GCAR and CIREB want REALTORS® to be ready for NY’s natural gas ban

New York State’s 2024 budget included the first-in-nation statewide ban on natural gas and other fossil fuels in new construction to be phased in starting in 2025.

Learn more about the effects of New York State’s ban on natural gas and other fossil fuels on the real estate industry during the NY Plugs In panel discussion on Oct. 25 at the Crowne Plaza Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany, starting at 9 a.m. The free event, brought to you by GCAR and CIREB, will be moderated by Michael DeMasi from the Albany Business Review and feature a panel of industry experts.

The panel will feature Kenneth Evans, partner, ReWire Group; Michael Mager, Esq., partner, Couch White; Jeffrey Mirel, principal, Rosenblum Companies; and Patrick Stella, National Grid communications manager. NYSAR Government Affairs Director Mike Kelly will also participate in the session. Learn more about NY Plugs In

Ban begins in late 2025
The final budget directed New York State’s Fire Prevention and Building Code Council to prohibit the installation of fossil fuel equipment and building systems, including gas stoves, in any new building seven stories or less by Dec. 31, 2025. Commercial and industrial buildings greater than 100,000 square feet would be exempt. The prohibition on the installation of fossil fuel equipment and building systems would apply to all new buildings on and after December 31, 2028.

Exemptions from the prohibition include systems used:

• For emergency backup power and standby power.
• In a manufactured home.
• In a building or part of a building used as a manufacturing facility, commercial food establishment, car wash, laundromat, laboratory, hospital, or other medical facility and critical infrastructure.

Exemptions from the electrification requirement are also permitted where electric service cannot be reasonably provided by the grid, as determined by the Public Service Commission.

The budget also creates a Climate Action Fund comprising revenues from a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. DEC will release draft plans by 2024 for a limit on total carbon emissions allowed statewide and the potential number of carbon credits companies could bid for instead of cutting their emissions. This fund will consist of 3 accounts:

• Consumer climate action account, receiving at least 30% of revenues to provide benefits and rebates to help reduce the potential increased costs of goods and services for consumers.
• Industrial small business climate action account, which would receive up to 3% of revenues to provide benefits to reduce costs to small businesses.
• Climate investment account, which would receive at least 67% of revenues to be used to fund projects designed to help transition to a less carbon-intensive economy.