California Moves To Ban Natural Gas Furnaces / Heaters

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And then there's this:


Not to mention a recent article I read on Google news stating that charging electric cars at night is DESTABILISING the power grid!
They now wish everyone can charge the car at work or otherwise during the day. (Somebody needs to re-think the electric pricing structure)

https://studyfinds.org/electric-cars-charged-at-night-grid-unstable/


Anyway, those that think they can deal with all of these things by mandating compliance, has probably driven themselves nuts at this point.

Not saying what you read is or isn't factual. I will say this-just like on this forum when it comes to EVs there is a lot of "agenda pushing" News (fake or otherwise) and anti EV posts/threads on here.
 
Not saying what you read is or isn't factual. I will say this-just like on this forum when it comes to EVs there is a lot of "agenda pushing" News (fake or otherwise) and anti EV posts/threads on here.
Considering that EVs themselves are "agenda pushing", seems pretty relevant how much power they'd consume on already taxed grids.

Add on electric heat and pretend that nature isn't going to keep making the methane anyway... I mean that which is underground rather than man-made, since we aren't hooking up a system of pipes to catch cow farts, so that isn't part of this equation.
 
Of course NY is quite cold and populated - but are also banning NG in new construction ...
Many, many, MW's of "green energy" needs a backup and that does not make it as cheap nor clean as claimed... (and it's got a larger left and right footprint on the soil and/or the water) ... Further, surface mineral extraction is not pretty - hope folks realize that and keep batteries allocated for mobile use ... (then, there is the after life for the batteries etc) ...

Where did you get that from? All the new construction around here is NG unless you are in to woods and there are no service lines. And those are oil or LP or like me, a mix of both. When my 19 year old furnace craps out I'm moving to LP. Along with pellet stove, LP fireplace insert, and LP heat for the 3rd floor, all good.
 
Where did you get that from? All the new construction around here is NG unless you are in to woods and there are no service lines. And those are oil or LP or like me, a mix of both. When my 19 year old furnace craps out I'm moving to LP. Along with pellet stove, LP fireplace insert, and LP heat for the 3rd floor, all good.

I figured the point at which it would be cheaper to use electricity at 12 cents/kwh to heat (straight resistance heating, not a heatpump) and it's about when LP exceeds something like $3.80 a gallon. I don't remember the exact number since I figured it out a while ago.
 
I figured the point at which it would be cheaper to use electricity at 12 cents/kwh to heat (straight resistance heating, not a heatpump) and it's about when LP exceeds something like $3.80 a gallon. I don't remember the exact number since I figured it out a while ago.

Aren't you forgetting to factor in the efficiency rating? I just filled my LP tanks at $2.79/gal. We use a cooktop, dryer, and a fireplace insert. All 3 are highly efficient. The insert is insane how little it used last winter (installed Jan 2022) and the heat output is (y). Along with a pellet stove this set up really saved me a lot of $$ last winter.
 
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Aren't you forgetting to factor in the efficiency rating? I just filled my LP tanks at $2.79/gal. We use a cooktop, dryer, and a fireplace insert. All 3 are highly efficient. The insert is insane how little it used last winter (installed Jan 2022) and the heat output is (y). Along with a pellet stove this set up really saved me a lot of $$ last winter.

I took efficiency into account, figuring a 90% AFUE furnace. And I compared it with the most inefficient way to heat with electricity, resistance heating.

In the real world, you might be comparing an 80% AFUE furnace (still lots of them around, and I think they're still being made) with a heat pump, that typically runs at greater than 200% efficiency, making the breakeven point even lower.

Fireplace inserts are not known to be very efficient. I have an actual purpose-built propane fireplace (I do NOT use it for heating; I would use it in an emergency if the power is out for a long time) and it's probably not even 60% AFUE.

Cooking and drying aren't usually big energy users, so it likely doesn't really matter what you power them with. Heating is the big one.
 
Where did you get that from? All the new construction around here is NG unless you are in to woods and there are no service lines. And those are oil or LP or like me, a mix of both. When my 19 year old furnace craps out I'm moving to LP. Along with pellet stove, LP fireplace insert, and LP heat for the 3rd floor, all good.
As I understand ,NY was/is considering banning NG in new buildings. It has not passed but is/was under consideration. I suspect pushing such a thing will resume after election time.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/n-y-governor-backs-nations-first-statewide-gas-ban/
 
The combustion air they take from inside the house is made up with outside air, which tends to be cold air and which really lowers the humidity in the house. I guess you could call that an air quality problem if it's too dry.
'erg' energy recovery vent w/AFUE mathmatical match.
In more humid climate its the 'hrv'.
Ele is the most efficient heat as it's got a 1:1 relation (convenction, radiation, conduction).
 
'erg' energy recovery vent w/AFUE mathmatical match.
In more humid climate its the 'hrv'.
Ele is the most efficient heat as it's got a 1:1 relation (convenction, radiation, conduction).
Electric heat’s issue is the line losses between the plant-transformers, wire, thermal losses at the plant, etc. Heat pump is better at reasonable winter temps since heat is being moved from outside to indoors, in addition to heat generated by the compressor. Until it gets really cold and/or it defrosts…
 
Aren't you forgetting to factor in the efficiency rating? I just filled my LP tanks at $2.79/gal. We use a cooktop, dryer, and a fireplace insert. All 3 are highly efficient. The insert is insane how little it used last winter (installed Jan 2022) and the heat output is (y). Along with a pellet stove this set up really saved me a lot of $$ last winter.
Where do you get $2.79 LP. We are $1.00 more.
 
IMHO the best thing any Californian that still has a single brain cell left is to pack up and move. I was reading just yesterday CA is allowing human bodies to be used as fertilizer. These people have really lost the plot.

You read my mind. LONG gone to East Texas. Wondering why I waited until 43 to do it.
 
Anyone care to actually tackle why this is such a bad idea?

California is a big state, but in general, the climate doesn't require the heating needs of a gas-fueled furnace. That's hard for a midwestener or northeastener to understand, but population centers don't see -20F every winter. A heat pump is probably ideal and I'd be willing to bet most new homes have already gone that route.

Most major municipalities in California have already banned natural gas-fired appliances. A good portion of this already doesn't affect 80% of the population.

For a personal perspective, homes without a gas-fired furnace and appliances have much better indoor air quality. If I lived in a climate that supported it, I'd have gotten rid of my gas furnace long ago.

What about power outages? You use you furnace at completely different times and in a completely different manner than the *other* electricity hog: Air conditioning. A switch to electric heat (again, in the form of efficient heat pumps) will not have nearly the same electricity-usage impact as the already-existing maximum demand.

On the topic of power outages, it's not like they're exclusive to California. Ask Texas about how well their gas-fired state does in extreme weather. They seem to have trouble keeping the lights on and homes at a comfortable temperature with gas.
Not everyone in CA lives by the beach, where it would be rare to need heat in the winter.

There are plenty of California where there are mountains and see freezing temperatures. Electric baseboard heaters are expensive to operate, but can be supplemented with wood burning stoves or pellet stoves.

This picture was taken in Southern California, about 2 hours from the beach.

Driving in snow at big bear by thisistan, on Flickr
 
I figured the point at which it would be cheaper to use electricity at 12 cents/kwh to heat (straight resistance heating, not a heatpump) and it's about when LP exceeds something like $3.80 a gallon. I don't remember the exact number since I figured it out a while ago.
I too have done calculations on my three sources of heat, which include a 10 year old heat pump which operates to 27 F at which point it starts to do defrost cycles, LP which is burned in an on-demand boiler and provides in-floor hydronic heat in the basement and blown heat through a heat exchanger in the furnace, and a wood stove in the basement burning fir, for days I am home. Using last year’s numbers, the heat pump is cheapest, followed by propane, but if I’m home and the temp is below 27 F, I’ll make a wood fire. There is a real cost for wood, as I sometimes bring down a dead tree, but mostly pay the equivalent of $210 USD for a cord of split fir delivered but not stacked. I also have a propane fireplace but use it for ambience since my condensing boiler does a better job of distributing heat. Having said that, the propane fireplace and wood stove both work during our power outages that happen in this rural area.

My American Standard heat pump has been trouble free for 10 years except for a condenser I had to replace. My 10 year old Viesmann boiler however needed a new fire tube, new gas valve, new computer controlled fan, new ignition cord and several ignitors and new face plate for the chamber that was warped. Total was about $2500. The Regency fireplace still has the original fireplace bricks and burns hot and clean, exhausting through a double insulated stainless steel chimney vent. I find the gas fireplace thermocouple has to be cleaned once a year for the piezoelectric igniter to work.
 
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