LA is banning most gas appliances in new homes. Get ready for electric stoves

Citing the climate crisis, the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to ban most gas appliances in new construction, a policy that's expected to result in new homes and businesses coming equipped with electric stoves, clothes dryers, water heaters and furnaces.

More than 50 California cities and counties have adopted similar rules banning or discouraging gas hookups in new homes and other buildings. The nation's second-largest city was late to the game, said Councilmember Nithya Raman, the policy's lead author — but no longer.

Friday's vote "puts us in line with climate leaders across the country," she said in an interview.

Raman's motion will require newly constructed buildings to be emissions-free, meaning they don't add to the carbon dioxide pollution that's heating the planet and leading to more destructive wildfires, more intense droughts and deadlier heat waves.

The zero-emission policy is likely to take effect in the next few years, although the timeline isn't clear yet. The motion leaves the details to city agencies, directing them to draft a regulation and bring it back to the council for approval by the end of 2022.

That doesn't necessarily mean every new home and business will need to be zero-emission starting in 2023. There could be a phased-in compliance schedule for different types of buildings, such as restaurants that rely on gas stoves, Raman