1. Closing the door can save thousands of dollars annually for every retailer

• AC: According to Con Edison, a propped-open door drives 20 – 25 % more electricity and up to $1,000 extra on a single store’s summer bill just for AC.  NYC

• Heating: Cambridge University monitoring of two high-street shops found that shutting the door cut winter gas use 30 – 54 %. Close the Door

• In California, with average commercial rates of 24.2 ¢ / kWh and $1.63 / therm in 2024, one 10 000 ft² outlet that closes its door saves ≈ $1,900 in electricity + $1,600 in gas = $3,500 every year, before demand charges or peak-pricing penalties. EIA

2. Cuts California’s Energy Waste and CO₂

• California hosts ≈ 50 000 brick-and-mortar storefronts that belong to retail chains with at least five in-state locations (big-box, grocery, pharmacy, apparel, home-improvement, etc.; restaurants are exempt).

  • This is based on New York City’s Local Law 38 “five-store” trigger, which delivered 98 % compliance while covering the chains responsible for most HVAC use. Restaurants remain exempt because commercial-kitchen ventilation rules already dominate their energy profile. EIA

• Energy cut: Requiring this cohort to “keep it closed” trims ≈ 1.9 TWh of energy a year (1.86 TWh electricity plus the heat equivalent of 1.46 TWh). (Keep It Closed model built from DOE/CBECS retail EUIs.) 

• Using the CAMX grid intensity of 428 lb CO₂/MWh, the electric savings alone avoid ≈ 0.37 million t CO₂—the tail-pipe emissions of ~80 000 gasoline cars. EPA

• 1.9 TWh is roughly 0.6 % of all electricity sold in California—enough to power ~320 000 homes for a full year. California Energy Commission

3. Easily enforceable and with a 98% Compliance

• In NYC during the 2015 rollout of Local Law 38, inspectors hit 860 stores, issued 158 warnings, and wrote 15 tickets, a 98 % success rate on follow-up. NYC

• The first offense is a warning, and the second offense is $200 with a cap at $400, so enforcement still changes behaviour without being too costly. NYC

• New York City’s #BeCoolSaveFuel campaign handed out multilingual door decals and social-media toolkits. NYC

• Washington, D.C.’s “Shut the Front Door DC” ordinance applies the same close-the-door rule to all commercial properties (restaurants exempt), proving the model works even at different levels. doee.dc.gov

Keeping doors closed Cuts In-Store Pollution by One-Third, Keeping Everyone Comfortable

• Kings College London and Imperial College monitoring on Regent Street showed a ≈ 33 % drop in PM₂.₅, black carbon, and NO₂ the moment shop doors stayed shut. Close the Door

• Lower NO₂ means fewer diesel exhaust fumes, the very pollutants linked to thousands of cardiorespiratory deaths each year in dense corridors. Close the Door

• Keeping doors closed eliminates the need for energy-hungry air curtains that can consume 24 kWh per day and still fail to block street-level pollution. Close the Door