Dear Councilmembers, Recently, I asked an energy consultant about natural gas vs. electricity. Beyond the environmental concerns, his take was that natural gas was so potent a form of energy, we should conserve it for applications like welding and rocket fuel, and that it was a waste to expend natural gas on raising air temperatures a few degrees, for instance. Essentially, way overkill for the job at hand! And while utility companies talk about how natural gas burns very efficiently to produce heat and electricity, the burning of it still produces substantial carbon emissions. It also produces nitrogen oxides (NOx), a pollutant that forms smog. Natural gas is also composed primarily of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and extracting and transporting it results in a significant amount of leakage. Approximately two-thirds of the natural gas in the U.S. is extracted by fracking, a controversial technique that involves pumping water at high pressure into rock fissures. Electricity is the more environmentally friendly option since it has the potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions and slow global warming by being produced through renewable resources such as solar, wind, and water power. Electric heat pumps and induction cooking outstrip their natural gas counterparts in terms of energy efficiency, and offer fine-tune control over temperature. Our city can show leadership in reducing our natural gas use by encouraging all-electric construction through Reach Codes. Please support initiatives that can only happen at a governmental level in order to address the enormous problem of climate change. Lydia Lee Menlo Park resident Received on Mon Aug 26 2019 - 21:16:59 PDT
