Climate change prompts a push away from natural gas
When Julie Langabeer and her late husband bought a 1925 Craftsman-style home in North Everett, they replaced its heating sources — a scary-to-light gas fireplace and ancient wall heaters — with a gas furnace. That was 12 years ago.
“At the time it didn’t occur to me not to have gas. Climate change wasn’t foremost on my brain at that point,” Langabeer said. “Now I feel guilty every time the thing runs.”
This fall, the retiree is having the far-from-old furnace replaced with an electric heat pump. The natural gas line to the house will come out.
While the gas industry describes heat pumps as “not a silver bullet,” many do consider them a major weapon in the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Heat pumps not only provide efficient space heating but double as air conditioners, because they can transfer warm air in either direction. They offer protection against heat waves and allow Pacific Northwesterners to close their windows and breathe filtered air when forest fire smoke invades the region.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/climate-change-prompts-a-push-away-from-natural-gas/
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