Improving Indoor Air Quality, One Block at a Time

A group of California neighbors is working to eliminate gas-powered appliances, which create harmful air pollution inside homes. The group, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action, formed after residents found out about the risks to public health created by indoor gas appliances.

As Twilight Greenaway explains in Inside Climate News, the movement for “neighborhood-scale” or zonal decarbonization seeks to eliminate gas lines in favor of electrifying homes. The idea has support from Pacific Gas & Electric, a Northern California utility, which says it is willing to “spend a portion of the money it would otherwise use to maintain gas lines to help electrify the homes in the neighborhood that will no longer use the gas.”

The group is working with PG&E to identify areas appropriate for decarbonization. “Once the group chooses an area, it plans to run a pilot project with the goal of electrifying all the appliances and adding solar panels and batteries for up to 80 homes.”

Electrifying neighborhoods at a larger scale “just makes more sense than a piecemeal approach in many parts of the state.” A new California law, SB 1221, enables neighborhood-scale decarbonization projects if 67 percent or more of neighbors agree.

Supporting lower-income residents who may not be able to afford electric appliances is important, Greenaway notes. According to Michelle Plouse, community development analyst for Albany, California, “What will happen if we don’t decommission the gas line is that the cost of maintaining it will continue to increase over time, and the user base will drop as people electrify.”