Banning Natural Gas in B'game

With several study sessions under their belts, the City Council is moving towards a ban on natural gas for new developments in town.  We first heard this out of Berkeley and discussed it last July here.  As the idea moves closer to home (the Daily Journal wrote it up here), I have some thoughts that I have just shared with the council via email.  Here is my letter

Dear Councilmembers,

I am intrigued by the discussions regarding banning natural gas hook-ups in future Burlingame developments including commercial, multi-family and single-family residences.  It strikes me that perhaps the councilmembers who support such a ban should lead the way in this change.  I suggest that each councilmember take the initiative to change out the gas appliances in their own homes first.  The community should be provided insights into both the capital and operating costs of this change.

It would be enlightening to understand the relative costs of electric furnaces, water heaters and high-end electric stoves and fireplaces that meld with typical Burlingame design aesthetics.  Similarly, if any councilmember has a pool or outdoor hot tub, it would be good to understand the options available to heat these amenities.  I can foresee some potential changes and additions to our existing building codes that might be revealed by councilmembers’ changeover projects.  Understanding these changes first would save residents and developers time and money as well as bringing our building inspectors up to speed.  The need for 220V power in many more home locations as well as the need for battery back-up and potentially back-up generators (with appropriate fuels if available) should be examined and shared with the community.  In my nearly 30 years living in Burlingame, I cannot recall a single natural gas outage, but electrical outages are frequent and not likely to improve in the mid-term future.

Lastly, we should all be provided with actual operating cost comparisons for the newly refurbished homes.  If these changeovers could be finished by next winter, a six-month cost comparison for the colder months of October to March would be ideal for assessing the true impact on Burlingame residents.

I look forward to the Council’s leadership on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Joe Baylock

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I'll let you know what I receive in the way of responses. 

  

Comments

[Barking Dog]

Thank you CB. That's real information. Not a staff report or an opinion of a politician who doesn't have this form of all electric power/heating in their own homes.

[Charged Up]

Good plan. Kill the business providing the cheapest, cleanest, most reliable, easy to cook with fuel. Are you all nuts? Answer= YES

[Phinancier]

Any response from any of the city elders, Joe?

[Barking Dog]

I assume this has been placed on the back burner as of right now. But I do have a couple of questions

1)Any other council members replay to your request Joe?
2)Is the new 100mil Rec Center going to be 100% electric if gas is banned?

[Laura]

New Rec Center is going solar but unsure about gas. It is supposed to be net zero, meaning total energy used by building, equals amount of renewable energy created.

[Joe]

@Phinancier and @Barking Dog

You know what happens when you assume....so thanks for asking. I do not assume this crisis will go to waste for the gas haters.

Ms. Colson has responded that she will be getting a quote on making the change-over. The only other responses were, well, non-responsive. I was reminded several times that this proposed ordinance was just for new construction which I already knew and was not the point of the question/request. I heard nothing from the two men on council. Still waiting.

[Barking Dog]

Thanks Laura and Joe

[Joe]

Tonight's the night:

Staff is recommending "all newly constructed buildings, including single family residences, multi-family buildings and commercial buildings, shall meet all-electric building requirements. All-electric is defined as a building that has no natural gas or propane plumbing installed within the building............"

"This provision also applies to substantial remodels of single family homes where more than 50% of the valuation of the existing structure is being remodeled, provided the remodel also includes a new kitchen and new heating, cooling and ventilation systems."
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Six predictions:

1. Midnight plumbing becomes a viable industry
2. Second-hand, nearly new all electric ranges become ridiculously affordable.
3. An all-electic range rental business becomes viable.
4. Home remodels of 45% of valuation increase.
5. Existing gas-fueled homes increase in value faster than new homes.
6. Propane tank sales and refilling increase.

Bonus prediction: The Law of Unintended Consequences remains intact.

[Concerned]

I just sent an email to publiccomment@burlingame.org
expressing my strong recommendation against this silly restriction of Burlingame property owner rights to utilize a proven effective and economic resource.

Please also do so this evening as quickly as possible.

It's ridiculous that, with all that is going on and under a government imposed lock down that restricts attendance at City Council meetings, this action would be taken tonight.

We need to stand up against this nonsense that will take away rights and further exacerbate the housing cost crisis.

