New homes and apartments built in Washington beginning in July must use heat pump systems, an effort to reduce carbon emissions by pushing home heating off of natural gas and onto the electrical grid, a majority of the Washington Building Code Council ruled Friday.
A 9-5 vote of the panel followed months of contentious public testimony about the change, part of a carbon-reduction effort mandated in state law and pushed by Gov. Jay Inslee to reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency. The council voted in April to require new commercial construction to switch to heat pumps, devices that primarily use electricity to heat a home in a method that is the reverse of an air conditioner in the summer. Now, home builders will be required to follow the same rules with new construction.
“It’s an exciting step forward toward meeting our goal to reduce greenhouse gases in our state,” said Katy Sheehan, a member of the council who was appointed to represent the general public living east of the Cascades.
There were two efforts during the meeting to remove the heat pump requirement from the new building codes. One came from state Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, and the other from Spokane County Commissioner Al French. Both said the requirements were premature, would drive up the cost of building new homes and require builders to purchase new systems that have been scarce as demand has increased, with new state regulations and incentives included as part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress.
