Because buildings make up almost 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, investing in technologies that decarbonize our building stock can provide a massive opportunity to mitigate the impact of climate change and curb future emissions.

One critical aspect of decarbonization is ensuring all new buildings are prepared to forego fossil fuel combustion equipment and to install electricity-powered equipment, which is often referred to as “electrification” or “building decarbonization”. Removing combustion equipment provides many benefits to building occupants such as reducing exposure to harmful pollutants and improving indoor air quality. The concept of electrification is becoming popular in local and state-wide energy codes across the country and will be incorporated into future national model energy codes.

This resource is intended to prepare states for electrifying building codes by sharing the steps to electrification, the components of an all-electric home or building, the challenges associated with electrifying, and national examples of building electrification codes in practice.