Boulder’s All-Electric Building Mandate

Executive summary

Effective December 1, 2024, the City of Boulder requires all new residential construction to be 100% electric with zero exceptions. Three consequences follow: a material, ongoing cost premium passed through to tenants; a practical prohibition on assisted living facilities; and carbon reductions that, while real, are extraordinarily expensive.

The mandate avoids carbon at roughly $4,000 per ton — 21× the federal social cost of carbon of $190/ton — while imposing its full cost on new renters and developers rather than the 99%+ of existing buildings that are exempt.