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NY's ban on gas equipment in new homes is coming soon.  Are we ready for this revolution? Published: Syracuse.com  10/1/2025

Syracuse, N.Y. – Home builder Dan Barnaba will start construction soon on a new housing development in the town of Salina where none of the homes will be connected to natural gas. No gas furnaces. No gas stoves. No gas fireplace inserts. All 38 homes at his Glen View development will have electric heat and electric appliances.

Barnaba is getting a head start on a new way of building homes that soon everyone will have to follow. As of Jan. 1, all new buildings of seven stories or less will be prohibited from installing equipment that burns fossil fuels.

There are limited exceptions, including commercial or industrial buildings larger than 100,000 square feet. But the all-electric buildings mandate will have a sweeping impact on housing and most other construction.

New York is the first state to impose a statewide ban on fossil fuel equipment in new construction. The aim is to cut down on greenhouse gases, in keeping with emission reductions called for in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Buildings account for nearly one-third of the state’s greenhouse gases.

The all-electric rule is a whiplash turn for the home building industry in New York. For decades, builders have favored natural gas heat over alternatives like oil, propane and electric baseboard. Seven out of 10 homes in Onondaga County heat with natural gas.

The change means that most new buildings will be heated and cooled with air source heat pumps, a technology that is new to many builders and homebuyers in Central New York.

Although heat pumps have emerged as a leading choice in much of the country, especially the South, they have been slow to catch on in colder regions. Now begins a vast experiment to see how New York homebuyers respond.

An air source heat pump moves heat, rather than generating it. Using a refrigerant that is colder than the outdoor air, it draws in heat during the winter even from the coldest air. During summer, the process reverses, collecting heat from indoors and moving it out.

The units are impressively efficient, producing up to three units of heat for every unit of electricity consumed. Even the most efficient gas furnace produces slightly less than one unit of heat for every unit consumed.

Still, some builders are worried that heat pumps could cost more to install and operate than traditional heating and cooling systems. That could drive up new home prices at a time when they are already out of reach for many.

Cost comparisons are tricky. There are subsidies that lower the cost of heat pumps. And some experts insist that homes will be cheaper to build with heat pumps because there is no need for gas infrastructure. Builders are still learning.

Barnaba thinks he will have no trouble selling his all-electric houses in Salina. But this is new territory, he says.

“We have to learn,” Barnaba said. “I have to learn as I go.”

‘I’ve had no call’

Manlius-based home builder Robert DeForest, president of Cordelle Development, said he doesn’t believe consumers want all-electric homes. He is concerned that buyers will shy away, depressing the housing market at a time when the region desperately needs more homes.

“I’ve had no call for an all-electric house. At all. Ever,” he said.

But some builders have had requests. Jeremy Doran of Stone Hammer Homes said many of the 10 or so homes he builds each year are in rural areas off the natural gas system. Choosing between propane heat and electric, some customers have gone electric, he said.

The more expensive electric option is a ground-source heat pump, which requires drilling underground and can add about $40,000 to the cost of a home, Doran said. They are are quieter, more efficient, and longer-lived than air source heat pumps, but cost a lot more to install.

The simpler option is an air source heat pump, which sits outside the house like an air conditioner and adds about $10,000 in upfront costs, he said.

Doran thinks the transition to all-electric homes will be smooth.

“Now we don’t have to pay to run a gas line to houses, or to run gas lines in houses, so there’s going to be some reductions in costs that are going to help balance out that additional cost,” he said. “Knowing our industry and the things we deal with, we’re going to be able to make this adjustment relatively easily.”

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