COUNTY TO PUSH

Baltimore County being asked to mandate new electric homes

By John Lee, WYPR News

J. Scott Applewhite/APPart of the Pepco power generating station in Dickerson, Md., 30 miles north of Washington. Pepco provides electric service to residential and commercial customers in D.C., and its suburbs, Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland.

Advocates are pushing for Baltimore County to ditch natural gas in new homes and require that they be all electric.

While that proposal is getting a mixed response from County Council members and County Executive Johnny Olszewski, two other Maryland localities are on board and a state legislator plans to introduce legislation that would require new homes to be mostly all-electric statewide.

Jamie DeMarco, Maryland’s Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said it needs to happen for the state to meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031.

“Electrifying new buildings is the lowest of the low hanging fruit,” DeMarco said. “It’s the first step we have to do. If you’re in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging, and if you’re trying to decarbonize the building sector, the first thing to do is to stop building new buildings that use fossil fuels.”

David Lapp, the Maryland People’s Counsel FINISH READING HERE

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