Seattle's new Mayor, Katie Wilson and I share more than a few things in common. We're both parents to toddlers. Scandalously, our children's grandmothers help cover a portion of sky-high Seattle daycare costs (though my daughter's 2026 daycare cost hike just swallowed my in-laws' contribution). We're also among the roughly 50 percent of city residents who rent.
Seattle renters contribute less to climate-warming pollution, on average, than homeowners. Renters in the city are nearly twice as likely to heat their homes with clean electricity as homeowners, more than half of whom burn natural gas for warmth. Seattle renters occupy smaller homes, with more people in them, than residents who own where they live. Renters are six times more likely than homeowners to get around Seattle without a car. (I feel optimistic that Katie Wilson, with her transit background, will do everything she can to make the city safer and easier to navigate for bikers and walkers. This is one of the best climate bets she can make.)
Ironically, though, Seattleites who rent are excluded from enjoying many of the upsides of the clean energy revolution.
Renters cannot lessen our rising electricity bills by adding solar panels to our rooftops. We cannot rip out our gas stoves in favor of healthier, better performing induction cooktops and ranges. We'd be laughed at, at best, if we asked our landlords to remove our baseboard heaters or gas furnaces and shell out tens of thousands of dollars for more efficient heat pumps.
At least, we can't cash in yet. Mayor Wilson could change that.
Mayor Wilson enjoys an unusual opportunity among her peers: the city she runs owns its electric utility. One of the largest municipal utilities in the United States, Seattle City Light could make or break the city's climate goals. It could also create new ways for renters to participate in the clean energy economy.
With Katie Wilson installed in City Hall, City Light could launch US-leading heat pump, induction stove, and plug-in solar programs. For those of us forking over hefty rent checks every month, the mayor could let us in on cost-saving—and emissions-lowing—clean energy action.
Converting homes from low-efficiency electric furnaces or baseboards (the most common heating sources for Seattle's renters) to high-efficiency heat pumps would lower monthly heating bills by reducing electricity use by up to 75 percent. More efficient electric rentals would also free up space on City Light's grid to connect the thousands of homes and businesses in Seattle currently burning fossil fuels, thereby reducing the likelihood that the utility will have to buy expensive, dirty energy in the event of an energy supply crunch. (Most of the United States' electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, whereas roughly 90 percent of City Light's power sources are carbon-free.)
For the minority of renters who burn gas for heat (including yours truly), upgrading to heat pumps would loosen our yoke to the fossil fuel price roller coaster. Plus, heat pumps also cool; half of Seattle renters lack air conditioning, compared to just a quarter of the city's homeowners, a figure with potentially deadly consequences as the region's summers grow hotter.
Heat pumps are, however, basically impossible for Seattle's renters to access. No renter will succeed in convincing their landlords to shell out the $15,000 to $20,000 the appliances cost. And renters are unlikely to afford the systems themselves even if a landlord consented to associated renovations. Seattle's renting households earned less than half the median income of homeowning households in 2024.
Under Mayor Wilson's leadership, Seattle City Light could launch an ambitious program to front the cost of heat pumps for renters. Renters would pay a monthly service fee to enjoy the equipment, but the electricity savings from the upgrade would offset the fee. In other words, electricity bills would go down while comfort would go up.
In these types of program...