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California Air Resources Board. (Photo: CARB)

CARB Announces Ban on Sales of Gas Heaters, Furnaces, Water Heaters by 2030

‘The state needs to have a firm electrical plan in place first’

By Evan Symon, September 24, 2022 2:50 am

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced on Thursday a new comprehensive plan to meet federal ozone standards over the next 15 years, including the ban on new sales of natural gas heaters, water heaters, and furnaces by 2030.

According to the 2022 State Implementation Plan (SIP) Strategy, the new measures will meet the new federal 70 parts per billion, 8-hour ozone standard.  Proposed measures going into Thursday included further emissions controls against medium and heavy-duty vehicles, zero-emission advanced clean fleet regulations with a goal of zero emission for government and business vehicle fleets by the 2040s, the same regulation for trucks by the 2040s, further emission reductions for light-duty vehicles, motorcycles, harbor craft, and other vehicles, some reductions on consumer products, reductions on some pesticides and others.

However, the main one measure that was passed on Thursday was over space and water heaters. According to CARB, the primary goal of the new measure is to reduce emissions from new residential and commercial space and water heaters sold in California. CARB will now set an emission standard for space and water heaters to go into effect in 2030. Beginning that year, 100 percent of sales of new natural gas powered heaters and water heaters would need to comply with the emission standard, such as putting in electric heaters or other zero-emission options.

As CARB estimates that 90% of emissions emitting from buildings come from space and water heaters, it would greatly reduce nitrogen-oxide pollution, with electric heaters cutting down by as much as 4% of California’s nitrogen-oxide footprint. CARB officials also noted that this would drastically reduce pollution in more congested and less-wealthy areas of the state.

“We need to take every action we can to deliver on our commitments to protect public health from the adverse impacts of air pollution, and this strategy identifies how we can do just that,” said CARB Chair Liane Randolph in a statement on Thursday. “While this strategy will clean the air for all Californians, it will also lead to reduced emissions in the many low-income and disadvantaged communities that experience greater levels of persistent air pollution. But to truly meet the ozone standard, California needs more federal action to clean up harmful diesel pollution from primarily federally controlled sources, from locomotives and ocean-going vessels to aircraft, which are all concentrated in communities that continue to bear the brunt of poor air quality. We simply cannot provide clean air to Californians without the federal government doing its part.”

Issues with the new 2030 measure

While gas furnaces and heaters will not go away overnight in 2030, they will only be able to be replaced by electric models. Many environmental and pollution groups agreed with this strategy on Friday, including the Sierra Club.

“This will reduce the building sector’s carbon footprint and improve public health. We also appreciate the commitment to equity-centered engagement and community input in all states of the process,” noted Sierra Club California senior policy advocate Daniel Barad.

However, many critics quickly jumped on the plan, saying that it will only add to the overall burden put on poorer Californians through higher electric bills and would only further strain California’s electric grid.

“Did CARB learn nothing from the brownouts of the last heatwave?!,” asked Rosa de la Concha, an electrical engineer who works on electrical grids, to the Globe on Friday. “Cutting down on carbon emissions is important, but the state needs to have a firm electrical plan in place first. I mean, we barely saved Diablo Canyon just a few weeks ago, and without it we would have lost a lot of power in the system. California is going green, but we need those new plants online and we need battery systems in place before we can even think of getting rid of the gas plants and from putting in these new measures so soon. The phasing out of gas-powered cars is already going to put on a major strain. Why add even more?”

“We are not planning correctly. Once more, there is nothing wrong with going green. It is needed. But we need to ease into it or else we risk major power supply problems. And this is just going to make the likelihood of that even higher.”

More major carbon and other emission cuts are expected in the coming years.

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34 thoughts on “CARB Announces Ban on Sales of Gas Heaters, Furnaces, Water Heaters by 2030

  1. BAN CARB!!!!!! SHUTDOWN CARB!!!!! NO ROSA LA CONCHA THERE IS EVERYTHING WRONG WITH GOING GREEN!!!!! GOING GREEN IS NOT NEEDED!!!!!! IT IS TIME TO PUSH BACK ON THIS BULLSHIT!!!!

    1. Thanks Showandtell, I just read it but I don’t agree with him that climate change is real and that we need to eliminate fossil fuels in the future.

      1. Yes, John. As I have said repeatedly on this forum – “climate change” is the biggest boondoggle in the history of the world.

