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US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

theguardian.com

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Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#81

Post by RetpolineDrama »

legitster wrote: post #29
bwb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might be a bit of propaganda from the gas industry over the last 50 years. I heard similar but when i dug into it appeared to be bunk… i cook on electric now and love it.

> That might be a bit of propaganda from the gas industry over the last 50 years What a crazy conspiracy theory. It assumes electric companies and appliance makers do no marketing of their own. Gas cooking is obviously a more luxurious experience and anyone who says otherwise has not tried to make a hollandaise sauce on each.

>Gas cooking is obviously a more luxurious experience

Maybe for the 60+ boomer crowd, for everyone else Induction is way cooler than gas.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#82

Post by elevation »

You wouldn't have to bribe me to opt for gas.

In the past 20 years I've lived through two natural disasters that disrupted residential electrical service for more than a week. While electric utilities struggled to restore service, our gas fireplace gave emergency heat, our gas stove top cooked our food, and our gas water heater made our home the destination for our neighbors to get a hot shower. (The neighbors had gas water heaters too, but the high-efficiency kind that won't light the pilot if 120v isn't present.)

Besides the practical benefits, gas energy is significantly cheaper than electric, a distinct advantage as prices inflate.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#83

Post by beej71 »

I don't have gas to my place--they just installed a line on the street, so I could get it relatively cheap now...

... but probably going to get a heat pump instead. Electric heat sucks money, so I'm keen to replace it with something. And now that we've gone from 1 too-hot day per year to 7-8 with smoke, it's a double win.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#84

Post by ttt3ts »

jeffbee wrote: post #14
abfan1127 wrote: post #7

I won't speak to cooking. But, gas central air heaters are much cheaper to operate than heat pumps in Phoenix, AZ. I wish it wasn't so environmentally speaking. But from a cost point of view, its better to use natural gas than electricity.

That's just a policy choice. There's no law of physics that makes an electric heat pump cost more.

Actually it is physics and the market https://www.statista.com/statistics/220174/total-us-electric... a huge percentage of us electrical power is from natural gas. Natural gas to electricity to heat is a lot less efficient.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#85

Post by [deleted] »

bradfa wrote: post #8

Natural gas supply companies incentivize their sales channel to install the connection which is needed in order to consume the gas product. This seems like business 101. In many places, heating your home and your domestic hot water is still financially less expensive using natural gas. Sure, there's negatives to using natural gas, but being more expensive is not one of them.

[deleted]

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#86

Post by jeffbee »

ttt3ts wrote: post #84
jeffbee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just a policy choice. There's no law of physics that makes an electric heat pump cost more.

Actually it is physics and the market https://www.statista.com/statistics/220174/total-us-electric... a huge percentage of us electrical power is from natural gas. Natural gas to electricity to heat is a lot less efficient.

There's not even a physics reason why a heat pump needs to be electric. There are gas-fired heat pumps. There are even gas-fired refrigerators. These weird anti heat-pump memes are just being regurgitated by people who do not understand what they are talking about.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#87

Post by JohnFen »

infecto wrote: post #31
JohnFen wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite where I am. People tend to avoid gas. I've even seen people go to the extent of having gas service physically removed from houses they've bought.

Where is that generally? I am super conscious of air quality, would flip my stove but not sure I would rip out gas heat unless it already needed replacement.

I would prefer not to say very specifically, but I'm in a part of the US where electricity is less expensive than gas, which is probably the largest reason why people avoid gas around here.

Also, the majority of houses never had gas piped to them in the first place. Most people are used to electric and it's a nonissue for them, so there is little desire to use gas.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#88

Post by JohnFen »

snapplebobapple wrote: post #76
bwb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might be a bit of propaganda from the gas industry over the last 50 years. I heard similar but when i dug into it appeared to be bunk… i cook on electric now and love it.

As someone who cooks quite a lot, it's not propaganda. Induction has 2 minor/moderate annoyances vs gas: It gets low temp by varying the time the burner is on full and heating diminishes rapidly if the pan isn't in close contact with the element. The former can be super annoying in some situations (i.e. making a sauce) as the sauce boils for a second, then gets too cold non stop. The latter can be a big problem if yo…

I found the induction ranges are far more trouble than they're worth to me. The low temperature thing is a serious problem, and I really dislike that you have to use certain types of pans. I've used gas stoves enough to know that they're fine -- but for me they offer no important advantages over electric.

> I don't like the pressure to get rid of this stuff, it should be individual choice depending on your own personal situation.

So much this! Different strokes for different folks.

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#89

Post by [deleted] »

RetpolineDrama wrote: post #77
snapplebobapple wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who cooks quite a lot, it's not propaganda. Induction has 2 minor/moderate annoyances vs gas: It gets low temp by varying the time the burner is on full and heating diminishes rapidly if the pan isn't in close contact with the element. The former can be super annoying in some situations (i.e. making a sauce) as the sauce boils for a second, then gets too cold non stop. The latter can be a big problem if yo…

>it should be individual choice depending on your own personal situation. Your average individual is completely unequipped to make an informed decision on this topic. They have no idea their crappy gas stove is spewing high volumes of carcinogens and other nasty things into their kitchen. We do the same thing for toys, my wife should be able to buy my child a toy at the store without having to bring an XRF gun to loo…

[deleted]

Re: US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances

#90

Post by JohnFen »

legitster wrote: post #29
bwb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might be a bit of propaganda from the gas industry over the last 50 years. I heard similar but when i dug into it appeared to be bunk… i cook on electric now and love it.

> That might be a bit of propaganda from the gas industry over the last 50 years What a crazy conspiracy theory. It assumes electric companies and appliance makers do no marketing of their own. Gas cooking is obviously a more luxurious experience and anyone who says otherwise has not tried to make a hollandaise sauce on each.

> Gas cooking is obviously a more luxurious experience and anyone who says otherwise has not tried to make a hollandaise sauce on each.

I've made hollandaise and other delicate sauces on both. In my book, they're both perfectly fine. Excluding induction (which I have struggles with), I wouldn't call either better than the other.

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