San Francisco Bay Area regulators have finalized a long-awaited rule that limits pollution from residential water heaters.
In 2023, the Bay Area Air District board passed first-in-the-nation regulations setting zero-nitrogen-oxides (NOx) emissions standards on new home water heaters and space-heating systems sold in the region.
Last week, board members voted on final amendments for the water-heater measure, ensuring it will now take effect in 2028 — one year later than planned. The regulation includes several exemptions to address affordability concerns; about half of Bay Area installations are expected to qualify. Rules regarding the sale of home heating systems have yet to be finalized.
“The vote is an enormous victory for clean air and the climate in the Bay Area — and really, for the nation,” said Sam Fishman, senior sustainability and resilience policy manager at the nonprofit San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. The regulations put forward “a new model for how to transition the market away from polluting equipment in our buildings to clean equipment in a way that ensures a smooth, affordable, and equitable implementation.”
With the water-heater rules now firmly moving forward, “there’s no additional opportunity to roll them back,” Fishman noted.
The Bay Area’s newly cemented measure could guide other regulators in crafting clean-appliance rules, including those in California, Maryland, and a handful of other states that are exploring similar standards.
In the Bay Area, home to more than 7 million people, gas appliances emit more smog- and particulate-forming NO x pollution than the region’s passenger vehicles, according to the district.
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