New York to Ban Natural Gas, Including Stoves, in New Buildings

Re:New York to Ban Natural Gas, Including Stoves, in New Bui... by fwungy on Sunday April 30, 2023 @01:09AM (#35759838)

So you have all the heat pumps going on full blast on the coldest days, all together. It's a huge spike in energy demand. As long as the grid can deliver it fine, but when it doesn't the potential is catastrophic. Natural gas heating is far less grid dependent. Even if you lose power you could run a gas furnace with a small generator. Not the case with a heat pump.

Rationally speaking we can only turn the ship as fast as it can turn. Rushing and forcing things to happen that do not have a solid foundation (i.e. a suitable large and reliable grid) are just going to cause problems.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New York to Ban Natural Gas, Including Stoves, in New Bui... by mqus on Sunday April 30, 2023 @08:40AM (#35762008)

> So you have all the heat pumps going on full blast on the coldest days, all together. It's a huge spike in energy demand. As long as the grid can deliver it fine, but when it doesn't the potential is catastrophic.

Repalce heat pumps with gas furnaces and you have an equally true sentence, if "the grid" is the gas grid.

Gas usage also spikes on those cold days. You know what people do to prevent this being an issue? Storage. Nothing you couldn't also do with electric power.

[ Parent | on HN ]