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Towns Trying to Ban Natural Gas Face Resistance in Their Push for All-Electric Homes
Wall Street Journal ^ | July 31, 2021 | Katherine Blunt

Posted on 07/31/2021 8:44:41 AM PDT by karpov

Massachusetts is emerging as a key battleground in the U.S. fight over whether to phase out natural gas for home cooking and heating, with fears of unknown costs and unfamiliar technologies fueling much of the opposition to going all-electric.

More towns around Boston are debating measures to block or limit the use of gas in new construction, citing concerns about climate change. The measures have encountered opposition from some home builders, utilities and residents in a state with cold winters, relatively high housing prices and aging pipeline networks in need of pricey repairs.

The Massachusetts debate encapsulates the challenges many states face in pursuing aggressive measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that may directly impact consumers. The cost of fully electrifying buildings varies widely throughout the country and has ignited debates about who should potentially pay more, or change their habits, in the name of climate progress.

Much of the resistance to electrifying new homes stems from fear of having to heat or cook using technologies such as heat pumps and induction stoves that most have never tried. In New England, most homes are heated with fuel oil or natural gas, and gas or propane is used widely for cooking.

Steve McKenna, a Massachusetts realtor, was hired last year to sell a new, all-electric home in Arlington, a town outside of Boston that is considering gas restrictions. The home initially listed for $1.1 million, but many prospective buyers were uncomfortable with the prospect of facing higher electric bills, Mr. McKenna said. It ultimately sold for about $1 million.

“Here in Arlington, you put a house on the market and in six minutes, there are 60 offers on the property,” Mr. McKenna said. “But this one took over two months to sell.”

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: housing; naturalgas; realestate
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1 posted on 07/31/2021 8:44:41 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

I have words that cannot be printed here.


2 posted on 07/31/2021 8:45:15 AM PDT by Jonty30 (My superpower is setting people up for failure, without meaning to. )
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To: karpov

Primitive savages who think electricity is magic.


3 posted on 07/31/2021 8:46:50 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." ― Mao Zedong)
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To: karpov

bookmark


4 posted on 07/31/2021 8:48:01 AM PDT by GOP Poet (Super cool you can change your tag line EVERYTIME you post!! :D. (Small things make me happy))
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To: karpov

Ok, I’ll bite. What is the globull warming argument against clean natural gas?


5 posted on 07/31/2021 8:48:14 AM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
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To: karpov

And the electricity comes from ??????


6 posted on 07/31/2021 8:48:40 AM PDT by high info voter
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To: karpov

America and the West, for political/ideological reasons, are getting rid of coal, oil, gas and nuclear, and betting big on solar and wind before those technologies are even close to being able to sustain (and grow!) our economy.

In my opinion, price inflation for all forms of energy in the next 5-10 years will be massive.


7 posted on 07/31/2021 8:49:09 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: frogjerk
Ok, I’ll bite. What is the globull warming argument against clean natural gas?

We are drilling deep into mother Gaia, piercing her body for evil carbon, and she will punish us with droughts, floods, and higher avocado toast prices. Can't you hear the trees screaming?

8 posted on 07/31/2021 8:51:19 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: high info voter
And the electricity comes from ??????

Wall sockets. Where did you think it comes from?

9 posted on 07/31/2021 8:51:52 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: karpov

Its like the future’s game.

Predicting (or in this case, manipulating) the market place next year.

Who knows what the need will be 5 years from now.

Idiots.


10 posted on 07/31/2021 8:52:00 AM PDT by George from New England
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To: karpov

Do these dopes trying to get rid of gas cooking and heating realize that electricity is the dirtiest form of energy? I have never know electricity to come straight out of the ground.


11 posted on 07/31/2021 8:52:08 AM PDT by Savage Rider
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To: high info voter

Electricity grows on trees.

Science, yo!


12 posted on 07/31/2021 8:52:10 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: karpov

So rather then burn the fuels directly where needed, when needed, and exactly how much needed, burn the fuel 100 miles away and waste a great deal transmitting the electricity and running a plant at base load capacity to make a few bureaucrats feel good about themselves. That sure will be fun when power goes out and people can’t even use gas oil oil for heat during a blizzard. Liberals are dangerously stupid and their rulers are fiends.


13 posted on 07/31/2021 8:52:27 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: karpov

Natural gas was the only thing between my family and single digit temperatures for an entire week last February. In Texas

I had coworkers after that saying they couldn’t believe their homes, during that subsequent power outage, were as cold inside as the outside temperature.

That’s the kind of leftist democrat voting idiocracy we have in charge.


14 posted on 07/31/2021 8:53:08 AM PDT by stanne
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To: karpov

Citizens, thanks to Democrats, you are left with one and only one way to regain your rights and desires.

The only trouble is that ammo is hard to get.


15 posted on 07/31/2021 8:53:09 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: karpov

Before the blizzard of ‘78 in the Midwest, we had an all-electric house. Lights were out and we had no heat at all. Had to chop a pole in pond ice to get water. We had to be evacuated by the volunteer fire department and stay with another family from church for 3 days because the roads were impassable and we could not make it as far as relatives’ homes.

We had 11-foot drifts in some place.

After that, we got a wood stove and kerosene heater.

As an adult, we have both gas and electric appliances and I’m very happy with my choices. Our electric bill went down by half after we replaced old electric water heater with a new gas water heater.

All electric homes leave you pretty vulnerable when the lights go out.


16 posted on 07/31/2021 8:54:19 AM PDT by Cloverfarm (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ...)
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To: karpov

Lude lude ludicrous.

People want to do this are all on ludes (figuratively speaking and literally to a large extent).


17 posted on 07/31/2021 8:55:51 AM PDT by ifinnegan ( Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: high info voter

Mass confusion ensues town meeting called requesting Mr. Franklin’s phone number.


18 posted on 07/31/2021 8:56:32 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Jonty30

We had more freedom cooking in colonial houses in heavy fireplace pots and grills and later on wood stoves. But then improved our lives-—until the Leftists looked into the matter.

When the earth friendly climate change monitor approved methods fail——as they are quickly failing in CA and elsewhere as power needs are not adequately met——we go into a new dark age to please Greta. No thanks.

Chinese Communists and Putin’s Russia are laughing themselves silly over this stuff.


19 posted on 07/31/2021 8:56:39 AM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: karpov

We only viewed homes that had natural gas for our home purchase.


20 posted on 07/31/2021 8:56:56 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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