A recent Vancouver City Council decision is ruffling some feathers, and it’s all about natural gas.
Vancouver City Council has directed City staff to restore the ability to use natural gas heating in new home construction.
Some councillors and residents are upset about the policy reversal.
Councillor Pete Fry called the decision “INFURIATING” and added that it’s “on-brand for ABC.”
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Fry also had some interesting thoughts about how Mayor Ken Sim broke a tie to pass the amendment.
BREAKING,
First council appearance in a month, Ken Sim zooms in from vacation overseas to tiebreak a back-of-the-napkin amendment from ABC’s Montague to roll back climate work:
“Council resolves to allow natural gas for heating and hot water for new construction” pic.twitter.com/wExlr0qiwb— Pete Fry (@PtFry) July 24, 2024
ABC councillor Brian Montague proposed the amendment, arguing that diversifying energy sources enhances resilience and reliability during outages, such as those caused by wind storms. This contrasts with the current accelerated strategy of transitioning solely to electricity.
“Further to the energy resiliency argument, when the power grid fails because of climate issues, flooding, winter storms, moments of crisis or natural disasters, we continue to focus on a single energy source,” said Montague during the meeting, emphasizing the importance of energy security.
Daily Hive asked Fry to elaborate on some of the claims from Montague and the City.
“The framing that Vancouver’s energy capacity cannot meet our mandate for electrification of space and water heating is speculative; it isn’t supported by evidence. Nobody credible has suggested that Vancouver is in danger when it comes to our energy load,” Fry told Daily Hive.
“What we do know is that developers close to Sim resent the upfront cost of electrification, even as it saves resident consumers on operating and the climate in the long run,” he added.
Fry also posted on X that Alberta oil lobbyists are involved.
Last month, I revealed Sim’s office using taxpayer$ to contract strategic advice from Alberta Conservative-affiliated big oil lobbyists.
Yesterday, Sim slashed climate policy under canard of caring about affordability**checks notes: affordability for developers, not residents https://t.co/LFoccB2KXy
— Pete Fry (@PtFry) July 24, 2024
Residents are divided
leungchopan/Shutterstock
Many residents support the move by ABC, while others feel this takes Vancouver backwards.
“Sure. Let’s pump out more methane before exploring options like battery storage, living exterior walls & roofs, rooftop solar, and passive construction,” a Daily Hive reader said.
Developers run Vancouver 🤦🏼♀️👎🏽
— Momphis (@barbarafriesen) July 24, 2024
“Common sense prevails, thank God,” reads another comment, apparently supporting the vote.
“Everything about electrical use is much more efficient than fossil fuels. EVs and heat pumps are at least [three times] more energy efficient than ICE and gas furnaces, respectively,” said another reader in opposition to the council’s decision.
Embarrassing move
— Lindsay Gibson @lsgibson.bsky.social (@ls_gibson) July 24, 2024
A sliver of common sense from the city of Vancouver. Just paid a $14 natural gas bill compared to my recently paid $170 hydro bill. Someone on council finally ate a bowel of wheaties for breakfast
— BooRadleyP (@BooRadleyPoo) July 24, 2024
Meanwhile, Fry adds that provincial policy makes this move even more complicated.
“Adding to the short-sightedness, BC’s energy step code will mandate the shift to electrification in new construction by 2030; ABC’s move yesterday only hobbles getting industry and capacity ready to meet that timeline.”
In 2023, the BC government said that the province would need more electricity sooner than expected, though, at the time, Premier David Eby pushed the need for clean energy and not fossil fuels.
“As we face the threat of a record fire season across Canada, the need to switch to clean power to fight climate change has never felt more urgent,” Eby said.
Do you agree with Councillor Fry and some of the opposition, or do you agree with the council’s decision?
With files from Kenneth Chan
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