Maryland must embrace its electric future
For several years, some parts of the country, beginning in California, have been restricting new residential construction from having gas appliances, ranging from water heaters to furnaces to stoves. And the all-electric new home movement has been growing.
Why? Because methane, the main component of natural gas, can worsen climate change just as badly as other fossil fuels. While burning natural gas surely creates less harmful emissions than burning coal, which is still a major fuel for power plants, producing and transporting natural gas results in the release of huge amounts of methane, and that’s worse for global warming than the carbon dioxide released by coal. In short, the more methane we keep buried in the ground, the better for addressing all the adverse impacts of climate change,from heat waves and droughts to rising oceans, loss of farmland and catastrophic weather.
That’s why attention must be paid to the recent petition filed by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel calling on the Maryland Public Service Commission to slow spending on new natural gas infrastructure. The logic here is pretty clear.
The more utilities spend on new pipelines or other distribution equipment, the more they are going to facilitate continued and perhaps greater use of that commodity. Energy companies have long attempted to finesse the issue, claiming to support long-term carbon goals while also promoting natural gas as a “transitional” energy source. It’s not difficult to see the appeal here. There is still a lot of consumer preference for certain gas appliances, and fewer feathers are ruffled if, instead of banning gas outright, one simply promoted electric alternatives with tax credits and the like or used such incentives to encourage conservation so demand for natural gas might slacken.
The problem is that carrots only go so far. Sometimes, sticks are needed. Take, for example, Washington Gas, which has added 17,000 new gas meters in its Maryland service area (chiefly in the D.C. suburbs) over the last decade. Their reasoning? It’s what consumers wanted. Small wonder that some see the PSC as too soft on utilities. As David S. Lapp, the Maryland People’s Counsel, recently observed on The Sun’s op-ed page, this over-investment in gas will bite back in stranded costs that will raise utility prices for all, but will be particularly hard on lower-income households. And make no mistake, that day is coming. As an OPC report released last year pointed out, customers are already switching to electricity with nearly all buildings, including 96% of homes, expected to be heated by heat pumps by 2050.
Gov. Wes Moore and state lawmakers surely have a role here as well. We are accustomed to big pronouncements coming out of Annapolis about how Maryland is headed for carbon neutrality, but what happens when the going gets tough? Last year, the General Assembly approved the Climate Solutions Now Act, which anticipates net-zero emissions by 2045, but how? It only calls on state agencies to make plans. When does Maryland start taking the less popular actions like reducing investment in natural gas infrastructure? The Maryland Department of the Environment is expected to propose a plan by June 30. Will it be adequate? Costly? Controversial? We would bet on at least two of those three (with adequacy the most doubtful given the history here).
As we’ve noted before, Maryland is in an especially vulnerable position when it comes to climate change. The most obvious problem is sea level rise with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency projecting a 1.3 foot to 5.2 foot increase in the century ahead.
Given Maryland’s 3,190 miles of shoreline, it’s not hard to see a disaster in the making. Is that worth the cost of transitioning away from gas appliances? You better believe it. That’s not the only issue, of course. The state must also invest more in energy conservation, in public transit, in smarter land use policies, in electric vehicles, in green energy and on and on with other states and nations doing the same. But the movement can start right now and right here with putting an end to new gas appliances and over-investment in natural gas infrastructure.
When does Maryland start taking the less popular actions like reducing investment in natural gas infrastructure?