Trade-offs of natural gas versus electricity with different methods of generating electricity (solar, furnace)

[Those Who Squirm]

In some cities, there has grown a movement to ban appliances that use natural gas, at least in new construction. In a few places, recently enacted city ordinances have gone further, and will require ratepayers to replace their gas appliances at some point in the near future.

Is swapping out gas stoves for electric stoves always a net gain, environmentally speaking?

What if the power used to generate the electricity is dirtier than the natural gas used in a stove?

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

...recently enacted city ordinances have gone further,
and will require ratepayers to replace their gas appliances at some point in the near future.

Is swapping out gas stoves for electric stoves (ever) a net gain, environmentally speaking?

Nope. It's all just a big scam.
It's only AFTER that gas stove no longer works and REQUIRES replacement (almost never btw as the older equip is repairable)
that the question can even come up in a 'shopping' context when you go to the store and CAN't buy gas.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

In some cities, there has grown a movement to ban appliances that use natural gas, at least in new construction. In a few places, recently enacted city ordinances have gone further, and will require ratepayers to replace their gas appliances at some point in the near future.

Is swapping out gas stoves for electric stoves always a net gain, environmentally speaking?

What if the power used to generate the electricity is dirtier than the natural gas used in a stove?

While most is hydro, much of our electricity is produced using natural gas. Our furnace, water heater and stove are all natural gas, as is one of our fireplaces.

[Phil P]

Unless someone can point to huge health risks of gas combustion, the raw emissions are negligible. 1 degree on your thermostat would be more impactful.

[guidoLaMoto]

^^

Yea, the "health risks" are a complete lie-- http://www.scientificintegrityinstit...CJEE110317.pdf

There is no problem in realty with "particulate matter" in the air, and natural gas-- 97% methane-- burns efficiently to all co2 & h2o- the two main building blocks of life. There is no soot or particulates with NG.. The amount of CO given off by furnaces and ranges is infinitesimal if the appliances are properly tuned.

Turning the thermostat down saves a remarkable amount of fuel, but those smart thermostats programmed to turn down the furnace for periods at nite or while you're at work are counter-productive-- it takes more fuel to "accelerate" the temp back up than you save by turning it down. Cf- wasting gas with jack rabbit starts in your car.

BTW- using grid electricity in place of fossil fuels at Point of Service applications like cooking or heating is inherently inefficient thanks to the 2nd Law-- It takes more fuel to generate & transmit electricity to perform some given task than to just use the energy released from the fuel directly to do the work....

...Outlawing gas furnace & ranges would work if the power were generated by hydro , PV or wind, but those will never be able to supply enough power by themselves. (We won't bring up the fact that you wouldn't be able to manufacture the alternate sources without fossil fuel, or that this administration has just ordered several hydro dams to be shut down "for the benefit of the environment"..???)

[victimofGM]

In the push for solar and wind power, requiring homes to stop using natural gas is stupid. I firmly believe the true reason for this push is the all out hatred towards the oil and gas industry by hard core leftist environmentalists.

A home and business using natural gas takes a strain of the electrical grid. We have natural gas central heat, stove, water heater, and an available gas connection for our clothes dryer. When we moved here we already had a good working condition electric dryer and there was an available electrical connection so we kept our electric dryer. Winter months we have a much lower electric bill thanks to the gas heat. It’s also when we use our stove and oven more often because of summer heat in south Louisiana. All of those things would be a huge drain on the electrical grid if they were all electric.

Now consider restaurants and hospitals. Restaurants and hospital cafeterias don’t turn on their stoves and ovens when they open for business. Those equipment are turned on more than an hour before opening and not turned off until all food service ends for the day. Imagine the electrical drain if all of those stoves and ovens are all electric. The hospital where I work uses natural gas for heating and sterilizing surgical equipment. We use natural gas to generate steam for heating (air and water) and for sterilization of surgical instruments. We use diesel and natural gas for emergency generators.

[stephenMM]

The only reason I could see for changing any of our home regulations is because newer homes appear to be sealed more. Mostly because they're new, maybe only marginally due to better sealing itself. So a little gas leakage could be a safety issue. Even gas water heaters have been known to explode and take out half a house when they get lit up. I'm pretty sure an electric one won't. Any structure that caters to seniors should be all electric too because of the obvious reasons.

[guidoLaMoto]

^^^ You're getting into the area of increasing efforts with diminishing returns...

How many water heaters explode every year? How many people are asphyxiated because they left the gas on accidently?

Should we all always wear tin foil hats just in case the Martians are bombarding us with microwaves?

You can only reduce risks. You can never eliminate them. When the risk is already infinitesimally low, there's no reason to go to great expense to lower it a little more.

My grandfather told me there was really an 11th Commandment: Never give a Jew a match...Why is that Gramps, I asked him?...Because, he answered, when I was a kid, all the houses were frame, lit by oil lamps, heated with wood burning stoves and full of 8 kids in a family running around like monkeys at play, and nobody ever had a house fire...But-- every shop (Jewish merchants) up and down Division St (Chicago) had a fire sale every year.

[elnina]

It's not going to happen anytime soon, so no need to worry.

[GraniteStater]

Two stage heat pumps are much more efficient than natural gas for home HVAC, and my electricity comes mostly from the electric coop that has mostly renewable sources.