RE:RE:Heating homes with natural gas will be out in the futurerustyblades wrote: Carbon free does not equate to green. Most non-carbon sources of electricity have environmental problems of their own. Also, the mass balance of the materials required for non carbon generation to replace carbon generated sources will have a dramatic impact impact on the environment.
Wind and solar farms don't produce enough stable power to replace heating energy. Moving natural gas consumption to hydro electricity or nuclear power costs about $1000 per ton of greenhouse gases. Not really economically efficient until you replace all transportation.
Plus, you'll see renewable natural gas initiatives, power to gas initiatives and hydrogen that will all blend to reduce the carbon emissions from natural gas. Btw, all those initiatives cost less than the $1000 per ton required to switch to non-carbon sources.
Wind and solar are good to switch base use of power, however they still usually need a peak shaving carbon emitting tool. For example, California uses natural gas to balance its daily peak and the cost of replacing that tool will be astronomical (much higher than $1000 per ton).
For now, replacing oil use with natural gas still reduces greenhouse gas emissions at virtually no cost. Natural gas consumption is still projected to rise until 2030 even though natural gas companies are decoupling and trying to incite customers to curtail use.