1 of 1
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1651 FILED ON: 1/19/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2115
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Lydia Edwards
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to the electrification of new and substantially remodeled or rehabilitated
building.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Lydia EdwardsThird SuffolkMichael O. MooreSecond Worcester2/15/2023 1 of 5
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1651 FILED ON: 1/19/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2115
By Ms. Edwards, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2115) of Lydia Edwards and
Michael O. Moore for legislation relative to the electrification of new and substantially
remodeled or rehabilitated building. Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
_______________
An Act relative to the electrification of new and substantially remodeled or rehabilitated
building.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 143 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after
2section 96 the following section:-
3 Section 96A. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context
4clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-
5 “Biolab”, a newly constructed building or substantially remodeled or rehabilitated
6building or group of buildings having, or designed to have, a laboratory for biological research.
7 “Carbon Dioxide Equivalent” or “CO2e”, greenhouse gas emissions, including but not
8limited to carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which shall be calculated according to
9regional energy and greenhouse gas factors as set forth in the United States Environmental
10Protection Agency’s online tool for reporting and managing building energy data.
11 “Department”, the department of energy resources. 2 of 5
12 “Gross building floor area”, the floor area within the inside perimeter of the building’s
13exterior walls, without deduction for corridors, stairways, closets, the thickness of interior walls,
14columns or similar features.
15 “Hospital”, a newly constructed building or substantially remodeled or rehabilitated
16building or group of buildings having, or designed to have, an institution as defined in section 52
17of chapter 111.
18 “Newly constructed building”, a building that has never before been used or occupied for
19any purpose.
20 “Substantially remodeled or rehabilitated”, a renovation that affects 50 per cent or more
21of the gross building floor area.
22 (b) Except as provided in this section and notwithstanding any general or special law,
23code, appendix to any code, ordinance or bylaw or any rule or regulation to the contrary, all
24newly constructed commercial buildings and substantially remodeled or rehabilitated
25commercial buildings and newly constructed buildings and substantially remodeled or
26rehabilitated buildings containing a residential dwelling unit shall use electricity instead of fossil
27fuels for space heating and cooling; cooking; and clothes drying; and, in the case of hot water,
28including for pools and spas, shall use electricity or thermal solar.
29 (c) (1) A newly constructed or substantially remodeled or rehabilitated biolab or hospital,
30unless granted a waiver pursuant to this section, shall comply with the emissions standards set
31forth in this subsection. 3 of 5
32 (2) Any such biolab or hospital shall, not later than the year 2050, have net 0 CO2e
33emissions.
34 (3) Any such biolab shall require a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
35system with a first stage of heating that does not use on-site fossil fuel combustion and which has
36a minimum heating capacity of 5 British thermal units (Btu) per hour per gross square foot or
37equal to the building’s design heating load, whichever is lower. Any additional stage of heating
38capacity above 5 Btu per hour per gross square foot may utilize on-site combustion, but only if
39the HVAC and building management systems are designed and programmed such that normal
40operation relies on the non-combustion system to serve all building heating loads as the first
41stage before using any on-site combustion heating systems to supplement in a subsequent stage.
42 (4) Any such hospital shall: (i) from the years 2025 to 2029 have CO2e emissions of no
43greater than 15.4 kilograms of CO2e per square foot per year; (ii) from the years 2030 to 2034
44have CO2e emissions of no greater than 10.0 kilograms of CO2e per square foot per year; (iii)
45from the years 2035 to 2039 have CO2e emissions of no greater than 7.4 kilograms of CO2e per
46square foot per year; (iv) from the years 2040 to 2044 have CO2e emissions of no greater than
474.9 kilograms of CO2e per square foot per year; and (v) from the years 2045 to 2049 have CO2e
48emissions of no greater than 2.4 kilograms of CO2e per square foot per year.
49 (d) The Department shall promulgate regulations regarding implementation of and
50compliance with this section, including but not limited to the use of renewable energy credits for
51compliance purposes, and including but not limited to periodic updates of the 5 Btu per hour per
52gross square foot standard for biolabs. 4 of 5
53 (e) Nothing in this section shall prevent a municipality from adopting a bylaw or
54ordinance regarding the reporting and CO2e emissions reduction requirements for existing
55hospitals, biolabs or other facilities.
56 (f)The requirements of this section shall not apply to any of the following:
57 (i) freestanding cooking appliances that are not connected to the building’s natural gas or
58propane infrastructure;
59 (ii) freestanding outdoor heating appliances that are not connected to the building’s
60natural gas or propane infrastructure;
61 (iii) emergency generators, back-up and stand-by power;
62 (iv) appliances to produce potable or domestic hot water from centralized hot water
63systems in buildings with a gross building floor area of at least 10,000 square feet; provided, that
64the architect, engineer or general contractor on the project certifies by affidavit that no
65commercially available electric hot water heater exists that could meet the required hot water
66demand for less than 150 per cent of installation costs, compared to a fossil fuel hot water
67system.
68 (g) The department may grant a waiver from the provisions of this section in the event
69that compliance with this section makes a project impractical to implement or imposes
70extraordinary challenges. Waiver requests shall be supported by a detailed explanation of the
71justification for such request and by the applicant’s proposal for limiting emissions to levels
72consistent with the goals specified in chapter 8 of the acts of 2021. 5 of 5
73 Waivers may be subject to reasonable conditions. Where possible, waivers shall be issued
74for specific portions of a project that are impractical to implement or impose extraordinary
75challenges, rather than for entire projects.
76 (h) By local bylaw or ordinance, a municipality may impose reasonable penalties for
77violations of this section.
78 SECTION 2. The requirements of this act shall take effect on January 1, 2025.