Seattle Proposes Speeding Up Oil to Electric Heating Conversions

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a plan to speed up the conversion of homes that burn oil for heat to cleaner electric heating as part of the city’s 2018 Seattle Climate Strategy. The City Council with consider legislation that would impose a tax on heating oil and require heating oil tank owners to decommission or upgrade all existing underground oil tanks by 2028. Revenue from the tax will provide rebates and grants for Seattle homeowners to install energy efficient electric heat pumps.

Although AIA Seattle has not weighed in on this specific proposal, we have supported this concept as part of our work with Shift Zero to move Washington closer to a zero net carbon built environment. If you have comments on this proposal that you’d like us to consider, please send them to Kirsten.

August 2019