Naghmana Sherazi: Forget gas, clean energy would save money for all

By Naghmana Sherazi

There’s a meme going around recently with a photo of a wind farm that says, “Since the Russian invasion, the cost to produce wind energy has … gone up $0.00.”

The point sure hits home.

I’m a single mother, and I’ve often worked two jobs to pay the bills, from convenience stores to university labs. Even with multiple jobs, there have been many years where I can’t afford health insurance for my son, or dental care for either of us.

Every increase in prices makes a difference when you’re on a tight budget, which is why the facts behind the meme are so important. Unlike oil and gas, the price of energy from solar and wind isn’t dictated by global markets and bad actors like Vladimir Putin.

That kind of energy independence and price stability is a great reason to care about moving to more clean energy to power more aspects of our lives, and there are other reasons. I first learned about fracking when my son asked me about it six years ago, and we sat down to research and learn together about the pollution it causes. There are the chemicals that contaminate water and the climate change pollutant methane that’s released when gas is drilled for and transported.

More recently, information has come to light about the implications of burning methane gas in furnaces, water heaters and stoves. We’ve learned how nitrogen dioxide is emitted and exacerbates respiratory ailments, like asthma, and how the exposure is worse in apartments and homes with small kitchens and poor ventilation. In other words, it’s another case of pollution most affecting those living on lower incomes, and people of color. My son has asthma, so I absolutely know the importance of doing everything possible to provide the healthiest living environments we can.

It’s a shame, but not surprising, that the gas industry locally and across Washington has been combative against efforts to address this environmental injustice. Clean energy already powers much of our electric grid, and it’s clearly a threatening notion to gas companies that the clean grid will steadily displace gas for heating houses, apartment buildings and offices. Yet the gaslighting the industry has deployed – in purporting to somehow be watching out for low-income communities through its opposition – cannot be excused.

The facts are that builders are already avoiding gas hookups and going with all-electric in new residential construction because it saves money. And in new multifamily housing construction, particularly affordable housing where funding is available for energy efficiency and healthier building, the facts are that operational costs come down with efficient electric appliances.

So here’s what the gas industry is really saying with its opposition to buildings running on clean electricity: that families living on lower incomes, with the most exposure to all forms of pollution, should continue to live in buildings that put toxins in our children’s lungs. That’s not standing up for our communities’ interests. That’s simply perpetuating injustice.

I understand that change is hard, but it’s high time for the gas industry and energy decision-makers to see the handwriting on the wall. We have some of the cleanest electricity in the country, and the technologies for heating with electricity have advanced to the point where it’s a no-brainer for builders.

In change there is also opportunity. Look at Peabody Energy: The mining company practically synonymous with coal in America is now venturing into solar installations on their former mine sites.

The next chance for a forward step on clean buildings is the decision that’s coming soon from the State Building Codes Council (SBCC) on requiring high-efficiency clean electric equipment for space and water heating in newly built commercial and multifamily residential buildings. I urge the SBCC members to see right through the propaganda from the gas industry, and keep Washington moving forward on clean energy. Environmental justice depends on each of these small steps.

Naghmana Sherazi is climate justice program director at the Lands Council in Spokane.