....yet again, of course. What's going on? Well, the federal government, via the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is arguing that natural gas and propane stoves ought to be banned. Now to be sure, the burning of natural gas produces a certain amount of carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides, as well (mercaptan burning) as sulfur oxides. They are certainly pollutants, and for that reason, natural gas and propane stoves have been installed with ventilation hoods as far back as I can remember.
So exactly what problem the CPSC wants to solve, beyond a lot of code noncompliance in cities run by Democrats, is beyond me. It's also worth pointing out that carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are produced by power plants that burn natural gas, and the Carnot efficiency of these plants is typically 35% or less--meaning that when you swap from a natural gas stove to an electric, you double or triple the amount of pollutants, even allowing for better heat transmission from an electric stove to your pans. Oopsie.
But when you get down to it, the article indicates what's really at stake; since one can buy LNG or propane at small businesses all over the country, the CPSC wants to stop that and make us "sole sourced" with the nation's utilities--yes, the same ones that are telling us not to use too much electricity to avoid blackouts already.
It's worth noting as well that this is a camel's nose in the tent with regards to overall government regulation of the economy and our personal lives, because all kinds of things produce CO and nitrogen oxides in the home, including natural gas heat, natural gas or propane hot water heat, candles, wood stoves, grilling, barbequeing, and of course smoking.
3 comments:
I've actually stopped reacting to the continual interference... someday our time will come and we will move out of Crazytown.
Although our gas bills have doubled this winter, gas is still *very* much less expensive than electricity (says the lady with the solar panels). And I have a gas heater and a gas stove and a gas dryer ... because it's a lot lot LOT less expensive.
They'll all be illegal to buy in a few years. Six months ago I was just budgeting to replace them right before the cut off date. Now I'm expecting more shenanigans. (The heater is 20 years old so will be due for a good going over - but who wants to change all that to electric?)
Mom's conspiracy theory is that we just want to sell the gas to someone ELSE. Overseas. Rather than use it here.
Crazy thing is that this move will about triple the amount of natural gas needed for stoves due to Carnot efficiency. So we lose the gas AND our freedom, all while polluting MORE.
Progressive, , noun, "Person who cannot do math or science"
Oh. Well that's worse. -headdesk-
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