A disorderly, market-based process to reduce greenhouse gases by removing appliances that burn natural gas from every home and building in the United States has begun. This strategy, such as it is, intends to replace appliances that use natural gas with ones that use electricity from more renewables and other carbon free energy sources over time. Most policy advocates and community groups today are focused on the appliance aspects of the transition. The explicitly linked decay of gas demand connects these randomly distributed appliance swaps at the household level to a large, interconnected, complex fossil fuel pipeline network. The emphasis on heat pumps, stoves, water heaters, and other potentially zero-emissions appliances neglects accounting for the ultimate goal: a gas system decommissioning project.
Read the full article published by the Climate & Community Institute