This week in buildings, land, and industry decarbonization news, NetZero Insider’s K Kauffman wrote about a new “challenge” from the Department of Energy to roll out more cold weather heat pumps. Eight firms are working with DOE, which is pushing for heat pumps that can keep homes warm at temperatures of 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or even lower. DOE’s effort come as sales of the electric appliances have slumped. 

 
The Washington Post ran a story on that slump, which is happening here and over in Europe. The story points to the housing market as the main reason, as homes need to be updated every 15 years or so, meaning countries just got over a large demand for retrofits from the housing bubble that popped in 2008. Now the stock of homes most in need of upgrades like heat pumps is from the post-2008 slowdown. 

Pv magazine covered a study out of Germany showing that air-source heat pumps are among the cheapest home heating options. The study looked at 13 different heating systems and how they operate in a typical German two-story home, finding natural gas heat is also affordable. 

Efforts by Montgomery County, Maryland, to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings starting in 2026 are running into legal challenges, Bloomberg Law reports. Business groups have filed other lawsuits against similar laws after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Berkeley, California’s policy in a decision last year. 

Switching gears to industrial decarbonization, Canary Media wrote about a town in Utah that could swap jobs in coal mining for those making low-emissions cement. Magna used to be home to a major coal plant fueling a nearby copper mine, but that has since shuttered. Now Terra CO2 Technology is getting $52.6 million from the federal government to help set up a cement factory using waste rocks from the copper mine. 

Read more stories in this week’s Intelligence Report: