San Francisco Bay Area regulators voted March 15 to eliminate the sale and installation of natural gas-powered furnaces and water heaters, supposedly to cut pollution. The ban starts in 2027 and will be implemented over eight years. It seems strangely fitting that this should’ve happened on the Ides of March; San Fran authorities seem to love to stab their citizens in the back with idiotic woke policies. Natural gas is a relatively clean power source and it is also reliable, unlike “green” energy. But why let reality interfere with ideology?
Breitbart reported that the ban does not affect gas stoves, which are currently under fire from the Biden administration. Not only will the sale and installation of natural gas water heaters and furnaces be phased out, but already-installed furnaces and heaters will not be allowed to be replaced when they stop working. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is supposedly targeting air pollution from nitrogen oxides.
Breitbart added, “Democrats oppose natural gas, even though its adoption has allowed the U.S. to produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions while growing its economy, because it is still a fossil fuel and is often extracted through fracking.”
Ironically, however, “green” energy sources are often worse for the environment than natural gas. Windmills came under fire last year for the number of birds they’ve killed. Windmills or wind turbines were estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of birds yearly just in the US, based on 2013 and 2014 studies, and in recent months offshore wind development seems to be killing whales. Solar panels also kill thousands of birds—these “climate-friendly” energy sources are certainly not friendly to wildlife. Solar panel production is also tied to toxic pollution; and, as of 2018, solar panels (which are difficult to recycle) were estimated to create 300 times more toxic waste than power plants create high-level nuclear waste.
Not only that, but windmills and solar panels take up huge amounts of land. I’ll never forget driving across country as a kid and seeing mile after mile of beautiful scenery wrecked by the countless rows of windmills — which, as mentioned above, tend to be bird-killers. That’s a lot of “natural environment” to ruin.
Related: After Bashing Natural Gas, Oregon Gov. Installs $300K Natural Gas Generator at Mansion
Finally, it simply isn’t possible to produce as much electricity as America uses just through “clean” or “green” energy. In 2021, natural gas was the largest source of America’s electricity, providing 38% of electricity. Coal came in second at 22%, then “renewables” at 20%, and finally nuclear at 19%. San Francisco will probably end up in the ironic position of getting their “clean” energy from the very “polluting” sources it is supposedly targeting.
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