Gas appliances in California homes and buildings generate four times as much lung-damaging nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution as the state's gas power plants, and roughly two thirds as much NOx as all of the state’s passenger cars. To meet federal air quality standards that protect health, air quality regulators in California must phase out the sale of gas appliances and implement equity-centered implementation plans for transitioning homes to electric alternatives like heat pumps — which produce no onsite air pollution.
That’s the conclusion of Gas Appliances and Smog: California’s Hidden Air Pollution Problem, released by SPUR, RMI and the Sierra Club. The report outlines policymaking underway by state air regulators at CARB, as well as regional air regulators in the Bay Area and L.A. Basin, to phase out the sale and installation of gas appliances as part of air regulators’ strategies for meeting federal air quality standards for ozone. NOx pollution from gas appliances contributes to the formation of ozone and fine particulate matter — major components of smog.