Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou says he wants the city to set an example for the rest of New York state. The city council recently unanimously passed a law to make all new buildings all electric by 2024.

“Our view was, rather than have arguments as to what does the data say, it was to rely on the state and to say the states put out this roadmap," Kyriacou said. "They've thought about its 400-plus pages, and all we're doing is moving a little sooner than the state is recommending.”

The vote came following a public support campaign from climate crisis group Beacon Climate Action Now (BCAN). Its cofounder, Veekas Ashoka, said re-imagining construction in the state is necessary to fight climate change.

“The largest single source of emissions that cause climate change come from buildings, almost a third of all of our state's emissions," Ashoka said. "And so if we can transition buildings to use, to emit less bad pollutants into the air, then that's a huge win for our state, for our health and for our communities.”

Local leaders say the bill was mirrored after a number of proposed climate initiatives in New York state, including one proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The details of state legislation aimed at requiring new buildings to use electricity instead of gas or oil are still being worked out, but one proposal would ban gas hookups for new buildings under seven stories as soon as the close of next year.

Beacon, meanwhile, has decided to make the change starting Jan. 1, 2024. Kyriacou said he hopes the law can set an example for municipalities across New York and the state itself.

“So all we're saying to the state is, please do something like the stretch program that you did a couple of years ago with the building code to allow communities to start a little bit earlier. Give them parameters, tell us what the exemptions are," he said. 

So far, the mayor says that all-electric building has seen some price increases compared to traditional construction. But according to a report by the electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, switching to electric construction could create up to 25 million jobs nationwide over the next 15 years.

Opponents have expressed concerns on the possibility of overloading the electric grid with the move.

Ashoka said electrification would also have hard-to-ignore health benefits.

“These pollutants that come out of burning fossil fuels in homes cause childhood asthma and create long-term health impacts, not only for those inside the home, but also in our wider community," he said.