Encinitas just banned natural gas in new buildings, including homes
By Rob Nikolewski
Sept. 22, 2021 10:09 PM PT
The Encinitas City Council passed a sweeping building electrification ordinance late Wednesday that, with just a few exceptions, will eliminate installing natural gas infrastructure on new residential and commercial construction within the city limits.
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However, Kerry Jackson, a fellow at the Center for California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank based in San Francisco that espouses free-market solutions to public policy issues, questioned the effectiveness of all-electric ordinances.
“If you permanently shut down fossil fuel use in all of California tomorrow, the impact on greenhouse gas emissions would be about zero,” Jackson said. “This state puts out only about 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, China and India will be building dozens if not hundreds of coal plants in the coming years. There’s nothing this state, not even this entire nation, can do to offset the increased emissions from those countries.”
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