      2. I completely understand, John, and I certainly agree with any hostility to so-called “climate change” which has been a brainwashing and controlling tactic of our current crop of tyrants. But note that Shellenberger is not against fossil fuels at all and argues for their development. My take on his argument is that he acknowledges “climate change” (though not man-made) as a way to get the die-hards to LISTEN as he argues for energy ABUNDANCE —- to address the state and country’s economic development and growth and security. We need energy ABUNDANCE. He knows the present course only weakens and destroys us.
        There is a big difference between what he is arguing for (energy abundance using everything at our disposal) and what the other freaks like CARB (and their ilk) —- who by the way know NOTHING about “science” OR energy —- are saying and doing. They want to tear it all down and induce sacrifice, which as you know makes no sense from even the GREENIES point of view. The malevolent ruling tier’s motivation IS a thirst for power and control. Meanwhile, Shellenberger wants what WE want and is making the opposite argument, which I agree has to be more subtle to get these people to open up their ears and hear him.
        We are now in a Dem-created energy crisis that will only get worse and we are SCREWED if these tyrants keep doubling down. Thus the argument must be made in a different way to push for what we desperately need NOW and for the future (expanding nuclear power side by side with all the other forms of energy generation we rely on). We’re not going to make it on only solar and wind; it’s impossible. As you know.

  2. The idea that reducing oxides on nitrogen emissions will somehow result in improved ozone levels is really laughable. The overwhelming source of ozone precursors (volatile organic compounds and oxides on nitrogen) is mobile sources (cars/buses/trucks). I think CARB doesn’t want to be upstaged by woke municipalities (like San Jose, San Francisco, etc.) that have already promulgated ordinances banning new natural gas connections in commercial/residential developments and in many industrial developments.

    1. The push to reduce nitrogen “pollution” is a NWO Globalist plan to cripple agriculture. The CO2 lie is to cripple the society in general but where ever the nitrogen reduction is implemented agricultural production is slashed. This is all about freezing and starving people out of existence.

      Green = Death Cult.

      1. No doubt most of CARB’s unelected bureaucrats are either members of the NWO globalist cabal/World Economic Forum or they’re getting payoffs from them? Maybe they’re getting payoffs from the CCP to push solar equipment and components made in China? There has to be a reason why they are so aggresive about pushing a radical agenda?

  3. This has nothing to do with emissions.

    Wake up people! This is a plan to get everyone on one energy source that can be monitored at one location, and turned off at one location. It’s about controlling people. If the government controls your energy, they control your lives.

  4. California is building its MINISTRY OF PLENTY
    Ministry of Plenty rations and controls food, goods, and domestic production; every fiscal quarter, it publishes false claims of having raised the standard of living, when it has, in fact, reduced rations, availability, and production. The Ministry of Truth substantiates the Ministry of Plenty’s claims by revising historical records to report numbers supporting the current, “increased rations”.

    They are removing gas not because of “carbs” or “climate change” those are all the BS they spin, so that the REAL reason which does not play as well can come through. The reason: TO CONTROL PEOPLE with electricity at their fingertips they can shut off individuals if their SOCIAL SCORE is not what they deemed going in their direction or if you are found to be opposed to their narratives.

  5. If we are to go zero carbon we need to seriously think of how we can power up and save the grid for those going to go on line,We should ban all hair dryers,they suck up wattage big time and curling irons,speaking of irons why do we need to iron our clothes anyway?How bout all those LED lights on everything,maybe limit the amount of light bulbs per house to say two, saving energy can be fun,because “we’re all in this together right!”

    1. @Gripes, lol, I like your line of thinking.
      The climate Karens should be the first to sacrifice the curling irons and blow dryers. May I also suggest CARB eliminate electric foot baths for pedicures. Anything to reduce the grid output.

      We ARE all in this together. Now can we come together and vote Newsom and his cronies out of office for a better tomorrow?

      1. I too live in California, the “Evil Empire” called Silicon Valley. Our town, has flooded public parking area’s with Tesla only charging stations. Hypocrisy at it’s fullest, when rows of EV’s charging up while the Governor was telling us to turn your thermostat up to 78 or even better, off completely. More government over reach. Just an off topic comment, just before the 2020 election, we had a Trump rally that was overwhelmingly pro trump, in a ultra liberal town. I was so confident about the election. Then election day for hours it was all trump. I go to bed wake up the next morning with Biden winning. Donald Trump is the President.

  6. Is this a law they passed?? Because, I still do not understand how this can be implemented without the infrastructure in place.

    1. Infrastructure needed? Just a minor detail TBD as far as these low-IQ Democrats are concerned. The fewer concrete details they put in their policy pronouncements, the less they can be held accountable for when things blow up. It allows these deep state actors more leeway to find scapegoats and excuses for their failures.

    2. Ok so let’s say we’re in a cooling phase, WE ARE, and everyone has electric heaters, and electric water heaters and of course their Electric Cares, homes are heated, washing machines turned on ovens and stoves are turned on and their Teslas are plugged in and…….poof nothing works because it ‘s night time, no solar and oh oh no wind and the few remaining NG plants are over stressed. Now anyone think for one second that the genius’s in Sack-0-Tomatoes has actually done the math? And don’t tell me about the 700 acres of batteries that are currently burning for the next 9 months.

