San Francisco Bay Area Bans Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters
Regulators in the San Francisco Bay Area voted to eliminate natural gas-powered furnaces and water heaters over 8 years starting in 2027.
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Joel B. Pollak16 Mar 20231,227
Regulators in the San Francisco Bay Area voted Wednesday to eliminate the sale and installation of natural gas-powered furnaces and water heaters over eight years beginning in 2027, ostensibly to limit air pollution.
The vote was the latest step taken by left-wing jurisdictions against natural gas — a convenient and relatively clean-burning source of fuel.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported (original links):
The new policy does not affect gas stoves, but follows a 2020 decision by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to ban the installation of natural gas lines in new buildings. It also comes just weeks after a controversy over a proposal by the Biden administration to consider banning the sale of new gas stoves.Bay Area regulators voted Wednesday to adopt rules to phase out the sale and installation of natural-gas furnaces and water heaters over the next eight years, one of the most ambitious plans in the country to replace gas appliances with electric alternatives.
The rules, approved by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, are meant to reduce air pollution from some of the worst home-appliance offenders. The main pollutants targeted are nitrogen oxides, or NOx, which can cause acid rain and smog as well as increase risk for asthma and other respiratory diseases.
People will be able to repair their gas appliances if they break — but the rules take effect when existing gas-powered furnaces or water heaters no longer work and need to be replaced. New construction will also be required to have zero-NOx — effectively, electric — furnaces and water heaters.
Democrats oppose natural gas, even though its adoption has allowed the U.S. to produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions while growing its economy, because it is still a fossil fuel and is often extracted through fracking.
Elsewhere in Los Angeles, the “Green New Deal” proposed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti (confirmed Wednesday as U.S. Ambassador to India) seeks to phase out natural gas power plants, despite possible electricity shortages.
I can see it now, "I'm sorry sir but you will have to get your electrical panel upgraded to a 200 amp service to handle the new load for an baseboard heaters in each room and an electric water heater. And by the way, your walls will need to be torn out to allow new wiring to the baseboard heaters and the electric water heater. Oh and by the way, the walls that are torn out will have to be repaired. Here's your estimate for the work...$25,000.00. Of course you understand that you will not have any heat or hot water until the electrical upgrades are completed. When would you like us to start? Tomorrow? Sorry sir we are booked for the next year.