Letter: Phase out natural gas - The Columbian

Letter: Phase out natural gas - The Columbian

Ann Donnelly’s column (“ Restore partnership with NW Natural gas,” The Columbian, April 2) contained five half-truths:

1. She advocated for biofuels. But they’re more expensive and no better than fossil fuels or solar. Biofuels make sense in emergencies, but not 24-7.

2. She said Washington’s Building Code Council has banned natural gas use in the home. That applies only in new, not existing, houses.

3. She says that rule would increase the cost of homebuilding, while ignoring the lower heating costs.

4. Donnelly says our community will need NW Natural for decades. Nonsense. Many Clark County residents have never had gas service. We’ve heated our home with a heat pump ever since 1975.

5. Donnelly says we will become dependent on imports from other states for electricity supplies. However, our power plant runs on fossil gas which we import from Canada. Whereas solar plus storage and geothermal can be produced in Clark County.

The best partnership would be between ground-source heat-pump systems and existing underground gas pipes. The ground temperature is always less extreme than ambient air.

Because of our price on carbon, when an existing gas heating system ages out, the money-saving thing to do is to replace it with a heat pump.