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Building Electrification

 Electric Home Image

Climate Smart San José, the City’s long-term plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change, identified the electrification of buildings as a strategic area of focus for our community. Building electrification simply means using electric appliances and equipment, such as induction cooktops, heat pump water heaters and heat pump heating and air ventilation (HVAC) systems in our homes and businesses.

2021 pie chartEnergy use in buildings currently makes up about a third of San José’s greenhouse gas emissions. While San José Clean Energy provides carbon-neutral electricity options for San José residents and businesses, burning natural gas in our buildings is a major contributor to climate change. In addition, it can also have a negative impact on our health and safety, especially in historically marginalized communities where residents are more likely to be burdened by environmental issues, like poor air quality.

The following resources help to guide City actions and/ or provide community resources to electrify our buildings:

Incentives to Electrify

Find out about electric appliance options, local, regional, statewide, and federal incentives to help you electrify, and the benefits of an all-electric home at San José Clean Energy Electric Homes.

Upcoming Electrification Webinars

Are you a home- or building-owner with questions about how to electrify and the tools and financial incentives currently available to support you? Are you a contractor interested in learning more technical and/or financial information about building electrification upgrades? Residents, contractors, developers, and property owners and managers can find current educational opportunities on our Electrification Trainings and Workshops webpage.

Induction Cooking

Electric induction cooktops are a safer, more energy-efficient option for everyday stovetop cooking. Interest in testing one out? PG&E customers can check out a portable induction cooktop at no cost for up to two weeks. To learn more and sign up to test out an induction cooktop visit PG&E’s Induction Cooktop Loaner Program webpage.

Heat Pump Water Heaters

According to the  California Air Resources Board,  85 percent of on-site building emissions come from space and water heating and cooling. Heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology on the market. They are key to decarbonizing buildings and achieving both San José and California's zero-carbon goals. Visit our Heat Pump Water Heater Resources page to learn more about heat pump water heater technology and the incentives and resources available to help you make the switch.

Existing Building Electrification Framework

The Electrify San José: Framework for Existing Building Electrification (“Framework”) is a plan to encourage and incentivize the electrification of homes and businesses in San José. It offers strategies to raise awareness about the benefits of using electric appliances and the negative health impacts of using gas; encourage the growth of high-quality building electrification jobs in San José; reduce housing and energy costs through building electrification programs; and increase access to clean and reliable energy. The Framework does not create any mandates to switch out existing natural gas for electric equipment. Special thanks to our two co-creation partners, ICAN and Veggielution, for their collaboration on and contributions to the Building Electrification Plan. These organizations work directly with community members in the Vietnamese and Latino/a/x communities, respectively, representing a wide group of people with varying histories, cultures, and needs. Their partnership helped bridge a feedback channel between the City and the community and ensured the framework kept equity at the forefront.

For more information on Electrify San José, please see:

Equitable Strategies for Household Energy Efficiency and Electrification

Through the federal Department of Energy’s Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP), City staff worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to identify the most appropriate and equitable building electrification strategies for low- and moderate-income housing in San José.

As a part of LEAP, a residential building characterization was done for eight low-income census tracts in San José, and the potential impacts of sixteen different residential electrification and energy efficiency strategies were analyzed for the most common housing types. The final deliverable of the program was an analysis of five different electrification strategies - building envelope upgrades, whole home electrification, combined envelope upgrades + electrification, heat pump water heater retrofits, and heat pump HVAC retrofits - and the impacts that they could have both on low-income housing in San José and the City’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. The final deliverable also estimated the risk of strategies triggering panel upgrades and their impact on hourly energy use during extreme weather days. The deliverables can be used to support informed decision making in a variety of ways; residents can use them as a tool to weigh the costs and benefits of pursuing different electrification strategies, and they can support organizations with program development by highlighting strategies that have the most impact on energy burden reduction, greenhouse gas reduction, and overall return on investment.

For more information on the work done through LEAP, please review the resources below:

Resources