this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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In Midwest USA gas is so ridiculously cheap that it still beats total cost of ownership. Plus the new electric to install. Even central heat pump is hard to justify (on price alone I mean).
This is true in central Canada too. Heat pumps get pushed saying they put out 3 times as much heat as the energy they use, but electricity is 7x the cost of natural gas.
Right, they make absolute sense if you don't have access to cheap natural gas. I'm worried for the day NG prices rise though. It'll be a double whammy for those of us in SK with the vast majority of the heating in the populated south provided by NG and a grid that has a significant portion produced by NG. You'll see the increase even if you aren't heating with gas.
Governments need to punish carbon emitting fuel sources more. People are going to use the cheaper option, not the one that will benefit the planet. It needs to be cheaper to use renewable energy, or at the very least energy efficient options need incentives.
No, they most definitely should not! Implementing such a measure unnecessarily increases the difficulty for low-income families. Instead, there should be support for the installation or a tax reduction for those who have one. Let's focus on making it easier for people to adopt environmentally friendly practices without making things more expensive.
tax reduction only really works to incentivize people that aren't poor
A better option would be a discount on the electrical bill for having green tech installed. If you want to help poor families, help their month to month costs.
This is still blind to the fact that those families could be in much much worse condition in 50 years if we don't drastically change our carbon emissions. The increasingly frequent and more dangerous natural disasters could very easily leave them without a home at all. Low income families will also be the ones to suffer the most when it comes to the worsening climate disaster
I don't deny that. However, forcing people to change by making things more expensive only harms these families. Of course, the ongoing climate situation is concerning, but in the short term, we also need to take care of those who are financially vulnerable. We can't just let them go under.
Well, they have took off in Europe due to the cost of natural gas and ... the source being a evil dictator who uses his control over natural gas to control other countries foreign policy.
Maybe my gas is more expensive than other parts of the Midwest. But my old gas water heater just died about 6 weeks ago. I swapped in a 55 gallon hybrid / electric heat pump model. I did the re-wire and install myself (which I acknowledge not everyone is comfortable doing).
My most recent gas and electric bills were compelling. I've been using my gas furnace already, and my gas bill is the lowest it's ever been since I bought this house 5 years ago (including summer, non-heating months). And my electric bill increase was negligible.
Sure, my old unit was not running as efficiently as it could bave. And newer gas models probably have improved efficiency. But I can't deny the savings in my bills. Between the tax rebate and the savings, I'll make back my extra investment and then some before this thing dies.