Why Did Hochul Back Down on New York’s Gas Ban? Just last month, the state argued in court that it couldn’t halt the all-electric buildings law even if it wanted to. Then it abruptly changed course.
https://nysfocus.com/2025/11/26/all-electric-buildings-gas-ban-hochul-new-york
by silence7
3 comments
I haven’t been following the legislative side of this policy, but just looking at this from a residential home heating strategy, there is a major caveat based on the winter temps in NYS
A air sources heat pump can not pull enough heat from the winter air to heat our homes (especially old drafty homes). In order to mitigate this, you need to do one of the following:
* Keep a furnace for the below freezing days. So if you already have a working furnace and a/c, why buty an additional system to provide heat when the weather is between 30 & 60 degrees?
* Install “hyper heat” which is an electric resistance heating element and is very inefficient. The whole point is to save money long term on utility costs, but this will do the opposite.
* Dig or drill a ground source loop instead of the air condenser. Drilling 2-3 well holes on a property is expensive and sometimes impossible to get the machinery in.
Ideally, the ground source loop is the best option, and the one I would implement if I were to build a new house today. But it’s expensive and impractical for many existing homes in NYS .
100% due to fossil fuel lobbying.
We live in a colder climate than NY and have an air source heat pump + backup electric furnace. Also an induction stove and heat pump water heater.
Since canceling gas our bills have never been cheaper.
It’s a myth that air source heat pumps can’t keep up in cold climates; and occasionally if they can’t, get a backup electric furnace instead of gas. Canceling gas is when you save the most amount of money on your utility bills.
Another huge benefit is when heating your house you don’t lose your humidity with a heat pump + backup electric furnace. When we had a gas furnace the humidity in our house in the winter went down to 25% which wasn’t good. It’s due to gas furnaces literally burning the moisture out of your air.
No more need for humidifier here anymore as our house never goes below 45% humidity in the harshest time of winter. Heat pumps and electric backup furnaces don’t burn the humidity out of your air. The best solutions to engineering problems are the simpler more organic solutions.
It doesn’t sound like “couldn’t” halt, it just sounds like halting would cause “irreparable harm.”
My conclusion is that Kathy Hochul is a fair-weather friend to New York, and she will cause irreparable harm if she gets scared. Like she did with congestion pricing in New York City.
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