Source:
https://www.masterresource.org/deep-decarbonization/gas-ban-economics-101/
“Because a gas ban has virtually no effect on global climate and is likely to increase energy costs for consumers, one would have to look far to find a governmental action that is so intrusive, imbalanced and detrimental to society’s welfare.”
... Methane rules, drilling restrictions on public land, and opposition to new pipelines have incrementally slowed the growth of natural gas in the United States.
But the radical anti-fossil-fuel lobby and their government allies want much more: moratoriums on new gas service and bans on natural gas usage and appliances.
... The city of Berkeley initiated municipal efforts in July 2019 to electrify by prohibiting natural gas in their new buildings.
Since then, dozens of cities in other jurisdictions, largely in California, and most conspicuously San Francisco, have sought to restrict the use of gas in new buildings.
... Such prohibition is contrary to consumer freedom to purchase a desired product (natural gas or propane) in place of an inferior one, namely electricity.
Cheapness and quality are sacrificed on the alter of an environmental want that is itself debatable. (For starters, since U.S. electricity is generated primarily by fossil fuels, the “emissions elsewhere” argument comes into play.)
... In technical economic terms, a gas ban fails miserably with the benefits virtually zero and the costs likely more than minimal.
The benefit-cost (B-C) ratio is close to zero or the C-B ratio is infinite; or as public policy, a ban is off the charts as being exceptionally bad.
Here is why: Less than 9% of carbon-dioxide emissions in the U.S. come from direct use of natural gas in homes and buildings.
The U.S. emits about 15% of world CO2 emissions.
Thus, converting all buildings to all-electric, and assuming that all electricity is produced from “clean” sources (it is not), reduces world-wide emissions less than 1.5%, which according to climate models, would not have a detectable effect on global climate, temperature, sea level, or otherwise."
... The good that comes to energy consumers and society from natural gas far exceeds the bad.
What natural gas has going for it is plenty:
Abundant domestic availability,
Low prices for the foreseeable future
Relative cleanliness when compared with other fossil fuels
Promising technological prospects for a more benign environmental footprint in the future
Flexibility in electric power production, one use being a back-up to renewable energy.
ountry where gas is available, it is the most economic and desired source of energy. Propane, too, has distinct advantages where natural gas lines are not available."