As Philadelphia heads into another summer, we already know what is coming: extreme heat, unhealthy air, and likely more wildfire smoke drifting into the city. By now, it should be clear that climate change and air pollution are not separate problems. Philadelphia is dealing with both at the same time.

The city has a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, but no serious public plan for what that goal means for Philadelphia Gas Works.

That plan should start with electrification — a safer, cleaner option to gas powering homes and buildings. When you burn fuel in your home — or any building — you are exposing that building’s occupants to unnecessary air pollution in an enclosed space. Cleaner and safer electric technologies like heat pumps, geothermal, and electric water heaters are out there. But converting buildings from gas to electric power can be difficult — and expensive.

Philadelphia can and should make it easier and more affordable for homes and large buildings to move away from gas, oil, and propane — and PGW should be part of, not an obstacle to, that effort.

Recent state investments show what that transition can look like.

Through the Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions in Pennsylvania (RISE PA) program, Pennsylvania is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into projects that reduce pollution, cut energy costs, create jobs, and lower greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Many of those projects focus on electrification and clean energy. Philadelphia should follow that lead.

Cleaner air is not an abstract goal, it’s an urgent public health issue.

Philadelphia has done this before. In 1926, PGW helped the city become one of the first in the country to actively replace coal-fired hot water heaters with gas-powered heaters. Now, 100 years later, Philadelphia has the chance to lead again by ushering in modern electric technologies to replace outdated fossil fuels in homes and large buildings.

PGW is the largest municipally owned gas utility in the country. It cannot turn into a clean energy company overnight. It has 1,600 workers, 6,000 miles of pipeline, and a business model built around selling gas. But that is exactly why the city needs a plan now. The longer Philadelphia avoids this question, the harder it becomes to answer.

The case for electrification is especially strong in large buildings. Hospitals, dorms, universities, and apartment buildings use enormous amounts of energy for heat and hot water. Many still burn not just gas, but propane and fuel oil too. That pollution does not disappear once it leaves a boiler room. It ends up in the air Philadelphians breathe.

Cleaner air is not an abstract goal, it’s an urgent public health issue. The American Lung Association recently gave Philadelphia an “F” grade for all three of its measures of air quality. Bad air makes respiratory illness, including asthma, worse. Children, seniors, and people with existing health conditions pay the highest price.

PGW should help move Philadelphia in a better direction. The utility already runs programs that could be expanded to support electric appliances. Its Parts and Labor Plan covers electric air conditioners. Its EnergySense program already includes variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pumps. The basic idea is not radical; PGW has already started down this road.

Now it should go further. PGW should expand those programs to cover electric water heaters and other non-polluting technologies, at both residential and commercial levels. That would give homeowners, landlords, and institutions a more practical path away from fossil-fuel heating.

The city has a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, but no serious public plan for what that goal means for Philadelphia Gas Works.

This is especially important for large buildings, which are some of the biggest energy users in Philadelphia. We cannot ignore how these buildings are heated and how they heat their water.

While we may not need space heating during muggy, polluted summer days, we still heat water.

Switching away from boilers and furnaces that burn gas, oil, and propane to electric heat pumps and water heaters would cut pollution and improve health on the smoggiest summer days. It could also reduce permitting burdens for both building owners and the city.

None of this means PGW can flip a switch and become a clean energy company. It means the utility should stop clinging to a past that Philadelphia cannot afford.

A real transition plan would start with the workforce and infrastructure PGW already has, while making room for the utility to support electrification. It would give the utility a role in helping people electrify their homes and buildings. And it would treat cleaner air as something worth building toward, not just talking about after another sweltering, smoky summer.

Philadelphia says it wants a healthier, lower-carbon future, but it should be clear about what that future means for PGW.

Right now, the city has a goal. This is the start of a plan.

Alex Bomstein is Executive Director of Clean Air Council.

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.

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