendments including a Building Electrification Policy were initially planned for 2023, but the successful lawsuit by the California Restaurant Association in January 2024 overturning natural gas bans has caused the City to revise the code updates.
Building electrification greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, provides cost savings, and improves indoor air quality. Building electrification policies offer alternative pathways to decarbonization, such as mixed-fuel building requirements and electric infrastructure requirements. In addition to these requirements, building electrification policies can also provide incentives for decarbonization, such as rebates for the installation of energy-efficient appliances, expedited permit processing, and free resources such as technical assistance.
In San Diego, greenhouse gas emissions from buildings are second only to transportation when accounting for the electricity and natural gas consumed in our homes and businesses. For this reason, it is crucial to develop and adopt building electrification policies to facilitate the transition from using natural gas in buildings.
The City of San Diego is in the process of developing a building electrification policy that aims to enhance energy efficiency to reach its net zero goal. The City has committed to engaging residents and community stakeholders, labor and trades groups and affordable and middle-income housing developers in this process to develop code amendments and complementary policies that will ensure equitable outcomes, particularly for our Communities of Concern and our impacted workforce. Currently, in addition to minimum mandatory requirements of the California Energy Code and Green Building Code, the City proposes to include supplemental cost-effective energy efficiency requirements in the 2025 updates to the Building Code and Land Development Code.
These requirements address cool roofs (non-residential buildings), hot water systems (high-rise residential buildings), pool/spa heaters (multi-family residential buildings), and dark-sky outdoor lighting (multi-family residential buildings).
Due to the limited time available to implement a Reach Code based on the 2022 State Code, we are currently evaluating options for a Reach Code aligned with the 2025 State Code, which will take effect on January 1, 2026. This approach will provide a longer implementation period, maximize GHG reduction impacts, and give City staff more time to familiarize themselves with the new permitting processes before transitioning to updated requirements.
In 2023, the City of San Diego was ready to adopt an All-Electric New Construction Reach Code when the federal court system ruled that prohibiting natural gas in new construction preempts the Energy Policy Conservation Act.