Vancouver city council rejects reintroduction of natural gas heating

A proposal to bring back natural gas as a heating option in new construction was rejected by Vancouver city council Wednesday night.

The idea has been debated in council since Monday, but a final decision was delayed after dozens of citizens wanted to have their say.

Coun. Pete Fry says 142 people showed up to speak about the item.

“Lots of comments from the public, including lots of health professionals; builders who suggested that, in fact, this was a very backwards step that wasn’t going to meet any affordability targets or our climate resilience targets,” said Fry.

While many members of the public were opposed for climate reasons, others were in favour, suggesting that natural gas could be a temporary solution where needed.

“One of the biggest pushbacks that we heard was from folks who were concerned that this would impact the ability to have decorative fireplaces or cook with gas, and, in fact, both of those features were exempted from any sort of regulatory imposition,” Fry explained.

He says that natural gas heating is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver, and ruling it out in the building code was intentional. Fry says most modern construction embraces the use of heat pumps as an alternative. 

The Canadian Climate Institute says heat pumps are “two to five times more efficient than gas furnaces, providing substantial savings on energy bills.”

Ultimately, council was split five for and five against, meaning the proposal failed.