Dear Menlo Park City Council, I strongly support a complete ban on the use of natural gas in new construction homes. Having built an all-electric (no gas on the property) home on the Stanford campus in 2017, I can affirm that consumers will save a lot of money. In particular, they will avoid a gas hookup fee of $3,000 to $8,000 and gas pipe costs of $1,000 to $7,000 for an upfront cost savings of $4,000 to $15,000. In addition, by installing solar on their roofs and purchasing electric heat pumps electric induction cooktop electric dryer electric cars electric fireplace they will eliminate their electric bill, natural gas bill, and gasoline bill. When I did this, I also received a check each of the last two years for about $550 for the excess electricity I generated from solar. These appliances replace fossil fuel appliances at little no net additional cost. The installation cost of the solar system pays itself off over 6-7 years with current incentives. After that, energy is free until the solar warranty wears out in year 25. In addition, eliminating gas in the home eliminate air pollution in the home, meaning people will be healthier. Thus, I would recommend a complete ban on gas, not a partial ban. A complete ban maximizes cost and health savings. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Mark Jacobson -- Mark Z. Jacobson Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program Work tel: 650-723-6836 Stanford University jacobson_at_(domainremoved)Yang & Yamazaki Environment and Energy Bldg (Y2E2) 473 Via Ortega, Room 397 Twitter: _at_(domainremoved)Stanford, CA 94305-4020 www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/ Received on Tue Sep 10 2019 - 18:11:02 PDT
