Guest ridicule by David Middleton
From the folks who brought us the #ExxonKnew fraud…
Nearly 9,000 households in eastern Massachusetts have had to make do without natural gas since mid-September, when an aging natural gas pipeline failed and set off a series of explosions and fires across the cities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.
Residents who relied on gas to heat their homes and cook their food won’t have service again until mid-November at the earliest, according to Columbia Gas of Massachusetts. The company has 48 miles of pipeline to replace, and industry experts question whether it can meet even that timeline.
Environmental advocates say it’s time to completely rethink the communities’ energy systems.
[…]
Columbia Gas has offered to reimburse “reasonable costs” for residents who lost gas service and want to permanently shift to another heating source.
[…]
But environmentalists will have to work quickly. Columbia’s offer to pay residents to cut ties with natural gas could also result in households moving backward—to high-polluting fuel oil.
[…]
The Possibility of Heat Pumps
Columbia Gas’s offer opens the door for a number of options with emissions profiles that vary widely, including heat pumps, conventional electric heating, propane and fuel oil. Residents, or their landlords, also could decide to wait through increasingly cold weeks for the gas line to be rebuilt.
One option Phillips and others sustainable development advocates are promoting is electric heat pumps—essentially air conditioners that can run in reverse in wintertime to heat rather than cool a home.
[…]
Eldrenkamp said the best solution for affected communities, especially Lawrence, a low-income community, would be to combine heat pumps with community-owned solar arrays paired with large-scale batteries.
“Let’s take this opportunity to really bring these homes into the 21st century, not just for environmental reasons but for social justice reasons,” Eldrenkamp said. “Let’s not just switch them over to heat pumps, but let’s get some solar panels in the neighborhoods and do the whole package.”
[…]
Phil McKenna is a Boston-based reporter for InsideClimate News. Before joining ICN in 2016, he was a freelance writer covering energy and the environment for publications including The New York Times, Smithsonian, Audubon and WIRED. Uprising, a story he wrote about gas leaks under U.S. cities, won the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award and the 2014 NASW Science in Society Award. Phil has a master’s degree in science writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an Environmental Journalism Fellow at Middlebury College.
From the Inside Climate News article…
In addition to costing nearly twice as much as natural gas…
The reason that heat pumps aren’t very effective in climates where the air temperature dips close to freezing on a regular basis is because it takes a lot more energy to move heat from a very cold area to a hotter one. It’s much easier to move heat between places with a minimal temperature difference. Plus, in moderate climates there’s more heat outside to bring in. When it’s cold out, it’s harder to extract the heat from the air. If the heat pump can’t get enough heat from the outside air to warm your house, you have to use supplemental energy in order to get your house to a comfortable temperature. This supplemental heating can be electrical, or it can burn oil or gas. The type of heating used most in your area is probably your best bet for a backup.
If the State of Massachusetts wants to p!$$ their taxpayers’ money away on “social justice” unicorn-fantasy energy schemes, the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution empowers them to do so… Just don’t ask the rest of the nation to follow their lead or foot the bill… The Tenth Amendment works both ways.
Electricity prices in Massachusetts are already among the highest in the nation…
Massachusetts isn’t exactly the best place to rely on solar power in winter…
Massachusetts already isn’t the model to follow as it pertains to energy. The lame-brained ideas put forward in the Inside Climate News article would make it even more so.
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I was a member of the Izaak Walton League, because I liked how the local chapter worked in the community. Recently, I got an email from the larger chapter about how they were against a proposed pipeline and that I needed to contact my representatives to stop it. I wrote back asking if there was a scenario at which they would approve the pipeline. I have not received a response on any of my 3 emails. I strongly believe this group could care less about people impacted.
Have owned a Heat-pump for years. All-in-all, it has saved me thousands on heating. They are Great with temperatures above freezing. Below freezing, they are still economical down to about 20 degrees F, however the closer to 20 the cooler it feels in the house. The thermometers in the house say it is 70 degrees, but it does not feel like it. The fan is blowing air that is just slightly warmer than the air in the room. You can not sit where there is an air current from the register that will hit you. My wife is not happy with it set 4 degrees higher than when the outdoor temperature is in the 40’s. Worst part for using a Heat pump is when electricity is your only source of energy. Below 20 degrees F, they switch over to the backup mode which for me is NG. If you have no NG it will be an electric coil, like the one in an electric dryer. I know people that had that, it is two sweater time then for them.
If you have gas why use a heat pump?
“why use a heat pump?” Because I needed a new AC, and a HP only cost $2,000 more, AND it saved me more than 4 times the cost in lower heating costs.
If your only backup is resistance electric heat, the costs are brutal.
Yes, propane is a better alternative for the second heating source, if propane tanks are allowed in your area.
Same in Ontario Canada. Feel sorry for those with electric heat where renewables and politics have pushed energy costs up. Here is a video of a lady crying in from of the PM. Watch and try not to cry.
Don’t let a crisis go to waste! Find the most costly and ridiculous solution and implement it. That’s the government and Green way! 1) Replace the furnace (and air conditioner) with a heat pump. 2) What do you do about the water heater and kitchen range if gas? Replace them too. Wow! How much will we save? 3) Rip out the ng lines since they aren’t needed anymore, right?
When the water infrastructure lines break why fix them? Let’s just put in a central pump station and people can come haul their water (or pay someone) back to their residence. Same with the electrical infrastructure. When lines fail, lets just have solar panels waiting in a warehouse, install them and jerk out the old electrical lines since the aren’t needed anymore.
