Northeastern governors may ban home furnaces that burn oil in order to meet greenhouse gas emission limits.
The governors are expected to approve “a blueprint for slashing carbon dioxide from cars — and perhaps home furnaces — by January,” reports
ClimateWire.
About half of Massachusetts 2 millions homes, for example, rely on oil heat. “Thousands of homes might have to replace oil furnaces with wood-burning heaters” or with heat from renewable electricity or natural gas, or upgrade furnaces to burning biofuels, ClimateWire reports.
New home furnaces cost between $3,000 to $5,000.
There would also be international trade implications from such a policy since about half of the region’s heating oil comes from Canadian tar sands.
