Recent talk of banning gas appliances for new construction has me wondering about the climate change impact of gas appliances. How do they compare to a gasoline-powered car or a gas furnace? Do they generate enough CO2 to be worth even bringing into the climate-change discussion? Seems like a fair question.
My household has three gas appliances (oven, clothes dryer and water heater), two high-efficiency gas furnaces, and two low-efficiency gasoline-powered cars. We drive about 15,000 miles a year. I have a good idea how many gallons of gasoline that translates into. Our gas bill tells me how many therms of natural gas we consume. Google tells me how many pounds of CO2 are emitted by all that fossil fuel consumption. Turns out our three gas appliances make up 8% of our direct CO2 emissions. Our furnace contributes 39% and our gasoline powered cars 53%.
Eight percent is small, but not trivial, so it should probably be part of the discussion. In terms of replacing existing gas appliances, if we had some extra money I’d be more inclined to apply it toward a more fuel-efficient (or electric) car than toward new electric appliances.
Of course, every situation is different, but it’s nice to have some good data to help make an informed decision.
Karl Lauger
Oak Park