[PaulDavisThe1st]

You're correct that this ought to say "electricity" and not "power".

But I think you're wrong to think that gas is "critical" to any of the things you've listed. "Currently used" ... yes. "Not replaceable by electricity" ... no (unlike, e.g. air travel).

[tonymet]

Good discussion thanks i got some new ideas out of it

[tonymet]

explain the cost to replace a hop drying kiln with an electrical one, including the grid load.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I'm not going to do that.

Electrical heat using heat pumps is cheaper than in-situ heating with any fossil fuel because (a) the base price per unit of energy is (or certainly can be) lower (b) the coefficient of performance is higher.

There are obviously costs to changing heating systems. But that doesn't mean that a gas heating system cannot be replaced by an electrical one.

[tonymet]

to me, it sounds unreasonable. Let’s say this project was your responsibility, would this argument be enough for your supervisor to approve it?

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I'm not aware of anyone saying "we must replace all uses of non-electrical heat pump-based heating with an electrical version".

My point, in response to the GGP (?) was the while e.g. gas heating may be in use now, it is not irreplaceable. This is quite different (right now, at least) for something like air transportation, where there is no feasible electrical solution.

There is no "project" under discussion.

[tonymet]

you questioned "critical". It sounds like you mean that something is not critical if you can imagine replacing it.

To me, "critical" means that it is critical to providing the service it provides. i.e. gas is critical to providing food, if the gas stops, the food stops.

having a plan doesn't change that.

I guess we differ on "critical".

[PaulDavisThe1st]

We don't disagree on that. We differ on what is critical.

Clearly energy is critical for food production and drying lumber.

But is gas critical? Well, gas is currently being used for those purposes, and if the gas stopped being available ... the effects would all differ based on the timeline for that.

If the gas stopped overnight, sure, "the food stops".

If the gas is announced as stopping over 5 or 10 years, the food will never stop.

The difference there is not that "gas is critical", it's that "replacing gas will/would take time, and we can't do it immediately". Anything that stops the flow of energy to these processes will screw them up, but an ordered transition from energy source A to energy source B will not do that. Ergo, I conclude that it is not energy source A (gas) that is "critical", but rather energy supply and its orderly and intelligent management and planning.