It isn’t often we can see an authoritarian government implement a sweeping change in how we live.
Currently, 40% of American homes have natural gas stoves. In twenty years, that number will be smaller, and eventually, it will be unusual for a new home to even have natural gas available.
It starts with an interview in Bloomberg CPSC To Consider Ban on Gas Stoves. If that link doesn’t work, this link may be available. The issue gets picked up by other media, softened up a little, and spread.
In case anyone missed it, this is just another wacky conspiracy dreamed up by the Republicans.
That is all that has to be done. Now, your kitchen stove is a partisan issue. Are you a Leftist, or do you want to kill your own kids? Immediately, induction stove questions started showing up on the Home Improvement forum on Reddit. Over a dozen posts in a month. This social media is used because it’s non-partisan and populated by people interested in home projects.
Most people just want to live their lives without killing their own kids. A few people will replace their gas stove with an electric model, celebrities will mention the issue, building codes be changed, and in twenty years, gas stoves will be old-fashioned.
Eventually, running natural gas to new homes won’t seem worthwhile. What’s the problem?
In our push for electric cars, nobody is talking about building more nuclear power plants. It’s silly to imagine that solar panels and wind turbines will suffice. Our electrical grid is shaky, and getting worse. Electric water heaters, stoves and heating use a lot of power, and require a large backup generator to remain operational. Most of those are powered by natural gas because the gasoline/alcohol mix we currently use deteriorates in a few months, gumming up the carburetors.
When you find yourself trapped at home because your electric car can’t be charged, and the temperature is dropping, nobody will think to blame Richard Trumka Jr, a commissioner at the CPSC.