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Two bills will help RI home and building owners switch to heat pumps

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PROVIDENCE – More than a third of Rhode Island’s planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions come from heating homes, businesses and industrial buildings with fossil fuels, but the state lacks regulations that would support a transition to cleaner electric heat.

A pair of bills pending in the General Assembly aim to decarbonize the heating sector in various ways.

What drives this? RI is ‘not on track’ for its climate goals

A proposal from Sen. Alana DiMario would require heating fuel suppliers to pay for ways to reduce emissions, such as weatherization or the adoption of electric heat pumps.

The other, put forward by Senator Meghan Kallman and Representative Rebecca Kislak, phases in requirements that new buildings be all-electric.

Supporters of the bills say more aggressive action is needed if Rhode Island is to meet the mandates of the Act on Climate, the landmark legislation Governor Dan McKee signed three years ago that requires the state to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We are not on track to meet our Act on Climate goals, and that is especially true in the construction sector,” Amanda Barker, policy attorney at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, said at a hearing this week on the bills. “The construction sector really lacks a comprehensive policy to adequately reduce emissions.”

RI has the nation’s most aggressive plan to reduce emissions

The legislation comes as efforts have advanced to reduce emissions from electricity and transportation, the state’s two other top sources of greenhouse gases.

In 2022, Rhode Island adopted the most aggressive plan to ramp up renewable energy of any state in the country. The revised standard requires Rhode Island to gradually increase its renewable energy purchases and aims to offset all of the state’s electricity use with solar, wind and other cleaner energy sources by 2033.

Meanwhile, the state is moving forward with California-style rules that require auto dealers to increase the supply of zero-emission vehicles and phase out sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2035.

Despite these efforts, an analysis commissioned by the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council found that the state would not meet the next interim target of the Climate Act under current plans.

Most buildings burn fossil fuels for heating

The vast majority of homes in Rhode Island rely on fossil fuels for heating, with about half using natural gas, a quarter heating oil and 5% propane.

Switching buildings from those heating systems has been difficult because they required owners to purchase heat pumps instead of their boilers. Costs can range from a few thousand dollars to more than $20,000 if new ductwork or other improvements are needed.

The federal government is offering non-refundable tax credits of up to $2,000 as an incentive, while Clean Heat RI, a program launched last September by the McKee administration using $25 million in federal funds, is offering thousands of dollars more depending on the size of the system. installed by a building owner.

But the state program was slow to get off the ground. To date, the Office of Energy Resources has issued 1,092 rebates for heat pumps through March 31, totaling $3.4 million.

Other branches of state government are also trying to address heating emissions. The Energy Facility Siting Board is considering a moratorium on new natural gas connections on Aquidneck Island as part of a project aimed at reducing the vulnerability of the island’s gas system, which is at one of the endpoints of the pipeline network that brings gas to New England . .

And an advisory group working with the state’s Public Utilities Commission is considering ways to phase out use of the entire gas system in Rhode Island as part of a planning effort already underway in Massachusetts.

A ban on gas connections in new buildings is also on the table as part of that role, which aims to make recommendations to the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council later this year for inclusion in an updated state plan due by 2025 to achieve climate change goals. Climate action.

How would it work?

DiMario’s proposed clean heat standard would reflect the state’s renewable energy standard by phasing out reliance on fossil fuels in all buildings through the use of a credit system.

Under her bill, Rhode Island Energy, which distributes natural gas in the state, and heating fuel suppliers would have to pay for the credits and money raised from sales would go toward low-emission alternatives.

While renewable energy standards are common, clean heat standards have only been adopted in a handful of states, including Vermont and Massachusetts.

During Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee, Kallman said DiMario’s bill would be consistent with legislation she introduced with Kislak.

They would first require the owners of large existing buildings, starting with state buildings, to report their energy use to the Office of Energy Resources, which would then use the information to create standards they would have to meet for emissions. The second part of the legislation would stipulate that new buildings must at least be ready to use electric heat.

While the bill is one of the Rhode Island Environmental Council’s top priorities this session and the state Department of Environmental Management and the Office of Energy Resources have expressed support, Rhode Island Energy is opposed and has raised concerns about limiting choice for consumers, energy affordability and other issues.

However, Kallman argued that the state must address building emissions.

“If we don’t address this, we’re in trouble,” she said.

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