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Evanston could codify its own building electrification requirements as effort in Chicago has stalled
An aerial view of Evanston. [City of Evanston]
Chicago’s neighbor to the north, Evanston, could vote on Monday to approve an ordinance that would require all large buildings to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The action comes as an effort to increase building electrification in Chicago has stalled for over a year.
Evanston’s proposed Healthy Buildings Ordinance (01-O-25) (HBO), which is expected to receive a final vote at Monday evening’s Evanston City Council meeting, would require all buildings 20,000 square feet or more, adjacent buildings owned by the same person with a combined area of at least 20,000 square feet and all city-owned buildings of at least 10,000 square feet to meet new energy efficiency performance metrics by 2050, with interim progress metrics properties must meet beginning in 2031, which will gradually get more strict with every check-in.
All condominiums over 50,000 square feet will be subject to the law, but condos under 50,000 sq. ft. won’t be. Federally owned buildings would also be excluded. The total number of affected buildings currently stands at about 500, but new buildings that meet those standards would also be required to comply after one full year of utility bills.
If approved, the new ordinance would mandate that the affected buildings meet three new energy use standards in the next 25 years — maximum energy efficiency, zero-emission energy use and 100 percent renewable energy use. The exact interim and final benchmark standards, which will differ by property type, would be determined by a technical committee over the next few years.
The ordinance also allows properties that anticipate being unable to meet key benchmarking deadlines to propose an alternative compliance plan instead, although proposals will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Those proposals will also be reviewed by the technical committee, which would recommend a decision to the city manager.
That might be the route Northwestern University has to take if the ordinance passes, as the school has come out against the HBO over concerns it conflicts with its own, slower, energy transition plan.
In Chicago, Ald. Maria Hadden (49) introduced a building decarbonization measure early last year.
The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance (O2024-0007305) (CABO) is different from Evanston’s ordinance. It would set new indoor emissions standards to prohibit the use of natural gas heating systems and natural gas-powered appliances but would apply primarily to new buildings and new additions, lumping in existing buildings in specific cases. However, CABO isn’t limited to certain-sized properties like the HBO.
CABO would only require existing buildings to retrofit their designs to meet the new emissions standards if they construct additions that meet a certain threshold — the greater of 10,000 square feet or 25 percent of the existing floor area — while Evanston’s targets large existing buildings regardless of new additions.
The new proposed emissions standards in Chicago would become effective for building permits issued a year after the ordinance is adopted.
Hadden, the chair of the City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, introduced CABO last January, but the proposal was referred to the rules committee, where it currently sits. Not much action on the proposal has occurred in the last year except for a daylong subject matter hearing held on the proposal at an environment committee meeting last April.
Hadden declined to comment about the current state of the legislation, which is opposed by many of her colleagues.
CABO is backed by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar and multiple environmental groups, who say CABO would mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions that come from Chicago’s buildings, lower energy costs for property owners and tenants and lead to better health outcomes by switching from gas appliances to electric ones.
Opponents of CABO include the plumbers, pipefitters and operating engineers unions, Peoples Gas and most of the City Council — with 31 alderpeople signing on to an oppositional op-ed last May. They have argued CABO would eliminate customer choice, cause job losses and stick customers left on the gas system with higher bills.
Kady McFadden, a lobbyist for the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, which backs both proposals, told The Daily Line the coalition wasn’t necessarily looking at one of the proposals as more politically viable than the other.
“It’s a more complicated set of solutions when you have a larger city,” McFadden said, adding that Evanston’s approach is “a right-sized solution for them.”
McFadden said it’s easier for Chicago to immediately target new construction and set standards for existing buildings at a later time than it is for Evanston.
The Clean Energy Choice Coalition (CECC), which represents opponents of both proposals, said in a statement Evanston’s is ill-advised “due to concerns about affordability, reliability, equity, and unintended consequences, such as rent increases for fixed-income and low-income residents.”
The coalition also said the Evanston ordinance overlooks supply and demand balancing issues with the existing grid. They criticized the ordinance for lacking clear compliance standards and for having a “biased” process to receive approval for alternative compliance plans.
“We urge the city to adopt a more inclusive approach by engaging stakeholders, ensuring energy reliability, and providing financial support for vulnerable communities,” the CECC said in a statement to The Daily Line.
One council opponent, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), has previously warned that CABO, in its current state, could be invalidated by the courts as a similar law in Berkeley, California was. Villegas last year called for a cost-benefit analysis to be conducted on the ordinance, but his own resolution (R2024-0007274) to do that has also stalled in the rules committee.
The Evanston City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center.
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