Clearing the Air on Heat Pump Adoption: Benefits to Bay Area Homes, Health, and Climate

The Bay Area Air District is advancing a zero NOx rule that would phase out the sale of new gas-fired water heaters and furnaces and transition to electric heat pump heating and cooling appliances. These rules are aimed at reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions to the outside atmosphere, where they can change and combine with other chemicals to form PM and ozone that cause and exacerbate respiratory illness and other negative health impacts. NOx emitted from these appliances exceeds emissions from passenger vehicles or refineries. 

The transition to zero NOx appliances is critical for improving the air quality and public health of the region, and as a co-benefit, will also reduce climate-warming emissions. According to the Air District, there are many public health benefits expected of these rules, which include:

• Preventing up to 85 premature deaths per year
• Lowering PM2.5 exposure, particularly in communities of color
• Avoiding up to $890M per year in health impacts due to air pollution exposure.

 This roundtable is designed to move the conversation beyond the abstract statistics: to explain, in plain terms and through firsthand experience, what the science says, what installing heat pump appliances involves, the costs and the benefits, and what the transition means for homeowners, renters, and the contractors doing the work.

Panelists:

• Moderator: Chase Cain / Meteorologist and Emmy Award-winning Climate Journalist, Chase What Matters
• Dr. Lisa Patel / Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University; Executive Director, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
• Sam Fishman / Sustainability and Resilience Policy Manager, SPUR
• Zoe Elizabeth / Director of Decarbonization Policy and Community Strategies, Silicon Valley Clean Energy
• Eric Morrill / Contractor, Architect and Founder, All Electric California
• Nik Kaestner / Senior Building Decarbonization Coordinator, San Francisco Environment Department",
• TBC / Bay Area homeowner who has installed a heat pump