      1. none of this makes any sense – just a couple of responses I have heard from the Air Resources people that give me much pause that the adults are not in the room:

        1) electric vehicles will HELP the grid as their charged batteries can be used to pull more power in to the grid when its needed
        2) Most autos will be charged at night, so there will not be any impact to the grid
        3)batteries saved CA during the recent heat wave

        In both cases the reporter did not ask any follow up questions – I think these people just throw out word salads that sound good but zero scrutiny.

  7. When do most people use their furnaces? At night. When do solar and wind provide power? During the day.

    So you gas furnace will be over a the power plant.

  8. If this state cares so much about clean air, then why are they pushing marijuana along with all the second hand neurotoxin smoke every chance they get?

    California doesn’t care about clean air. California doesn’t care about clean water either. Newsom just vetoed a bill to clean up the water. Democrats are eco-frauds.

  9. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) consists of 14 voting members and 2 ex officio nonvoting members who are members of the Legislature, one from the Senate and the other from the Assembly. Of the 14 voting members, 12 are appointed by the Governor with Senate confirmation. Why are a handful of unelected bureaucrats with a radical far-left agenda allowed to make decisions that affect millions of Californians? Check out the background of the CARB’s leadership: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership

    1. Mario,
      I did check their backgrounds. It is a non-diverse set of experiences. No real industry experience, there is a Almond farm owner, someone who worked on Conoco Phillips for about 18 months over 20 year ago. Most are career public officials, and nothing against public service, but you need wider experience for this board. I think anyone who is honest about it will admit this unelected board has outsized power. This is political so this needs organization. Our regional senator’s office said to get the local agencies, Supervisor boards, committees to voice concern of adverse effects. An uphill battle.

  10. From what I understand, this isn’t “law” yet an will be voted on sometime before 2025. It’s mostly policy recommendation. That being said, unless there is a major shakeup in the regime that holds sway in Sacramento, this is essentially already law. The worst part of all of this is that they wrap this nonsense up in “social justice’ language and say getting rid of natural gas is about helping “disadvantaged communities” and “equity”. Tell us, how is it “equitable” to decree that everyone’s electric bills double and triple while the possibility of electric shortages puts people literally in the dark? Again, this state is run by a cabal of incompetent, evil would-be technocrats but until a majority of the voters in this state can break out of the brainwashing they have allowed themselves to be subjected to, nothing will ever change and matters will only get worse.

  11. CARB is a scam. Does anyone remember their fake diesel emissions study done by a fake PhD? They fired him, kept the fake study as law and then rehired him.

    They have an agenda and never let little things like facts get in the way.

    1. CARB also did a fake study on marine engine emissions. They claimed there were boats lined up and down the Southern California coast creating pollution the Los Angeles basin, yet anyone with one eye could look out, and see none. They said that adding catalytic converters to marine engines to clean up the imaginary emissions would cost consumers $300. It added $3000 to the cost of a marine engine. CARB is a bunch of liars.

  12. Been in the building Industry for 38 years, and a contractor for 34. Never have I seen such an over reach by any organization. The US western Electric Grid, Does not have the capacity to have an electric Car mandate in California, Let alone a mandate on Electric Water and home space heating. There is not sufficient Solar land or air space available to make up for the necessary GAP between what is currently available and what would be needed to provide the necessary amount of Electricity. Even PG&E has openly stated that. The only way the US can Make up that difference is by Adding, wait for it…. More Natural Gas turbine electric plants in the western Grid Area states. SO Realistically this is not a matter of using Less Natural Gas, but de-centralizing the natural Gas, and Making the public pay through the nose for unneccesary infrastructure. While I do not dispute that the NOX increase from Natural Gas is causing a Greenhouse gas issue. But the Knee-jerk response that the CARB committee has placed on the California public, is actually NOT going to do anything about the emissions. They obviously do not have sufficient information to understand, the only thing this mandate does is burden the California public with un-needed costs for appliances they do not need. The homeowners should not be forced to pay the brunt of the costs. The building codes that the cities and states have had and mandated over the past 80 years are the reasons we are in this mess, and there seems to be no thought regarding the idea that the states through these previous code requirements have put this problem in place. I’m a Democrat, And I don’t like the direction our California Government has taken us on Many levels. This most recent response signifies that they have no idea what they are doing

  13. The recent announcement by CARB regarding the ban on the sale of new gas heaters, furnaces, and water heaters by 2030 is a significant step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting clean energy solutions. This decision aligns with California’s commitment to combat climate change and transition to more sustainable heating options. It will likely drive innovation and adoption of electric and renewable heating technologies. Thank you for sharing this important update on the state’s efforts to promote a greener future. Well done on highlighting the progress towards cleaner and more sustainable heating systems!

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