7 Comments
Sep 24, 2022Liked by Green Leap Forward

With Californians paying 21cents/kwh off-peak and 54 cents/kwh peak (4-9pm) no wonder they want to ban natural gas services to homes and buildings, forcing you to use their expensive electricity for heat & hot water. And prevent grid defection.

At those prices it would be cheaper to run a liquid cooled CHP NG generator/batteries/solar PV with heat and hot water cogeneration. With the CHP generator you don't need big batteries like you need for an off-grid solar. 10kwh would be enough not 30kwh as you need to replace an avg US home electricity supply with solar PV. And a 3kw solar array instead of a 10kw. Curious why NG CHP generators optimized for battery charging are not readily available and mass produced at the cost of a home gas furnace. Something stinks there. Or even a natural gas fuel cell, you would only need ~1.5kwe size. Larger buildings can use Bloom box NG CHP fuel cells. Or are they banned in California already.

So end-of-story. They can't compete in a free market so their answer is to ban the competition. Socialism or Monopoly Capitalism? Likely a combo of both, called "Stakeholders", the New World Order.

Expand full comment
author

<<SoCalGas, the state’s largest gas utility and a unite of Sempra Energy, said it supported the state’s goal to decarbonize buildings and said its own infrastructure would play a role by transporting clean fuels such as hydrogen.

“A growing body of research shows that electrification combined with clean fuels and carbon management deliver the most affordable, resilient, and technologically proven path to improved air quality and full carbon neutrality,” Christine Detz, a SoCalGas spokesperson, said in an email.>>

https://kelo.com/2022/09/22/california-takes-step-away-from-natural-gas-to-heat-buildings/

---------------------

<<But on Thursday, Sempra’s top executive said he has no beef with a unanimous vote by the San Diego City Council to eliminate natural gas in new construction and electrify nearly all existing buildings in the city by 2035.

“We’re supportive of where the city wants to go,” Sempra CEO Jeff Martin said when asked about the council’s resolution during the company’s second quarter earnings call with financial analysts. “And I think one thing that’s unique about our business, whether we’re in Louisiana or Mexico or California, we’re strongly aligned with supporting policymakers and making sure we’re advancing services for consumers.”>>

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2022-08-04/sempra-san-diego-natural-gas

Expand full comment
author

Forgot about this one:

<<Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced that 14 billion cubic feet of renewable natural gas (RNG) produced from organic waste was distributed via SoCalGas' pipeline system in 2021, the equivalent to removing 166,896 cars off the road annually. This is 2 billion cubic feet more than 12 billion cubic feet distributed by SoCalGas in 2020. In addition, the utility completed five RNG interconnection projects last year located throughout its service territory including the San Joaquin Valley and San Bernardino County. In total there are now nine RNG projects connected to SoCalGas' system.

As part of SoCalGas' goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045, the utility plans to deliver 20% RNG to core customers by end of 2030 and continues to make significant progress towards reaching its goal.>>

https://www.sempra.com/2021-brings-more-renewable-natural-gas-socalgas-pipelines

14 billion cubic feet is more or less what Europe used to import from Russia in one day.

Expand full comment

It’s silly to think the government can change the weather. The politicians are out of their minds. San Diego is peak Clown World.

Expand full comment
author

The Holy Greta disagrees!

Expand full comment

I started working on energy efficiency with Mike Peevey and Art Rosenfeld in CA 2002. One party government (yes, including Govinator) will become dysfunctional in short order. Smart people and dumbed-down government. Thanks for your flow of information, GLF.

Expand full comment