The Biden administration contends that it is not targeting gas stoves and other domestic conveniences afforded by fossil fuels, but its “building electrification” agenda is poised to effectively do just that, several energy policy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The notion that the federal government would like to ban gas stoves is a “myth” and “misinformation,” according to the Department of Energy (DOE), which uploaded the blog post in May 2023 after Consumer Product Safety Commission Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that a gas stove ban is “on the table” in a January 2023 Bloomberg interview. However, the administration is also working to advance its “building electrification” agenda that would bring about similar outcomes under a different name, energy policy experts told the DCNF.
“The whole ‘building electrification’ effort is part of the centralized control impulse of people who gravitate to government or stand to cash in on the latest fad, irrespective of its costs or impacts on regular Americans. It’s also part of the ‘electrify everything’ agenda of planners and masterminds,” Dan Kish, a senior research fellow for the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF. “The U.S. established a Constitutional Republic to limit government control, and yet control freaks want to tell us how to live by expanding the government’s reach.”
REP. CORI BUSH: “This proposed rule is not a ban on gas stoves! We are regulating indoor air pollution.”
And they called you paranoid for thinking they were coming for your gas stoves…They’re just ‘regulating indoor air pollution.’ pic.twitter.com/5ZkMKLSPvr
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 24, 2023
The DOE released a report in April describing all of the ways it would like to decarbonize America’s building stock in the coming decades by pushing electric vehicles, electric appliances and substantial changes to how the utility industry operates. The Biden administration has also banned the use of natural gas in new federal buildings starting in 2030 and spent considerable sums of money to help state and municipal governments craft their own ambitious green building codes.
On Thursday, the DOE announced its official definition for “zero-emissions” buildings. Two of the three minimum criteria that a building must meet to fit into the definition are that it is “free of on-site emissions from energy use” and “powered solely from clean energy.”
“The feds are outlining yet another set of ‘rules’ for decarbonization, this time focused on zero-emissions buildings,” Steve Everly, a senior managing director for FTI Consulting’s energy and natural resources practice, wrote in a post to X addressing the DOE’s Thursday announcement. “But remember there is no federal effort to ban or restrict natural gas use, so stop the culture war or something.” (RELATED: Media Peddles New Gas Stove Study, Neglects To Mention It Was Funded By China-Linked Climate Group)
REPORTER:
“We’ve seen them go after gas stoves…how many more home appliances will Americans eventually have to replace?” pic.twitter.com/JgjQyiPGK0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 24, 2023
OH Skinner, the executive director of the Alliance for Consumers, echoed Everly’s suggestion that “building electrification” is a backdoor to significantly changing how Americans live, including by distorting markets in ways that disadvantage consumers.
“Basically, they’re saying, ‘We’re not banning gas stoves, we’re just pushing broad housing efficiency and building code standards for health and safety that make it nearly impossible for normal consumers or businesses to access products they may want, but we’re not banning anything,’” Skinner told the DCNF. “I think a good example that applies to the spirit of the green buildings agenda is the fuel efficiency standards for vehicles. Bureaucrats say, ‘We’re not trying to ban gas powered cars, but we are going to impose efficiency standards that can only be met if the vast majority of cars sold are electric cars.’ So, in theory, you can still, right now, get a gas powered car, but they are making it so that that access is not going to be actually possible for everyday people, just an elite and ever-shrinking few.”
The administration has also issued a bevy of regulations targeting household appliances, including furnaces, water heaters, dishwashers, portable gas-powered generators pool pump motors and more. In many cases, these standards are designed to push more energy efficient, and often electric or more expensive, appliances on consumers over time.
“The Biden administration doesn’t think its policies are being challenged or are unpopular, but the reality is pretty clearly the opposite,” Gabriella Hoffman, the director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), told the DCNF. “Attacking your constituents is not really a recipe for success in terms of winning over people to support your policies. And that’s why people are not supporting this administration’s regulations and electrification push. That’s why people don’t want to be dictated choices, especially with personal decisions like what type of stove you use, what car you drive, your gas furnace and so on.”
IWF has kept track of the administration’s appliance rules and estimated that the total costs of upgrading a home to align with the administration’s regulations are in the thousands of dollars. These expenses may not be especially onerous for the well-to-do, but they figure to weigh heavily on average Americans already feeling inflation’s pinch, Hoffman told the DCNF.
The DOE did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
