OMG, how am I going to heat my home or take a hot shower? Winter is coming! And, in Upstate New York it can seem like it lasts for years (Ugh!).
Before we call 911, my meter was not stolen, it is merely the first step at decommissioning an archaic infrastructure. History will reflect that extensive natural gas pipelines became archaic the same way that delivering blocks of ice to homes to keep our food from spoiling, new technologies rendered the ice box obsolete, and we are witnessing the use of heat pumps rendering the burning of fossil fuels obsolete. Perhaps a little more information regarding my house will help make my point.
A 50 year old house in a modest neighborhood is 100% heated and cooled with a geothermal heat pump. The heat pump as well as our induction range (which my wife will testify is far better than cooking on a gas range) and our air-to-water domestic water heating heat pump are all driven by electricity. Although we have enjoyed the comfort and efficiency of geothermal for 10 years, on February 16, 2017 we started up the new 3 Ton GeoStar Sycamore Variable Speed Heat Pump (without any supplemental or backup heat). Tracking our energy consumption as well as our generation of electricity from the solar panels since February 16, 2017 is illustrated in the following image.
Although we will fall short of reaching “Net-Zero”, at least on a on-site basis, all the electricity we buy from the grid is generated from a renewable source (yes, I know the electrons do not really know where they come from). Consequently, our modest home can be characterized as Zero-Carbon, and this is why natural gas pipelines will become obsolete.
