The surprising climate fix that Democrats and Republicans both love
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- Apartment buildings are heated electrically in 75% of new units, allowing them to run on rooftop solar or clean‑grid electricity instead of natural gas.
- Montana enacted a series of bills to expand multi‑family housing, a Republican‑led effort that indirectly supports climate goals.
- Alan Durning, executive director of Sightline Institute, called apartments “the climate solution hiding in plain sight.”
- Amanda D. Smith, senior scientist at Project Drawdown, notes that electric resistance heating has been used in 68% of apartments built since the early 1970s because it’s cheaper than gas piping.
- Apartment dwellers in downtown high‑rise buildings emit about one‑third the greenhouse gases of suburban detached‑house residents due to shared walls and smaller floor areas.
Why it matters: Apartment developers and renters gain lower energy costs as 75% of new units run on cheap electric heat, while natural‑gas utilities lose demand; the shift cuts household GHGs by two‑thirds, accelerating climate goals without new legislation.
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