Washington state bans new natural gas hookups in higher population region

Washington state bans new natural gas hookups in higher population region

House passes natural gas ban, despite strained energy grid

Despite pleas asking customers to turn down their thermostats to reduce strain on the energy grid during the state's frigid cold snap earlier this month, Washington moved another step closer to banning natural gas.
In a 52-44-2 vote, Washington's House of Representatives passed House Bill 1589.
Among other things, the bill: Prohibits Puget Sound Energy (PSE) from providing natural gas service to new customers after June 2023; and Removes the requirement that PSE continue serving natural gas to existing customers.​

House passes natural gas ban, despite strained energy grid, BIAW, January 23, 2024

Puget Sound Energy is the provider of natural gas service to all the big city counties along the Puget sound, as well as a few additional outlying areas. (It includes Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, Bellevue, Puyallup, Bremerton, and Olympia) More than half the state's population is located within this area.

This is equivalent to banning new homes from having natural gas in these areas.

Usually every three years or so when there is a storm and powerline poles fall over, there are many areas that lose electrical power during the coldest part of the year. (Whereas loss of natural gas supply almost never happens)

The Puget sound area also has a strained electric grid, and struggles to be able to provide enough power during times of peak use. Part of this is due to the huge amount of population growth and development in the area, and part of it is their reluctance to build more gas-powered electric power plants. The push to get more homes to install electric heat pumps and use electric cars is only going to put additional strain on the electric supply grid, something which the state does not seem prepared for.

Electric heat pumps are more expensive than gas furnaces, electric power usually costs more than natural gas in these areas, and electric heat pumps may lose efficiency and sometimes not be able to keep the home as warm during the very coldest part of the winter some years in the Puget sound area.

Banning natural gas hookups is also going to mean these new homes will not have gas stoves; there are many people who hate using electric stoves. The stove can take a long time to warm up, and then remains dangerously hot for more than 15 minutes after being turned off. It's almost impossible to adjust and turn down the heat when cooking. For electric stoves, it takes a huge amount of electric power to create heat. (A typical electric stove and oven can use 7000 Watts)

Why is the state doing this? Because progressive environmentalists think using fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is bad. There's a big push in progressive areas to try to convert everything to electric, a mentality that "electric is good", despite the fact that not all of the electric supply being generated in these areas is from renewable sources.

another thread:
California will ban sales of gas furnace heaters and water heaters (Sep 23, 2022 )

 

In the words of Forrest Gump's mother: "Stupid is as stupid does."

 

It will mostly hurt democrats since they dominate those higher population areas thus their own leaders are screwing them over a false narrative, better to be cold than dead apparently.

 

It can also be pointed out that solar panels do not work so well in the Puget Sound area. The winters, which are long and have only a short period of daylight due to the northerly latitude, are rainy and cloudy most of the time. Unrelenting grey overcast skies are typical from November to April. In late December and early January it begins getting dark as soon as 4:20 pm. Even when the skies do begin clearing up later in the day, there are not many more hours of daylight left.

That region has a cool climate, and typically there might only be about 2 weeks out of the entire year when it gets hot enough that people will want to turn on air conditioning. (Heat waves do happen, but the vast majority of the year is not hot) As a result, almost the entire energy usage for heating and cooling is during the colder half of the year. Although even in the early summer, in June, the nights can often get cold enough that households may turn on heating.

 

how does a bipartisan bill like this pass the house?

 

Thats mostly on the WEST side of the Cascade range, but in my area is a bowl (Columbia Basin) where it has endless low clouds and fog for days at a time from mid November into mid February thus Solar is useless in winter.

 

But most of the "pro-environmentalists" who want to push things like solar and eliminate fossil fuels live in the west side.

Most of the area where natural gas is going to be banned is likewise on the west side.

My only point was that trying to collect solar heat or energy as a replacement for not being allowed natural gas will not really be a very practical or viable strategy.

 

A Washington State Revolt Against the Gas-Stove Grabbers, by Megan K. Jacobson, The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2024

"Environmentalists have waged a campaign against natural gas, but users of this efficient, low-emission fuel are fighting back. A wide range of industry groups are backing Washington state’s Initiative 2066 to protect the right to choose natural gas.

Last year the Building Code Council amended the state energy code to make it prohibitively costly to install gas appliances in new buildings. In March the Legislature passed a law allowing the state's largest natural-gas and electricity utility, Puget Sound Energy, to pass the costs of going green onto consumers and mandating the utility files a plan 'to achieve all cost-effective electrification of end uses currently served by natural gas.'

Anthony Anton, CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association, says 84% of the restaurateurs he represents rely on natural gas. Remodeling to go electric is a "massive cost at a time where operators just can’t afford it," he says. Some say the quality of their product would suffer, as some cooking methods, such as stir-frying, are difficult to perform on lower-heat electrical stoves. Most of the association’s members are very small businesses with substantial debt from Covid lockdowns.

The Building Industry Association of Washington worries the new energy code will raise the state's already high housing costs, locking out potential buyers. The code requires that new buildings meet a certain environmental “score.” Without the points from an electric heat pump, a builder will have to make up the difference with other green measures that run between $15,000 and $20,000 in a single-family home.
Climate advocates argue that Washingtonians will recoup their costs over time thanks to efficiency gains. But a 2021 report from Home Innovation Labs estimates that recovering the cost of a heat-pump installation could take 47 to 49 years.

The Washington State Tree Fruit Association is concerned about rising costs of refrigeration to keep produce fresh. A sudden power outage could be catastrophic for the state’s apple industry. Trade regulations for its top two export markets require that fruit be constantly refrigerated at a specific temperature for as long as 90 days.

The state's cheapest energy plan would almost double electricity demand in Washington by 2050, putting an unprecedented strain on the grid. The only real option is to increase wind and solar generation, since the state’s plentiful hydroelectric capacity can’t do more without potentially threatening salmon. Wind and solar tend to falter in Washington in the winter, when energy demand peaks."
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A Washington State Revolt Against the Gas-Stove Grabbers - WSJ