[Sign me up]

You can take my gas grill when you pry it from my cold, dirty spatula.

[Barking Dog]

Comical. Hopefully common sense prevailed last night, but in today's world, not holding my breath.

[Joe]

From Fox & Hounds:

JULY 17, 2020
KERRY JACKSON

At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who will have to carry the weight of California’s obsession with eliminating more-affordable fossil fuels.

Within days of each other, Pacific Gas & Electric announced it “fully expects to meet the needs that all-electric buildings will require,” and San Francisco officials announced “legislation that would be much like Berkeley’s ban on natural gas hookups in new construction.”

“These are all steps toward the possibility that there will be a statewide policy after California officials decide on revisions to the state building code that would take effect in 2023,” The Mercury News reported earlier this month.

At the end of June, CARB declared it was going to “dump dirty diesel” and mandate today’s trucks be replaced with “zero-emission” models. Within four years, manufacturers will have “to transition from diesel trucks and vans to electric zero-emission trucks.”

Lawmakers, unelected bureaucrats, and activists are already congratulating themselves for their wisdom and foresight in forcing these policy changes, and confirmed their beliefs that they have impressed their counterparts in other states. But they won’t be harmed for holding “luxury beliefs.” Poorer Californians will.

Luxury beliefs can be defined as “ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich,” which tends to include quite a few lawmakers who enjoy their own brand of privilege, “at very little cost, while taking a toll on the lower class,” says Air Force veteran and Cambridge University doctorate candidate Rob Henderson.

There’s no way to better describe California’s rush to kill off fossil fuels by 2045 and run the entire state on renewable energy. Those driving the campaign are anxious to show their green bona fides and won’t be affected by the costs the way the middle and lower economic classes will be.

Electricity costs in California are among the steepest in the country. Residential customers pay 46% more than the national average while business customers’ rates are 69% higher. When cheaper natural gas is no longer an option, Californians will have no choice but to use costlier electricity that will be generated by more expensive renewables. With 18.1% of Californians living in poverty, according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure – only Washington, D.C., at 18.2%, has a higher rate – it’s a setup that will inflict a greater burden on a significant portion of the state.

Granted, some studies have concluded that all-electric homes would produce overall cost savings in nearly all cases, with only small increases in a few instances. But how will those numbers hold up under a structure in which electricity generation has fully transitioned to renewable sources, which looks as if it will be limited to wind and solar, making the conversion even more expensive? What effect will that have on the cost of power for all-electric buildings?

There’s no denying renewables have made significant progress in the last decade. They’re more affordable, more widely used. But a refit to renewables-only will still have costs. The toll ranges from “$4.5 trillion by 2030 or even 2040 to $5.7 trillion in 2030” on a national scale, says the Institute for Energy Research. While costs in California would be only a slice of that, the shift will not come cheaply in an economy that alone would be the world’s fifth largest.

Another factor that tends to get lost in the race to renewables is the question of capacity: Can California even feed itself? The state imported 29 percent of its electricity in 2018, and somehow, in a land sunshine, was the largest electricity importer in the country from 2013 to 2017.

[Paloma Ave]

Imagine if the Burlingame City Council decided to ban abortion? After all there can be deep psychological damage down the road.

Don't let the tree huggers and end of the worlders (and Bezerklers) dictate the BANNING of anything.

Freedom of choice, and not just on some topics!

[Paloma Ave]

Apparently common sense is NOT very common.

[Paloma Ave]

Note that the blackouts start right when the sun goes down, and California's green solar power mess is helpless.

Meanwhile, California and Burlingame officials want ban natural gas.

That's reliable electricity and they're throwing it away so they can claim brownie points among fellow Leftists.

As usual, California has only itself and its dumb politicians and foolish advocacy groups to blame.

Look in the mirror, California and Burlingame officials...you and your Leftist friends are the real core of the problem.

[Joe]

Paloma, we are of the same mind, you just beat me to the point--and you put it on the exact post I had in mind. So here is the WSJ editorial from two days ago:

The California Independent System Operator (Caiso), which manages the state’s power grid, declared a high-level emergency Friday and Saturday evenings and ordered utilities to reduce power usage. California and most of the southwestern U.S. are experiencing a severe heat wave. But other states are managing to keep power flowing. Why can’t California?

