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Two things: - That would have an immediate financial impact on people with gas boilers in a way that banning new gas appliances does not. This kind of thing wo

Two things: - That would have an immediate financial impact on people with gas boilers in a way that banning new gas appliances does not. This kind of thing would need to be rolled out very slowly over time if you want to avoid extreme backlash. Constraints on new construction don't have the same effects. (EDIT: Ah, you edited your comment to address this one - sure, if you can reliably distribute funds for lower-income people to replace their appliances then maybe. I bet you still get a lot of backlash from people who can afford it but don't want to though. Unless it's rolled out very slowly.) - Ultimately we need to get rid of the infrastructure piping all that gas around too, as that's where a lot of the climate impacts come from. Any new gas usage at all, whether for cooking or heating, makes it harder to do that.

sokoloff 4y ago
I just installed a new gas boiler (I wanted to go electric but it was massively economically disadvantageous). That thing is probably going to run for 20 years. If you have patience to wait a handful of decades, attacking gas stoves and waiting for trickle-up in consumer preferences to happen could be a good play. If you want faster change, tax and rebate is probably a better plan. Utilities already have the means to bill and tax fuel. Most already have conservation rebate schemes in place. Many already have low-income billing plans and rate cards (probably all have multiple rate cards). I think you could reliably administer a tax, rebate, and capital credit scheme using mostly existing mechanisms.
- ryukafalz 4y ago
  Rebates on appliances at least are happening: the Inflation Reduction Act has $4.5 billion set aside for rebates on new electric appliances. There's not a new tax at this point but I don't think tax/rebate and banning new gas installations are necessarily mutually exclusive. > I just installed a new gas boiler (I wanted to go electric but it was massively economically disadvantageous). That thing is probably going to run for 20 years. You're making a bet that gas will remain economically advantageous over electric for 20 years. I don't know about you, but the way the winds are shifting, that doesn't sound like a good bet.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    My electricity is ~53% in total and ~80% marginally in wintertime produced by natural gas. They're pretty correlated here and likely to remain so for a decade or more. If they do disconnect and electric becomes advantageous, I'll have saved money for likely a decade and can consider switching at that point. (It was capital costs that made it non-advantageous, not operating costs.)

sokoloff 4y ago

I just installed a new gas boiler (I wanted to go electric but it was massively economically disadvantageous). That thing is probably going to run for 20 years. If you have patience to wait a handful of decades, attacking gas stoves and waiting for trickle-up in consumer preferences to happen could be a good play. If you want faster change, tax and rebate is probably a better plan. Utilities already have the means to bill and tax fuel. Most already have conservation rebate schemes in place. Many already have low-income billing plans and rate cards (probably all have multiple rate cards). I think you could reliably administer a tax, rebate, and capital credit scheme using mostly existing mechanisms.

ryukafalz 4y ago
Rebates on appliances at least are happening: the Inflation Reduction Act has $4.5 billion set aside for rebates on new electric appliances. There's not a new tax at this point but I don't think tax/rebate and banning new gas installations are necessarily mutually exclusive. > I just installed a new gas boiler (I wanted to go electric but it was massively economically disadvantageous). That thing is probably going to run for 20 years. You're making a bet that gas will remain economically advantageous over electric for 20 years. I don't know about you, but the way the winds are shifting, that doesn't sound like a good bet.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  My electricity is ~53% in total and ~80% marginally in wintertime produced by natural gas. They're pretty correlated here and likely to remain so for a decade or more. If they do disconnect and electric becomes advantageous, I'll have saved money for likely a decade and can consider switching at that point. (It was capital costs that made it non-advantageous, not operating costs.)