Vancouver city council bans natural gas heating for new homes
A 5-5 vote by Vancouver city council stymied a reversal of the residential ban on natural gas.
Vancouver council has flip-flopped on banning natural gas in new homes, which advocates said would spur residential construction. However, an absentee councillor led to a Mexican-standoff, propelling the ban forward.
“People want to have the choice on how to cook their food,” Brian Montague, a Vancouver City Councillor, said over the summer. “They want to have a choice on how they heat their homes and how they heat their water.”
The city has not allowed natural gas for heating and hot water in new homes since 2022. However, the ban temporarily exempted cooking and fireplaces.
But a 5-5 vote Wednesday stymied a reversal of the ban, earning praise from Councillors with the Green Party of Vancouver.
Vancouver reverses ban on natural gas for homes in narrow 6-5 decision
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) July 25, 2024
Councillors voted 6-5 in favour of the change with Mayor Ken Sim casting the tie-breaking vote.https://t.co/yQHT1g4Pox
The change would have allowed builders to choose between natural gas and electricity for new residential builds starting next March.
OneCity councillor Christine Boyle did not vote, as she plans to resign, following a successful provincial run as the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Little Mountain.
Montague, who introduced the amendment, said the move would “significantly help build homes, specifically multiplexes and missing middle homes, which are desperately needed.”
He also raised concerns on the rising demand of electricity and how it could impact heating, with overall demand pegged for a 15% increase by 2030, province wide.
City administrators, however, said allowing gas would leave the city’s 2030 climate targets out of reach. They also said that no ban would provide choice, but not improve affordability or speed up the permitting process.
#Vancouver Mayor Robertson’s natural gas ban reveals BC NDP roots, reports @ilikerox — https://t.co/Ykjz0H3PKq | #bcpoli #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/zIYmscia6i
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 3, 2017
ABC councillors Peter Meiszner, Lisa Dominato, and Rebecca Bligh voted against removing the ban, joining two Green councillors, including Adriane Carr.
On May 30, 2022 councillor Carr tabled a motion to ban natural gas stoves and fireplaces, claiming it poses a “threat for health, and our planet.”
Councillors instead moved to require 20% better energy efficiency for new builds.
“It’s going to be a work in progress as builders look at the choices they have” to incorporate natural gas, Carr told CityNews. “It doesn’t get to where my motion would have taken council.”
Carr’s motion, Ensuring Healthier Climate-Smart Homes, said at least 25% of “today’s global warming is driven by methane from human actions.”
Remind people not to invest in Victoria starting now. pic.twitter.com/Sx3BvO1bLn
— * W. Brett Wilson * (@WBrettWilson) August 12, 2022
In March 2023, Victoria council also debated a ban on natural gas ovens and heating for rezoned developments in place of electric energy systems.
“We are in a climate emergency,” reads the motion. About 40% of GHG emissions in Victoria are from buildings, it claims.
“Installing GHG-producing systems in new buildings will lock in decades of GHG emissions or require far-more-expensive retrofits later.”
As of 2025, Victoria will no longer permit the construction of housing heated by natural gas, after implementing a gas prohibition for new homes in August 2022.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
COMMENTS
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Lynne Osborne commented 2024-11-29 11:30:17 -0500Why would BC ban reliable natural gas when you can replace it with unreliable electricity? Note when the power went out during the last storm (a climate bomb apparently) it was the electrical grid that went down. Note as well electricity is not advertized as a backup for nat gas energy. But this is NDP country where fantasy trumps reality every time. We have lived in our natural gas heated home for twenty two years. The gas was cut off once over that time period when a contractor carelessly dug into a supply line. The electricity on the other hand goes down at least once a month, sometimes for hours. Frost, fog, rain, high wind, falling trees, cars hitting poles, maintenance, programming errors, theft of wires, the cause of electrical failures are endless. Electric surges have also destroyed the control panel on the electric gas duel energy range ($12K) and at least one hard drive ($2K). The replacement range comes from Italy (no carbon emissions there). Why? A purely mechanical range made in North America that will last forever costs $3K more? True going electric will resulted in a lot of high paying jobs. Fixing the self destructive nature of electric hardware and replacing appliances long before their useful life is up is expensive and job generating for sure. -
Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2024-11-28 23:22:27 -0500To paraphrase a line from a famous Hollywood movie, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Lotusland.”
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Bruce Atchison commented 2024-11-28 15:44:12 -0500Shame on those deluded greens! Natural gas is the preferred fuel by chefs and many cooks. Unlike electricity which fails in every violent wind storm, natural gas keeps on heating homes and businesses.
And another thing, how many greens really are green when it comes to their lifestyle? Do they drive electric vehicles and do the three Rs? I know their leaders don’t.