During peak daylight hours, California produces a surplus of solar energy, and power generators may be ordered or paid to cut back their production so the grid isn’t overloaded. On Friday and Saturday Caiso reported about 1,000 mega-watt hours (MWh) were curtailed—enough to power 30,000 homes. This year 1.3 million MWh of power have been curtailed.

But this means supply shortages can occur in the evening when solar energy plunges but demand for power remains high. That’s what happened this weekend. Many natural gas and nuclear plants that can generate power 24/7 have shut down in recent years because they can’t compete with heavily subsidized green energy. A 10-year-old natural gas power plant in California’s Inland Empire is being decommissioned this year—20 to 30 years earlier than its planned lifespan.
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And the Gavinator wants "an investigation". I know where to start......

[JP]

SACRAMENTO, CA—The state of California, home to some of the world’s most innovative technology companies, is struggling to provide a steady flow of electricity to its residents, sources confirmed Monday.
"We will continue to be the most advanced hub of technological progress as soon as we get the power back on here," said Governor Newsom.

Electricity, which first made its debut in 1882, is a luxury Californians have come to rely upon for modern indulgences such as dishwashers, laundry machines, and indoor lighting. A recent heatwave has sparked the need for rolling blackouts throughout the state that is home to Silicon Valley, technology’s most advanced center for research and development.

[Barking Dog]

A Texan, A Floridian, and a Californian all die and go to hell. While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for.

The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.

The Texan asks to call Dallas and talks for 5 minutes. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so the Texan writes him a check.

Next the Floridian calls Miami and talks for 30 minutes. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is 6 million dollars, so he writes him a check.

Finally the Californian gets his turn he calls San Francisco and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00. When the Texan hears this, he goes ballistic and asks the devil why the Californian got to call San Francisco so cheaply.

The devil smiles and replies, "Since Gavin Newsom took over, the state has gone to hell, so it's a local call".

[Joe Baylock]

This from today's SacBee makes me think that we could ban all natural gas in every building for the next 20 years and it wouldn't come close to the amount of pollution from the first half of this fire season-- 2 million+ acres and counting:

By killing millions of trees in the Sierra National Forest, the historic drought that ended in 2017 left an incendiary supply of dry fuel that appears to have intensified the fire that’s ravaged more than 140,000 acres in the southern Sierra Nevada, wildfire scientists and forestry experts said Tuesday.
“The energy produced off that is extraordinary,” said Scott Stephens, a wildfire scientist at UC Berkeley. “Large amounts of woody material burning simultaneously.”
What’s more, the Creek Fire is shaping up as a grim proxy of other wildfires that could occur in heavily forested areas that suffered extensive tree loss.
“This might provide this first glimpse into the future we’re in for,” said LeRoy Westerling, a climate and wildfire scientist at UC Merced.

[Barking Dog]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-23/gavin-newsom-fracking-ban-california-zero-emissions-cars?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true

[Paloma Ave]

Greasy Gavin has done it again. He declares California a 'Sanctuary State'. Did you get a chance to vote on that? He declares a moratorium on executions. Did you vote on that? NOT the moratorium, but THE PEOPLE did vote for the death penalty. No he pronounces no more gasoline powered cars by 2035. WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?

I recently found this article, that I want to share:

“If you are a liberal who can’t stand Trump, and cannot possibly fathom why anyone would ever vote for him, let me fill you in.

It’s not that we love Donald Trump so much. It’s that we can’t stand you.

And we will do whatever it takes — even if that means electing a rude, obnoxious, unpredictable, narcissist (your words not ours) to the office of President of the United States — because the thing we find more dangerous to this nation than Donald Trump is YOU.

How is that possible you might ask?

Well, you have done everything in your power to destroy our country.

From tearing down the police, to tearing down our history, to tearing down our borders.

From systematically destroying our schools and brainwashing our kids into believing socialism is the answer to anything (despite being an unmitigated failure everywhere), while demonizing religion and faith, and glorifying abortion, violence, and thug culture.

From calling us racists every time we expect everyone of any skin color to follow our laws equally to gaslighting us about 52 genders, polyamory, grown men in dresses sharing public locker rooms with little girls, and normalize the sexualization of young children, you simultaneously ridicule us for having the audacity to wish someone a “Merry Christmas” or hang a flag on the 4th of July, stand for the national anthem, or (horror of horrors) don a MAGA hat in public.

