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Democrats Want To Ban Natural Gas For Homes
Democrats are pushing cities to phase out natural gas in homes. They cited concerns over the use of fossil fuels in homes that lead to climate change. However, Republican-led states are pushing back.
Major Democrat-led cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and New York are on the offensive. Lawmakers proposed or enacted measures calling for a ban or discouraging the use of natural gas in homes.
The attempts to enact these measures increased after Berkeley, California, passed the first ban in 2019.
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Bans Against Bans Over Natural Gas In Homes
They have either enacted or proposed measures to ban or discourage the use of fossil fuel in new homes and buildings, two years after Berkeley, Calif., passed the first such prohibition in the U.S. in 2019.
In turn, Republican states such as Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and Louisiana enacted laws outlawing natural gas prohibitions at the municipal level.
The states managed to get these laws out before the prohibition movement against natural gas spreads to other towns.
Republicans argue that banning natural gas in homes is too restrictive and costly to implement. Another state, Ohio, is considering a similar measure.
The Case For Reducing Use of Natural Gas In Homes
Whoever wins the battle between Democrats and Republicans over natural gas can shape the future of the utility industry. It can also affect the consumption of natural gas in the US, which is the world’s leading producer.
Proponents of removing natural gas from homes insist that doing so reduces global warming over time. Switching to electrical heating and cooking means fully electrified homes.
These, in turn, can secure power from wind and solar farms which are increasing in numbers. Ultimately, this makes the US power grid “cleaner” and free from fossil fuels.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, homes and businesses account for 13% of greenhouse gases emitted by the US annually.
Natural gas is used extensively for cooking, heating, and washing, and drying clothes. Climate activists insist that reducing fossil fuel use in homes is needed in order to greatly minimize carbon emissions in the coming decades.
The Case Against Reducing Use of Natural Gas In Homes
Meanwhile, pro-natural gas advocates say that transitioning to an all-electric setup will mean higher costs. Since most existing homes already have electrical layouts, homeowners will need to install new wiring to power heaters, cooking equipment, and washers.
However, this leaves many houses at a disadvantage when the power goes out, especially during winter or hurricanes. In addition, many house owners and professional cooks overwhelmingly prefer gas-fired stoves.
Already, retrofitting homes to an all-electric setup is an expensive endeavor. In fact, a recent study by the San Francisco city government found that retrofitting all housing units that now use natural gas would cost between $3.4 billion and $5.9 billion. Expectedly, the costs will fall mainly on residents, with some subsidies from the city.
Impact On Industry
In addition, the shift to electricity can impact the bottom lines of natural gas delivery systems currently in service.
Many sections face the possibility of becoming stranded assets, which means they get shut down before fully recouping their costs.
In fact, the Environmental Defense Fund warned in 2019 that California can host a number of stranded assets over time. This can complicate efforts to shift away from gas by saddling customers with higher costs over time.
For some companies that supply both electricity and natural gas, they can face lesser hits to their bottom lines.
For those exclusively dealing with natural gas, the specter of slower growth or demand evaporation can put them out of business even before they get to break even.
Watch the Forbes video report where Steve Forbes explains why Biden’s war on gas and oil is a crippling pipe dream:
Loading ...Do you agree with phasing out natural gas in homes? Also, do you agree that fully electrifying homes are the future way to go?
Let us know what you think about electrification and natural gas. Share your comments below.
10 Comments
Biden & his Administration is loading their minds in America
Are you middle of the road democrats seeing what Biden is doing to this country? The list goes on how NUTS this guy is. Wake up and bring back a normal democrat to run for office and stop voting in the wild crazy policies that are wrecking this country. IMPEACH BIDEN AND CAMEL TOO
Does anybody know how to spell “hair-brained”?
And what about all the current ‘brown outs’? With natural gas gone, will they be black outs? I seriously doubt that all the solar and wind power will make up for the lost gas.
As a professor on engineering and a thermodynamicist, I want to add two more arguments for the use of natural gas, both in homes and in power production.
1) Electricity is a very refined form of energy. It takes three units of fuel heat to make one unit of electricity (power plants typically are about 1/3 efficient). Therefore, at your kitchen stove, the option of is to burn one unit of natural gas heat on the stove or one unit of electricity which required three units of natural gas at the power plant. Electricity was invented to run motors, which heat cannot do. It is a thermodynamic nightmare to convert electricity back to heat!
2) Calls for reducing the use of natural gas as a fuel because it can be replaced by renewable electricity is putting the cart before the horse. 60% of the electricity in the US uses natural gas or coal as the fuel source. Replacing natural gas as a household or a power production fuel means a bigger demand for coal, natural gas, or nuclear produced electricity. Burning coal produces 100 times the atmospheric CO2 (per therm) than natural gas.
The fact is – we need a hydrogen economy and natural gas is the hydrogen fuel. Whereas coal is 98 parts carbon, natural gas is 20% carbon. Primarily, what burns in natural gas is hydrogen. It is the hydrogen fuel. Natural gas is the hydrogen economy.
There is a huge difference between hydrogen based fossil fuels and carbon based fossil fuels. Environmentalists need to understand this and not lump all fossil fuels in the ‘to be discontinued’ category.
I just can’t believe that there are no longer any sane people in the Democratic community. As I age the people of this country who vote for these insane democrats and their idea’s can’t be this ignorant. Has our public school system become so infiltrated by the teachers that are brain dead? I wish these people would go to a 3rd world country and try to push their ideals and see how long they would last. Just talk to the people who came to our country legally and love their new country and don’t quite get these people that are trying to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY. Really ! No natural gas homes? What do these people drink to come up with these ideas? Why would anyone follow California’s ideals? Look how great its doing.
Were the dems born this stupid or are they just working at it.
Forget expensive, this is for control. The World Economic Forum has already said that they expect a power grid shut down in the not too far future. Once everyone is dependent on electricity, we will be stuck home and not able to cook, or heat our homes. It may not be for a long time, but enough for people to scream for something to be done, and that is when they will unveil globalism, and eventually a one world order. And you know who brings that…
Australians jokingly call environmentalists “watermelons”; because they’re “green” on the outside but “red” on the inside.
This is not about the environment. This is about downgrading the lifestyle of the average American, while all the elites continue to fly around in their private jets and cruise around on their private yachts (powered by not one, but two diesel engines)
Biden made a deal 2017 to sale natural gas to China .china wants it all.
Yes ppl will freeze wen the power goes out
byden will claim act of terrorist