- 24 Sep 2022 18:20
#15248334
California will ban the sale of gas furnace heaters and water heaters, expecting people to replace them with electric powered heat pumps, and apparently electric heating elements for water heaters.
"This week, California implemented a plan aimed at phasing out the use of natural gas heating appliances throughout the state by 2030. The new proposal was passed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The decision was passed unanimously. It cements the state as the first to ban natural gas heaters and furnaces."
California first state to ban natural gas heaters and furnaces, The Hill, Gianna Melillo, September 23, 2022
"The primary goal of this measure is to reduce emissions from new residential and commercial space and water heaters sold in California. CARB would set an emission standard for space and water heaters to go into effect in 2030. Through meaningful engagement with communities and the process outlined below, CARB would adopt a statewide zero-emission standard which would have criteria pollutant benefits as a key result along with GHG reductions. Beginning in 2030, 100 percent of sales of new space heaters and water heaters would need to comply with the emission standard. CARB would design any such standard in collaboration with energy and building code regulators."
Proposed 2022 State Strategy for the State Implementation Plan August 12, 2022, page 101,
Zero-Emission Standard for Space and Water Heater
If you read further, part of the plan is to provide subsidies for lower income households to reduce the impact on them of the cost increases. But these will of course end up being paid by other households.
The state already has implemented "progressive tiered" pricing for its electric utilities, where customers are charged differently per unit of electricity depending on how much electricity the household uses and what their income level is.
Right now, only 33.6 percent of the energy on the state's electric grid comes from renewable sources.
50 percent of the state's electric power is produced by natural gas burning power plants.
Isn't California getting a little ahead of itself? Banning things, trying to force everyone to convert over to electric, when the state has not even been able to convert all its electric supply yet to renewable energy? Maybe it's because simply banning things doesn't cost the state government any money, whereas actually building renewable energy is a huge and expensive state investment?
I actually think that trying to convert to heat pumps for space heating actually makes sense in most parts of the state, due to winters being relatively mild, and the fact that heat pumps can double as air conditioning. In the state's climate, this is appropriate. However, higher up in some mountain areas the winters can get colder, and in many of these areas people rely on large propane tanks due to the remote location. And in some of these more remote locations that get lots of snowfall, it can be more common for there to be power outages. Heat pumps may not operate quite as well and do not operate as efficiently when the outside temperatures are very cold (below about 40 or 45°F).
For water heaters, I do not think electric energy is a good idea. That usually requires heating elements (of the type found in common small space heaters). Heat pumps would have difficulty creating the high temperatures required for hot water. It takes a huge amount of electric power to create heat. Heat pumps are not too bad because they are able to pump the heat that outside cold air contains and move it inside to create warmth, using about 4 times less electric power to create warmth than a heater that uses an electric heating element.
With current electric prices in California, it would cost $876 per year in electricity for an electric water heater.
With the older gas water heaters, you can still take hot showers and hot baths if the electric power stops working. Electric outages are probably 15 times more common than the gas ever needing to be shut off.
This seems kind of authoritarian to me, taking away individual choice, raising costs, combined with a bunch of stupid--a policy that is not really well thought out, even considering its intended goal.
"This week, California implemented a plan aimed at phasing out the use of natural gas heating appliances throughout the state by 2030. The new proposal was passed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The decision was passed unanimously. It cements the state as the first to ban natural gas heaters and furnaces."
California first state to ban natural gas heaters and furnaces, The Hill, Gianna Melillo, September 23, 2022
"The primary goal of this measure is to reduce emissions from new residential and commercial space and water heaters sold in California. CARB would set an emission standard for space and water heaters to go into effect in 2030. Through meaningful engagement with communities and the process outlined below, CARB would adopt a statewide zero-emission standard which would have criteria pollutant benefits as a key result along with GHG reductions. Beginning in 2030, 100 percent of sales of new space heaters and water heaters would need to comply with the emission standard. CARB would design any such standard in collaboration with energy and building code regulators."
Proposed 2022 State Strategy for the State Implementation Plan August 12, 2022, page 101,
Zero-Emission Standard for Space and Water Heater
If you read further, part of the plan is to provide subsidies for lower income households to reduce the impact on them of the cost increases. But these will of course end up being paid by other households.
The state already has implemented "progressive tiered" pricing for its electric utilities, where customers are charged differently per unit of electricity depending on how much electricity the household uses and what their income level is.
Right now, only 33.6 percent of the energy on the state's electric grid comes from renewable sources.
50 percent of the state's electric power is produced by natural gas burning power plants.
Isn't California getting a little ahead of itself? Banning things, trying to force everyone to convert over to electric, when the state has not even been able to convert all its electric supply yet to renewable energy? Maybe it's because simply banning things doesn't cost the state government any money, whereas actually building renewable energy is a huge and expensive state investment?
I actually think that trying to convert to heat pumps for space heating actually makes sense in most parts of the state, due to winters being relatively mild, and the fact that heat pumps can double as air conditioning. In the state's climate, this is appropriate. However, higher up in some mountain areas the winters can get colder, and in many of these areas people rely on large propane tanks due to the remote location. And in some of these more remote locations that get lots of snowfall, it can be more common for there to be power outages. Heat pumps may not operate quite as well and do not operate as efficiently when the outside temperatures are very cold (below about 40 or 45°F).
For water heaters, I do not think electric energy is a good idea. That usually requires heating elements (of the type found in common small space heaters). Heat pumps would have difficulty creating the high temperatures required for hot water. It takes a huge amount of electric power to create heat. Heat pumps are not too bad because they are able to pump the heat that outside cold air contains and move it inside to create warmth, using about 4 times less electric power to create warmth than a heater that uses an electric heating element.
With current electric prices in California, it would cost $876 per year in electricity for an electric water heater.
With the older gas water heaters, you can still take hot showers and hot baths if the electric power stops working. Electric outages are probably 15 times more common than the gas ever needing to be shut off.
This seems kind of authoritarian to me, taking away individual choice, raising costs, combined with a bunch of stupid--a policy that is not really well thought out, even considering its intended goal.