So much for your “tolerance.”

(See why we think you are just hypocrites??)

We’re also not interested in the fact that you think you can unilaterally decide that 250 years of the right-to-bear-arms against a tyrannical or ineffective government should be abolished because you can’t get the violence in the cities you manage under control. That free-speech should be tossed out the window, and that those who disagree with your opinions are fair game for public harassment or doxing. That spoiled children with nose-rings and tats who still live off their parent’s dime should be allowed to destroy cities and peoples livelihoods without repercussions. That chaos, and lawlessness, and disrespect for authority should be the norm.

This is your agenda. And you wonder why we find you more dangerous than Donald Trump?

Your narrative is a constant drone of oppressor/oppressed race-baiting intended to divide the country in as many ways as you possibly can. You love to sell “victim-hood” to people of color every chance you get because it’s such an easy sell, compared to actually teaching people to stand on their own two feet and take personal responsibility for their own lives and their own communities and their own futures. But you won’t do that, you will never do that, because then you will lose control over people of color. They might actually start thinking for themselves, God forbid!

This is why we will vote for Donald Trump.

Not because he is the most charming character on the block.

Not because he is the most polite politician to have ever graced the oval office.

Not because he is the most palatable choice, or because we love his moral character or because the man never lies, but because we are sick to death of you and all of the destructive crap you are doing to this once beautiful and relatively safe country.

Your ineffective and completely dysfunctional liberal “leadership”(?) has literally destroyed our most beautiful cities, our public education system, and done it’s damndest to rip faith out of people’s lives.

However bad Donald Trump may be, and he is far from perfect, every day we look at you and feel that no matter what Donald Trump says or does there is no possible way he could be any worse for our country than you people are.

We are sick to death of your stupid, destructive, ignorant, and intolerant behavior and beliefs — parading as “wokeness.” We are beyond sick of your hypocrisy and B.S.

We are fed up with your disrespectful divisiveness and constant unrelenting harping and whining and complaining (while you live in the most privileged nation in the world), while making literally zero contributions of anything positive to our society. Your entire focus is on ripping things down, never ever building anything up. Think about that as there is something fundamentally very wrong in the psychology of people who choose destruction as their primary modus operandi.

When Donald J Trump is re-elected, don’t blame us, look in the mirror and blame yourselves.

Because you are the ones that are responsible for the rise of Donald Trump. You are the ones who have created this "monster" that you so despise, by your very actions. By your refusal to respect your fellow Americans, and the things that are important to us.

You have made fun of the “fly-over states,” the people who “cling to their guns and religion,” the middle class factory workers and coal miners and underprivileged rural populations that you dismissively call “yahoos” and “deplorables.” You have mocked our faith and our religion. You have mocked our values and our patriotism. You have trampled our flag and insulted our veterans and treated our first responders with contempt and hatred.

You have made environmentalism your religion, while trashing every city you have taken responsibility for. You scream from the rooftops about “global warming” and a “green new deal” while allowing tens of thousands of homeless people to cover your streets in literal sh!t and garbage and needles and plastic waste without doing a single thing to help them or solve the environmental crisis your failed social policies are creating. But we’re supposed to put YOU in charge of the environment while gutting our entire economy to institute this plan when you can’t even clean up a single city??

You complain — endlessly — yet have failed to solve a single social problem anywhere. In fact, all you have done is create more of them.

We’ve had enough. We are tired of quietly sitting by and being the “silent” majority. So don’t be surprised when the day comes when we finally respond. And trust me it’s coming, sooner than you might think. And also trust me when I say it won’t be pretty. Get ready.

When Donald Trump is re-elected it will be because you and your “comrades” have chosen to trash the police, harass law-abiding citizens, and go on rampages destroying public property that we have all paid for and you have zero respect for.

When Donald Trump is re-elected it will be because we are sick of your complete and utter nonsense and destruction. How does it feel to know that half of this country finds you FAR more despicable than Donald J. Trump, the man you consider to be the anti-Christ?

Let that sink in.

We consider you to be more despicable, more dangerous, more stupid, and more narcissistic than Donald Trump. Maybe allow yourself a few seconds of self-reflection to let that sink in. This election isn’t about Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden.

This is about Donald Trump vs YOU.

