It’s Time to Get Fossil Fuels out of Chicago’s Buildings

Our homes should be a safe place – but burning dirty fossil fuels to meet our heating, cooking, and other household needs is harmful to our health, climate, and wallets. In fact, buildings are the leading source of carbon pollution in Chicago with gas-fired appliances contributing nearly 70% of Chicago’s total greenhouse gas emissions and polluting the air inside our homes with dangerous toxins linked to diseases like cancer and asthma.

It's time for Chicago to shift to newer, more affordable, and more efficient all-electric technologies. Mayor Johnson and Chicago City Council members must prioritize clean buildings legislation and phase out fossil fuels in Chicago’s buildings.

Mayor Johnson and City Council must save Chicagoans money, protect public health, and tackle climate emissions by enacting policies to make Chicago’s buildings cleaner.

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Subject Please Prioritize Clean, Healthy Buildings for Chicago

Dear Mayor Johnson and Alderman:

Message Body

With a new term in City Council underway, I’m writing to ask you to make clean, healthy, and affordable buildings a top priority. Mayor Johnson committed to reduce fossil fuel emissions from our buildings with policies that would improve indoor air quality, save energy, lower energy burdens, and create new jobs. It’s time to act swiftly on these policies to get dangerous, expensive fossil fuels out of Chicago’s buildings.

With one in five Chicagoans already behind on their gas bills, People’s Gas wants a massive rate hike – even though they’re already making record profits. Black and brown households face the brunt of Chicago’s high heating costs but can be helped the most with clean buildings policies aimed at replacing inefficient gas appliances with all-electric ones. In fact, families in new all-electric buildings can save up to $15,000 and those in completely retrofitted buildings can save up to $13,000 over the course of 20 years.

Chicagoans also face heavy health tolls from relying on gas-burning appliances for household energy needs. Gas-fired stoves emit harmful air pollutants linked to respiratory illnesses and cancer. Children are especially at risk, with one in five childhood asthma cases in Illinois linked to living in a home with a gas stove.

Finally, a whopping 70 percent of Chicago’s climate footprint is due to burning fossil fuels in buildings. Chicagoans can save money, protect their health, and combat the climate crisis through building electrification. That’s why I’m asking you to act quickly to introduce meaningful clean building legislation that

1. Creates a building performance standard with targets for reduced energy usage and carbon emissions. 
2. Requires the phase out of fossil fuels in all new residential and commercial buildings. 
3. Ensures sufficient funding to enable electrification in underserved, overburdened communities in the city.

I hope you act quickly on equitable clean buildings policies to make Chicago’s buildings safer and more comfortable while easing energy burdens.

Thank you.

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