In 2023, the San Francisco Bay Area’s air district passed first-in-the-nation rules setting zero-emissions limits on home heating systems and water heaters. Now, the agency is working to address affordability concerns ahead of the water-heater rule’s finalization this year — and defuse calls from some regulators to scrap the policy altogether.
In their current form, the regulations would effectively prohibit the sale of gas appliances, beginning with water heaters in 2027 and then furnaces in 2029. Gas appliances spew noxious compounds, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) that contribute to the region’s smog. Pollution from furnaces and water heaters leads to as many as 85 early deaths in the community each year, the air district estimates. Those deaths, combined with illnesses and hospital visits, take a financial toll of up to $890 million annually.
But clean alternatives — zero-emissions heat pumps and heat-pump water heaters — are typically more expensive up front, even if they can save thousands of dollars on energy bills over time. From the beginning, Bay Area regulators, the majority of whom are elected city and county officials, vowed to institute the groundbreaking requirements with care.
