A member of the Biden administration admitted last year to planning a complete ban on natural gas-powered stoves through the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "There is sufficient information available for CPSC to issue a [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] in FY 2023 proposing to ban gas stoves in homes," Democratic operative and Biden-appointed CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka wrote in October.
Trumka’s argument for a national gas stove ban was based on indoor air quality. Specifically, he leaned on a very low-quality study by a green energy group that was trumpeted as showing that a huge portion of asthma cases are caused by gas stoves. The study, by the Rocky Mountain Institute, was criticized by economics professor Emily Oster, the Breakthrough Institute, and Kelsey Piper at Vox.
It’s obvious what’s going on here. The Rocky Mountain Institute is a lobbying group the purpose of which is to push business to green energy, and so it conducted a low-quality study that made a competitor, natural gas, look bad.
Publishing junk science on gas stoves is a bad way to do that, in part because gas stoves are a tiny source of natural gas usage. Also, the broader goal here, electrification, isn’t the sort of thing the federal government should be advancing with national bans. Why not? Because in many parts of the country, “electric-powered” means coal-powered.
Eight U.S. states get a majority of their electricity from coal. A national ban on gas stoves would shift 80% of gas-cooking in West-Virginia to coal-cooking, which will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s a very common problem with environmental policymakers and lobbyists. They see something that is good in some circumstances, and they decide to mandate it for all circumstances.
Electric cars are great for short and medium trips. Vehicles that take long trips require massive batteries, and are uneconomical in a hundred ways. High-efficiency lightbulbs are perfect for fixtures that are left on all day and are difficult to change, such as in parking garages. They are a lot less good in fixtures that are frequently switched on and off.
The broader lesson here is that green intentions don't make for good policy.