Analysis: Despite recent price hikes, heating with gas is still so cheap it’s going to be hard to kick the habit – By Don Pittis (CBC News) / Nov 8 2021
Architects and planners say market forces alone won’t end our natural gas addiction
Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.
You may have seen recent media warnings that the price of natural gas is soaring.
As COP26 heads into its final week, those trying to help Canadians meet our climate commitments and prevent the world from overheating have a different view. The problem with fossil methane — the main component of natural gas — they say, is not that it’s expensive, but that it is still so cheap.
It is also efficient, reliable and in millions of Canadian homes. And at the burning stage at least, research shows it’s cleaner and far less greenhouse gas intensive than other fossil fuel alternatives.
Some, including former federal Conservative finance minister Joe Oliver, now chair of Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator, oppose the move to stop using natural gas, saying it will be prohibitively expensive and self-defeating.
CONTINUE > https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/natural-gas-weaning-column-don-pittis-1.6233011