Aging infrastructure problem solved, right? Social Justice prevails. Greens are idolized!
/sarc
“…because it takes a lot more energy to move heat from a very cold area to a hotter one.”
Hey, RGHE’s up/down/”back” LWIR moves energy from the cold troposphere to the warm earth w/o a power cord.
Just get some o’ that!!
WE knows exactly the secret how it works.
Now, don’t hold out on us!! Share!!
The Progressive War on the Poor and Middle Class:
You have to love it when Social Justice Warriors strip the social out of the warrioring. Because if there’s anything that the poor or “marginalized communities” need, it’s heating bills a couple of hundred percent larger than they were before; a real sacrifice to be made by real people in the name of fighting an imaginary foe.
Another issue with heat pumps is that as air temperatures get colder, ice starts to form on the outside coils when in heat pump mode.
This means that from time to time the heat pump has to switch back to air conditioner mode in order to run hot freon through the outside coils in order to melt that ice.
Here in South Australia a lot of homes use reverse cycle air conditioners. True in winter for a short while like 6am to 8am ice can form on the outside, but the unit then goes into anti icing mode.
True we have a mild climate here, seldom see a frost, but right now our problem is will the electricity continue to flow. We have about 40 % renewables with all of their problems.
MJE
driving a car is a dangerous activity……..that FACT in no way implies we should not use cars….it DOES for me imply one should be VERY careful when driving a car……clearly many people ignore the danger and cause death on the highways.,…….a reminder of how dangerous that activity is should help the public with awareness and that is a good thing to do….not inane or stupid.
Just tossing out “x is dangerous” in no way helps public awareness. It is inane and stupid because it is devoid of all context or meaning (and hence is mock worthy). perhaps if you smoked less pot your cognitive abilities would be better and you’d understand that.
TY for the LYING personal attack……….i gave context and you still chose to attack me as a person with a LIE.
You are the one lying BILL, as anyone who can read this thread can attest. Your initial posting was “over the years I have been mocked unmercifully for daring to point out natural gas is dangerous” you just tossed out that “natural gas is dangerous” without any context complaining that people mocked you for that meaningless by itself fact. And when you were once again mocked as a result you whined like a baby that people had mocked you again. Grow up and learn that throwing out facts without context is meaningless and will lead to you being mocked.
As for the dig about your pot use, you are the one who brought up marijuana as being “not dangerous” in a thread that had nothing to do with marijuana. In my experience those that would do so tend to be marijuana users looking to defend their habit. Now you can deny you are a marijuana user, and I’ll happily accept that denial. That just means you poor cognitive abilities as exhibited in this thread are down to something else. I’m guessing it’s due to you being a person with a lot of growing up left to do, regardless of whatever your biological age may be.
In the mean time feel free to whine some more about how you’ve been mocked. That will only force people to
tauntmock you a second time (with apologies to Monty Python).TY for another example of you making up BS i never wrote and shooting it down, nowhere did i write that i have ever used marijuana i merely used it as an example of a NON dangerous substance…….another LYING personal attack………YOU are a waste of my time, dismissed
BT,
Making random statements is not communicating. We assume you were intending to communicate. Thus, JE is right to assume there is a connection between your statements.
So, did you intend to communicate, or just make random statements?
SR
what i was communicating is the reality of “communication” on the internet……that many people attempt to attack others for merely stating a simple FACT, that cant be disputed but the person get attacked…..the story above includes the natural gas explosion is why i used that “fact” in my post and the responses to it showed how far people will go to disagree and indeed make LYING personal comments about the poster…..saying natural gas is dangerous in NO way implies we should not use dangerous things, or any of the other “implications” falsely assigned to my comment. my personal opinion of the safest sources of electric generation are the newest designs for nuclear power safer and much cheaper
Bill?!? For the love of Jeebus, put the 2×4 down! That horse is dead.
As for nuclear, I have supported it all my life, leftists and ecotards are going to fight it no matter how safe, efficient and economical it is.
So spouting random comments and not communication is your thing. and you wonder why you get mercilessly mocked?
The pipelines in question were being replaced with new plastic pipelines. The explosions were caused by the over pressurization of the gas in the lines which caused 60 houses to have explosions or fires. It was human error not old pipes.
The situation looks ripe for Propane drivers like Hank Hill if you ask me, David. A simple conversion kit for your gas appliances (which my propane dealer will provide) and you’re back in biz until the natural gas is up. 👍
Propane and propane accessories. Its not just a job, Bobby, it is a calling.
I did an analysis of wood pellets and pellet stoves and furnaces. Pellets typically cost $13-19/million BTU. It’s more expensive than natural gas but less expensive than propane or heating oil. They are thermostatically controlled. Has anyone had experience with these stoves? Do they work as well as advertised?
Heat pumps don’t work in a cold climate. I had one at a condo in NJ. Every time the thing came on it sounded like the A/C was on, and someone had turned it up too high! A heat pump will keep you from freezing but you never feel warm in one and when the temperature drops below freezing it’s just resistance heat – there is little cost saving. Nowadays I live in Mississippi, and down here it works fine.
Personally I don’t recommend pellet stoves. Finicky and take a lot maintenance. If you do get one buy an ash vacuum or higher end ShopVac and clean the burner compartment regularly, otherwise you’ll have a bad day, ‘mmmK. I would suggest sticking with wood, get a stove with forced air built in.