Heat Pumps or Natural Gas: What do British Columbians prefer in their homes?

There's a new Ipsos poll that finds most British Columbians want a choice between heat pumps and natural gas or maybe even a combination of both when it comes to heating their homes. So let's talk about this with Barry Penner, the chair of the Energy Futures Institute, on what this means for you when it comes to things like affordability and energy security and even trying to reach BC's lofty climate targets. First and foremost, Barry, welcome to the program.

Good afternoon, Rob. Happy Thanksgiving.

You as well. Your Ipsos poll found that 61% of British Columbians support letting builders choose electricity, natural gas, or in some cases, a combination of both when it comes to their heating. What does that tell us about where this public is on this particular issue?

I think overall the public's quite pragmatic and they like to have choice and a backup plan because we know, especially with winter storms, we can lose our electricity for periods of time. So it's nice to know you can keep yourself warm with an alternative fuel source. But the reason this is relevant is a number of municipalities have already moved locally to essentially prohibit the use of natural gas as a heating option through their building codes And provincially, the BC government's current policy is to make that mandatory across the province by 2030. So that's just a little over three years ago. Three years in the future, I mean. So that's really just around the corner.

I'm curious to know, heat pumps can cut energy use and they can provide air conditioning in summer, but the upfront costs and the cold weather performance are concerns for a lot of homeowners. I know all about this because challenges in my house as we speak, but why do you believe that natural gas or hybrid systems should remain a part of EC's housing future?

Well, BC Hydro itself has referenced the ability of a hybrid system using both natural gas combined with a heat pump could reduce electricity demand by about 75% during winter peak periods. And that's what they have to build for and borrow billions of dollars for and charge us for through our electricity rates. So if they can avoid 75% of that peak demand, That's a huge savings for all of us eventually. But again, the current provincial policy is that by 2030, new building, new construction from houses to townhomes to apartments to office buildings won't have that option. They're being told they have to use electricity only. which, according to BC Hydro's own numbers, will result in a significant increase in electricity usage, and therefore they're going to have to build and borrow a lot more money, and eventually we get to pay for that in our electricity rates.

You know, the poll was commissioned by Energy Futures Institute, and you do advocate for energy choice. How do you respond to those critics who say that the results reflect the organization's perspective rather than perhaps a neutral view on this debate?

We hired Ipsos because of their reputation for calling it straight. And I note that Ipsos is the official pollster for Global News. So Global hires Ipsos for the same reasons we do. We want to know the correct information on what people are really