Berkeley, CA becoming first city in U.S. to ban natural gas in new buildings

Berkley .... say mo more. They'd do better to ban beef, from all the cow farts before they're slaughtered, as well as all the water (pumping - coal /natural gas fired utilities) it takes to grow the grain & feed for the cows. Maybe they should ban hydrogen cars too, because the most efficient way to reform hydrogen is with natural gas. The one good thing out of this audio was that induction cooktops are definitely efficient. If you're baking though? Forget it. Natural gas is still the most efficient method. Hey I have an idea! They should ban electricity because Berkeley uses natural gas-fired electrical generators along with their hydro and wind. Come on you guys ... you have to be consistent ...
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and here my wife and i are, cooking with electricity and heating with oil, and looking to move to a house with natural gas for everything.

we just changed all our electric plants from coal to ng

 

Didn't realize you were the problem, did you.

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oh contrare, i've been the problem for 64 years

 

Berkeley also declared themselves a nuclear free zone, so they've got that going for them as well. Just in case anybody in town has thoughts of building an H bomb or power plant in their garage.

 

Guess nobody knows about the small nuclear reactor in the basement of Etcheverry hall on the UC Berkeley campus...

 

And when renewable methane becomes a thing? R&D money is getting pumped into it.

 

I have several members of my staff that are UC Berkeley alums .

They are good engineers, and we still recruit there.

But we don’t live there.

This thread is one of many reasons as they live in their own reality.

 

Or lack thereof.

 

Seems like Berkeley sets off its own natural gas.

 

IIRC - the last remaining nuke facility in California still running, Diablo Canyon, is scheduled to shut down in ~5 years. Let's see how CO2 concerned Berkeley is after they lose nearly ⅓ of their juice.
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Perhaps there is research at Berkeley (a fine school) to make electricity from unicorn farts...

Edit - the esteemed City Council must think that all electricity comes from renewable sources, which is likely not the case in the middle of the night and when the wind isn't blowing. By the pie chart above, that leaves nuclear, hydro and (gasp) natural gas. When the nuclear goes away in the next few years, that leaves only hydro (which is not environmentally friendly if you are a salmon) or natural gas.

The PR pitch for the new regulations claims that Berkeley residents have 78% - 100% carbon free electricity.

 

Hamster power.

 

Here is a councilwoman's link to the exciting new policy:

 

They don’t need the solution to make the policy.

Why would they have thought that far ahead?

They’re only around til the next election.

 

This just sounds like it was unneeded. The radio clip mentioned many builders are already skipping on NG because of the cost. Then they aren't likely to be putting in the most efficiency electric appliances. Induction cook tops are a niche product in the US, and priced to match. Heat pump water heaters also have a higher price tag.