Eight Benefits of Building Electrification for Households, Communities, and Climate

This fact sheet from RMI outlines the climate, health, and economic advantages of transitioning US buildings from fossil fuels to clean electricity for heating and cooking, arguing that electrification is the only established method to eliminate carbon pollution from residential and commercial appliances.

• Building electrification is essential for meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as 70 million US homes and businesses currently burn gas, oil, and propane, emitting 600 million tons of CO2 annually (rising to nearly 1 billion tons of CO2 equivalent when accounting for methane leakage).
• Gas appliances significantly degrade indoor air quality, with homes using gas stoves showing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations 50% to over 400% higher than those with electric stoves. This pollution is linked to a 42% increase in asthma symptoms for children in gas-stove homes and can worsen outcomes during public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Constructing new all-electric single-family homes is more cost-effective than building mixed-fuel homes because they avoid expensive gas connections, which have a median cost of nearly $9,000, and utilize efficient heat pump systems that lower annual utility costs.
• The transition to all-electric buildings, combined with solar and electric vehicle installation, could create up to 25 million near-term jobs and 5 million sustained jobs. In California specifically, building electrification is projected to support over 100,000 jobs in construction, energy, and manufacturing, which is eight times the number of jobs that would be lost in the gas sector.
• Alternatives to electrification, such as renewable natural gas (RNG), hydrogen, or synthetic methane, are insufficient for decarbonizing the buildings sector. RNG is 4 to 17 times more expensive than fossil gas and could only replace 3% to 12% of existing gas demand.

APA

RMI (2021). Eight Benefits of Building Electrification for Households, Communities, and Climate. https://rmi.org/resources/eight-benefits-of-building-electrification-for-households-communities-and-climate/

Chicago

RMI. Eight Benefits of Building Electrification for Households, Communities, and Climate. 2021. https://rmi.org/resources/eight-benefits-of-building-electrification-for-households-communities-and-climate/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Eight Benefits of Building Electrification for Households, Communities, and Climate |date=29 March 2021 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/eight-benefits-of-building-electrification-for-households-communities-and-climate/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2021eight, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Eight Benefits of Building Electrification for Households, Communities, and Climate}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/eight-benefits-of-building-electrification-for-households-communities-and-climate/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }