On Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 10:35:10 AM UTC-5, John Weiss wrote:
> On 11/16/2019 06:55, Bob F wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-11-11-cities-ban-natural-gas-to-fight-climate-change
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> I read this garbage the other day and before I even started wasting
> >>> my time
> >>> I knew it had to be California. The land of loony people.
> >>
> >> Seattle is just as bad these days. The mayor proposed the same thing
> >> a couple weeks ago...
> >
> > Well genius, do give us your plan to solve the problem.
>
> First, define the problem. Then assess how much people are willing to
> sacrifice to solve the problem.
>
> It is clear to me that the underlying problem is that we have expanded
> the world population too much to be sustainable at this level, much less
> any constantly-increasing level above current. My plan is to cut the
> number of children being born so the world population will shrink to a
> level that is sustainable. Restrictions on the number of children a
> couple can have was tried in China, and worked to some extent, but was
> deemed socially unacceptable.
It's interesting that in all the discussions about global warming,
decline of species, loss of forests, you never hear discussion of
dealing with the biggest driver of that, population growth. And even
if we did, I see little chance of it happening. For example here in
the US, Social Security is already facing a crisis, as there are more
retirees living longer, so they desperately need more new money flowing
in. You can only get that by raising the tax rate or more people working.
I think you'll find similar issues in most countries. The various
activist groups should join forces on an effort to reduce population
growth.
>
> As for the specific issue of natural gas, banning its use is NOT a
> solution at all! Replacing all that gas use with electricity means
> electric production will have to be significantly increased. In the
> near term, until wind & solar with adequate storage is practical on that
> scale, additional electric production will be via burning natural gas.
> A gas furnace in the home is 95-98% efficient. Producing electricity
> from natural gas is AT BEST 50% efficient. So banning home use will
> actually increase consumption!
+1
Especially dumb when most nat gas usage in homes is from 5pM to 7AM,
ie when the sun isn't shining. I guess encouraging electric water
heaters might be a net positive, heating the water mostly during the
day. But if you look at the cost of fuels, it's a disaster compared
to nat gas and any delta is still pretty much a fart in the wind.