A Baltimore-based nonprofit group originally formed to tackle lead poisoning is shifting its focus toward eliminating fossil-fueled appliances in homes to improve safety and reduce health risks. The Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), which previously concentrated on removing lead hazards, argues that replacing gas and oil-powered furnaces, water heaters, and stoves with electric alternatives can help lower asthma and injury risks, while also aiding older residents on fixed incomes in maintaining their homes.
GHHI reported that 71 percent of Baltimore’s homes still rely on fossil fuels for heating and cooking. To demonstrate the benefits of full home electrification, the organization upgraded four city residences between 2022 and 2024, converting them entirely from gas to electric power. Funded through a combination of city, state, and federal grants, each home received heat pumps, electric water heaters, induction stoves, along with weatherization, insulation, safety repairs, and electrical system improvements.
Out of the four renovated homes, three owners realized average annual utility savings of $1,500. The one homeowner who saw utility costs rise had previously lacked fully operational gas heating and water heating systems. GHHI policy director Wynn Tucker emphasized that while high-efficiency electric appliances typically involve higher upfront installation costs, they generally offer lower operating expenses over time, a crucial factor for many Baltimore residents.
One beneficiary, 71-year-old retired teacher Sherry Frazier of Cedonia, reported significant utility savings—up to $275 in some months—after upgrading her home through GHHI. Alongside new electric appliances, she received solar panels and home repairs including a fixed porch banister and mold remediation. Frazier said she previously feared losing her home due to costly maintenance issues but now feels safer and healthier with improved air quality, despite the changes being largely imperceptible.
Research cited by GHHI highlights the health risks associated with gas appliances. Household combustion of natural gas contributes to indoor pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and benzene—known to increase cancer risk. Gas stoves alone are linked to roughly 12 percent of childhood asthma cases nationwide, affecting approximately 50,000 children. While furnaces and water heaters emit greater amounts of pollutants, they typically vent these outside; however, these emissions still contribute to outdoor air pollution affecting the broader community.
A 2023 Maryland Department of the Environment report identified residential natural gas appliances as the eighth largest source of nitrogen oxides in the Baltimore area, releasing over three tons of these harmful gases daily. Exposure to nitrogen oxides is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular damage, including exacerbation of asthma symptoms.
Environmental disparities are also evident, with people of color in Maryland exposed to 60 percent more indoor air pollution from gas appliances compared to other populations, according to a 2021 study by RMI, a clean energy nonprofit.
Despite rises in electric rates, which increased 13 percent in the past year, the cost of natural gas has surged more sharply—up 50 percent in the same period and tripling since 2010—due in part to aging infrastructure and a shrinking customer base.
In 2024, Maryland Governor Wes Moore issued an executive order directing the state Department of the Environment to develop a zero-emission heating standard for homes and businesses, expected to be implemented by 2029. However, funding for electrification assistance faces uncertainty. Federal tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades expired at the end of 2025 after being expanded in 2022, and the Maryland Public Service Commission is reviewing proposals to reduce the EmPOWER program, which finances many energy efficiency and electrification initiatives through a surcharge on residential electric bills. GHHI officials caution that cuts to EmPOWER could undermine long-term energy savings and environmental benefits; the program reportedly helped reduce summer peak electricity demand by 600 megawatts in 2024.