So if on the morning of November 4 (or more likely January 19, by the time the Supreme Court will weigh in on the mail-in ballot fiasco that we are headed towards), and Donald J. Trump is reelected?

The only people you have to blame is the left-wing media drones and yourselves.

You did this.

Yep you.”

[Barking Dog]

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/san-mateo-council-adopts-new-rules-to-go-all-electric/article_e5cf5b98-fe1b-11ea-b96d-bbc6ff61ae03.html

Comical. Goethals got the pick slip from his other public service job in the DA's office this year, but thinks he can govern a city. I mean, you have to be pretty s*%#!y at your job to get fired as a public prosecutor

[resident]

There is no legitimate evidence that all-electric is cheaper and no prediction that it will get any cheaper. Goethals is talking out the other end.

[Phinancier]

One crisp winter morning in Sweden, a cute little girl named Greta woke up to a perfect world, one in which there were no petroleum products ruining the earth. She tossed aside her cotton sheet and wool blanket and stepped out onto a dirt floor covered with willow bark that had been pulverized with rocks.

“What’s this?” she asked.
“Pulverized willow bark,” replied her fairy godmother.
“What happened to the carpet?” she asked.
“The carpet was nylon, which is made from butadiene and hydrogen cyanide, both made from petroleum,” came the response.

Greta smiled, acknowledging that adjustments are necessary to save the planet, and moved to the sink to brush her teeth where instead of a toothbrush, she found a willow, mangled on one end to expose wood fiber bristles.
“Your old toothbrush?” noted her godmother, “Also nylon.”
“Where’s the water?” asked Greta.
“Down the road in the canal,” replied her godmother, ‘Just make sure you avoid water with cholera in it”

“Why’s there no running water?” Greta asked, becoming a little peevish.
“Well,” said her godmother, who happened to teach engineering at MIT, “Where do we begin?” There followed a long monologue about how sink valves need elastomer seats and how copper pipes contain copper, which has to be mined and how it’s impossible to make all-electric earth-moving equipment with no gear lubrication or tires and how ore has to be smelted to make metal, and that’s tough to do with only electricity as a source of heat, and even if you use only electricity, the wires need insulation, which is petroleum-based, and though most of Sweden’s energy is produced in an environmentally friendly way because of hydro and nuclear, if you do a mass and energy balance around the whole system, you still need lots of petroleum products like lubricants and nylon and rubber for tires and asphalt for filling potholes and wax and iPhone plastic and elastic to hold your underwear up while operating a copper smelting furnace and . . .

“What’s for breakfast?” interjected Greta, whose head was hurting.
“Fresh, range-fed chicken eggs,” replied her godmother. “Raw.”
“How so, raw?” inquired Greta.
“Well, . . .” And once again, Greta was told about the need for petroleum products like transformer oil and scores of petroleum products essential for producing metals for frying pans and in the end was educated about how you can’t have a petroleum-free world and then cook eggs. Unless you rip your front fence up and start a fire and carefully cook your egg in an orange peel like you do in Girl Scouts.

[Joe]

EssEff is following B'game down the path of banning natural gas in new buildings. The Comicle managed to head fake its readers with a long piece about restaurants and exceptions to the ruling. Not a word about how residents will heat their houses, cook their food or take a hot shower when the electricity goes out......or how they will afford the most expensive electricity in the nation. Here's the Comicle piece:

When Residential Builders Association President Sean Keighran first heard about San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s proposal to ban natural gas in new construction, he was against it.

The idea of a new building with all-electric heating and cooking appliances seemed far-fetched and costly. Plus it was far from clear that food-centric Bay Area consumers would be willing to give up the fiery satisfaction of a gas range for the cool efficiency of an electric induction stovetop.

But the more he learned about technological advances in both all-electric heating systems and induction stoves — and the more he studied the environmental benefits of turning off the natural gas — he realized his initial reaction was wrong. He said he now believes that the future for residential development is all-electric.

Natural gas accounts for roughly 40% of San Francisco’s overall emissions of greenhouse gases and 80% of building emissions.
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And 99.5% of its heat, hot water and cooktops. The online version somehow skips the print version's bit about protecting the plumbers and steam fitters jobs by adding a recycled ("grey water") component to the ordinance. And the beat goes on, and the beat goes on.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/No-more-natural-gas-in-new-San-Francisco-15717658.php