Ban Electric Ranges! A Progressive Freakout from an Alternative Universe
By: Charles C. W. Cooke (National Review)
Liberals stirred the cesspool and raised a stink for the sole purpose of raising a stink. That seems to be the entire point of being 'woke'.
I wrote yesterday that:
For more than a century now, Americans have been cooking with gas — and, clearly, many of them still wish to do so. Indeed, until yesterday morning, nobody had thought much about this at all. There is no Anti-Flicker League, no Mothers Against Gas Stoves. This whole thing has been a top-down affair, contrived by the terminally bored. At some point in the last couple of years, a bunch of hyperactive progressives decided that gas stoves might be a good candidate for their next moral crusade, and, after a cursory review of the idea, they elected to go for it. As the drive progressed, the justification for it changed: First, the impetus was climate change, then it was health, and, if these fail, it will become something else — the perils of living in the same house as plastic knobs, perhaps. But really, these are just pretexts. The true purpose of the effort is to advance a cause in the hope of feeling fulfilled.
On Twitter, John Hasson serves up a nice little example of exactly this point. Hasson notes that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has found that, when it comes to fires, electric ranges are considerably more dangerous than are gas stoves. Here’s the data:
Households that use electric ranges have a higher risk of cooking fires and associated losses than those using gas ranges. Although 60 percent of households cook with electricity four out of five (80 percent) ranges or cooktops involved in reported cooking fires were powered by electricity. Population-based risks are shown below,
• The rate of reported fires per million households was 2.6 times higher with electric ranges.
• The civilian fire death rate per million households was 3.4 times higher with electric ranges.
• The civilian fire injury rate per million households was 4.8 times higher with electric ranges than in households using gas ranges.
• The average fire dollar loss per household was 3.8 times higher in households with electric ranges.
Do not misunderstand me: I do not wish to ban or limit the sale of electric ranges. Nor do I think the federal government has the power to do so. I merely wish to point out that, if the hyperactive progressives who are currently going after gas stoves wished instead to make the case against electric ranges, they could instead use these stats as their pretext, and they could do so with exactly the same level of stridency as they are currently exhibiting.
And they would. In such a case, Richard Trumka Jr. would be insisting that “products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” and then reciting the statistics above as his justification. In such a case, AOC would be asking people on Twitter, “did you know that the civilian fire injury rate per million households was 4.8 times higher with electric ranges than in households using gas ranges?” In such a case, the mawkish subtext of the whole thing would be, “do you think your electric range is more important than your child not burning to death?” Chris Hayes would jump on it. Elizabeth Warren would jump on it. Everyone you currently expect to jump on it would jump on it. All that would change is the details. The NFPA notes that “it is sometimes less obvious that an electric burner is turned on or is still hot than it is with gas burners,” and that “in addition, once turned off, it takes time for an electric burner to cool.” If the same people were trying to ban electric burners, that — and not whatever stats they can find about gas stoves — would be plastered all over everyone’s mentions on social media. The whole thing is a game. The only appropriate response is: Bugger off.
Liberals made the case for banning gas ranges by using bad science in a stupid manner. Now liberals are blaming Republicans for being hoist by their own stupidity.
That is some fantastical made up shit Nerm! Have you ever thought about turning it into a fantasy book series? You could make a killing of the retarded MAGA crowd.
It would be nice if you made sense. That will never happen.
Plus the typical projection, deflection, and denial.
No one is banning gas stoves.
'Using bad science in a stupid manner'
What the huh?
When did you get your degree?
The idea is a standard whereby we ban something because it can’t be made 100% safe. That’s absurd.
Not exactly. Every other gas appliance (water heater, furnace, dryer etc.) is required by law to be vented outdoors. Has to be for a reason.
A gas leak is a sign of something being broken - not of a gas system in good working order.
But gas isn’t the only thing that needs venting. The stuff you cook throws vapor, smoke, and minute particles into the air. Therefore, any indoor cooking could be banned.
Hell, my children know it’s dinner time when the smoke alarm goes off.
Now that's funny !
Only ones I see freaking out are conservatives. Far as I can tell the headline is "Hey, maybe burning natural gas and pumping into your house isn't a good idea."
And then you get this bullshit "Ban Electric Ranges! A Progressive Freakout From An Alternative Universe"
A couple state reps proposed a ban, not gonna go anywhere, and suddenly it is a "progressive freakout!"
Nerm, you're an idiot.
Never thought about it before but it makes sense. No gas burns into "nothing", there are always byproducts. And burning a gas stove in your house just pumps those byproducts into your house.
Am I super worried, nah. Are my girls healthy, yeah. Will; I replace the stove? Probably in the next few months cuz fuck it, why not. In the meantime ill turn the vent fan on.
Conservatives didn't raise the issue in the first place. The issue of gas ranges was imposed upon everyone by liberal activists. And the way these things work in the United States, liberal activists interpret lack of dissent as tacit approval. When liberal activists begin pushing some sort of proposal, no matter how absurd, it is absolutely necessary to dissent loudly and strongly. Otherwise the absurd will become reality.
Cooking food affects indoor air quality. Even cooking in a microwave will affect indoor air quality. Food contains a lot of volatile compounds that are transferred to the air while cooking. If you can smell food that is being cooked then air quality has been affected. Imagine cooking food that contains peanuts in a house with someone that has a peanut allergy. That's not caused by a gas range, that's caused by using heat to cook. Are we supposed to ban hot food?
You've hit upon the solution (perhaps inadvertently). Ventilation is the solution that addresses indoor air quality. A house without adequate ventilation will experience worse indoor air quality. That has been the preferred method to address radon seepage.
I think in most places, new construction is required to have kitchen ventilation.
My house is old, it self ventilates.