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“it’s disappointing the Ninth Circuit held that Berkeley, like many other cities around the country, cannot take common-sense measures to protect its constituen
by xiphias2 4y ago
“it’s disappointing the Ninth Circuit held that Berkeley, like many other cities around the country, cannot take common-sense measures to protect its constituents from climate change.”
I'm all for getting rid of nat gas heating, and I wouldn't install it in a new home, but that doesn't mean that I believe that I would be protected from climate change because of it.
- kova12 4y ago> I'm all for getting rid of nat gas heating, and I wouldn't install it in a new home... Does that also apply if your new house is in Alaska?
- kube-system 4y agoHomes in Alaska use natural gas for heating at about the same rate as the national average. Fuel oil is the overrepresented heating fuel there.
- seb1204 4y agoStraw man
- operatingthetan 4y agoI don't agree with their line of thinking but that's not even remotely a strawman.
- xiphias2 4y agoProbably not, but we're talking about moderate climate (you couldn't pay me enough to move to Alaska). And of course I'm talking about a modern heat pump, not direct electric heating. ,,Heat pumps are generally more efficient than gas furnaces, but their efficiency may be affected by colder temperatures'' - Google search
- encoderer 4y agoYeah it’s really sad. Treating your constituents like idiots is supposed to be something the other side does.
- VintageCool 4y agoThat isn't quite fair. Most of these selections about what goes into a new house are not being made a la carte. The construction is performed according to the specifications of development companies. Individuals then go on to buy the homes which are available, at which point they are making choices based on the entire package. The city's ban is largely aimed at changing the design specifications made by the developers. It has the benefit of preventing additional decades of lock-in and new development to infrastructure they'd like to remove anyway.
- lolinder 4y agoTreating their constituents like idiots is something all politicians do—it's just harder to see it in the ones who've convinced you that they're on your team.
- emodendroket 4y agoI mean, not to a meaningful degree, but it seems like reducing the use of natural gas is a reasonable thing to seek to do.
- ars 4y agoNo it's not, especially if you replace natural gas with burning coal for electricity. Until the last coal plant shuts down, it makes zero sense to ban natural gas.
- inferiorhuman 4y agoNobody's burning coal for heat at home or at their business which is what the ban was about.
- mkskm 4y ago> No it's not, especially if you replace natural gas with burning coal for electricity. Berkeley has been transitioning businesses and residents to majority and most recently 100% renewable energy for years. > Until the last coal plant shuts down, it makes zero sense to ban natural gas. This is nonsense. Every year the % of renewable energy increases it makes more sense to electrify than it did previously. It's a lot easier to change the energy source for a power grid than it is to rip out all existing gas infrastructure.
- Johnny555 4y agoCalifornia’s grid only gets around 3% of its power from coal (that includes imports, only 0.2% of in-state generation is coal) https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2021-total-system-electric-generation https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/califo...
- Karrot_Kream 4y agoAnswered in a sibling comment. Berkeley is dominantly solar during the day and dominantly natgas at night. There's very little coal in California whatsoever.
- 4y ago