Tom Bassett-Dilley’s Oak Park bungalow stands out. The architect’s front lawn is one large rain garden with abundant native plants. His home is lined with deep-red siding and metal paneling. It’s distinctive looking.
It’s more than looks. In 2021, Bassett-Dilley decarbonized. He cut the natural gas connections completely in the poorly insulated house. In the basement, a new mechanical system now pumps heat in the winter and cool air during the summer. In the kitchen, the gas stove is gone. He quickly simmers chicken bones for a broth on his induction stove, a special type of electric cooktop.
He sees his home as an experiment demonstrating how houses and buildings in the Chicago area could be built to not just lower carbon emissions but also to lower utility bills.
“My monthly bill is $14.56 a month for the whole year,” Basset-Dilley says. “And that’s for all of my energy.”
Oak Park was the first local government in the Midwest to pass electrification standards for new construction. The ordinance was passed over the summer and will take effect at the beginning of next year. It means electricity — not fossil fuels — will be the source of energy for all new homes and buildings in the suburb.
Activists are pushing for the city of Chicago to join Oak Park and other cities around the country that have changed emission standards for new buildings. They say the changes would help health, climate and homeowners’ bank accounts. The way buildings are heated, cooled and made livable accounts for about 70% of Chicago’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Ald. Matt Martin (47th) says reducing Chicago’s reliance on the natural gas services driving climate would benefit everyone.
“Now’s the time for us to consider and pass a building electrification ordinance,” Martin says, possibly by the end of the year.
He says builders are open to electrification because natural gas is increasingly expensive.
Decarbonizing buildings is one of the linchpins officials around the country are counting on to cut planet-warming emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that commercial and residential buildings account for 30% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 2019, more than 70 cities and counties in California have passed similar legislation. New York City and Seattle have updated building codes to require some level of electrification for new construction.
Bu there has been some backlash against the wave of electrification. The nation’s first electrification ordinance — enacted in Berkeley, California — was overturned by a federal appeals court this year. And some states have passed legislation to prohibit municipalities from implementing local electrification ordinances.
Peoples Gas, the major gas utility serving the Chicago area, opposed a previous proposal to set emission standards for new construction in Chicago. A spokesperson for the company says: “Our focus remains on providing customers the reliable energy they depend on, while also investing in emerging clean energy technologies such as renewable natural gas and hydrogen.”
In January, Peoples Gas submitted a $402 million rate hike to the Illinois Commerce Commission that if approved next month, would add an average of nearly $12 to monthly utility bills in Chicago.
“Enough is enough,” Veronica Johnson, outreach director for Faith in Place, an environmental nonprofit that works with religious communities statewide, says of Peoples Gas’ proposed rate increase. “We will not stand by and just allow you to charge us more and more for utilities. And, yes, we are preparing to do something about that as we seek to decarbonize Chicago.”
Bassett-Dilley says the demand for decarbonized living is already here. He’s working on a new decarbonized bungalow in Jefferson Park.
“We don’t do any buildings that have gas lines in them anymore for the last three or four years,” he says. “There’s a lot of people out there looking for it.”
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ andGrist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
