Most Americans will prefer to live in a house where almost all major appliances run on electricity – but only if they can keep their gas stoves. Just 31 percent want to go fully electric.
Researchers asked about 1,000 people to what extent they would prefer their devices to be powered by electrons or fossil fuels (natural gas, propane or oil). It was the first time such a question was included in the long-running Climate Change in the American Mind survey, conducted by Yale and George Mason universities. The surveys, which began in 2008, are conducted twice a year to track attitudes towards climate-related issues, such as electrification.
“We realized we didn’t really have a baseline for what people actually wanted,” said Jennifer Marlon, a research scientist at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication who helped design the question and push for its inclusion. Combine those who said they would go fully electric with the 29 percent who would except for their gas stove, and 6 in 10 Americans are ready to decarbonize. “As a starting point, it’s quite encouraging.”
Addressing residential energy use is critical to combating climate change, as is the sector accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Achieving the 2050 goals of the Paris Agreement will require an aggressive move to decarbonize the grid and shift homes from oil and natural gas to efficient electric options such as heat pumps.
While the United States boasts one of the lowest rates of support for climate policy in the world, this poll suggests that many Americans are open to a more electric future. That said, the appetite to avoid fossil fuels varies by political affiliation. For example, three-quarters of liberal Democrats would prefer an entirely or mostly electrified home, while the number stands at half for conservative Republicans.
However, people across the political and demographic spectrum are very attached to their natural gas stoves—an affinity that was particularly strong among respondents who identified as Hispanic. Nationally, one-third of all homes use methane for cooking and when the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it could take steps to regulate gas stoves, it culture war. While that toughness is perhaps evidence of industry efforts, dating back to the 1970sto promote the devices, the reality is that they represent a small portion of residential energy consumption.
“If people do one thing in the house that really matters, it would be to get rid of their gas [or oil] furnaces,” said Rob Jackson, a Stanford University professor who has extensively researched methane. But, he added, there are clear health reasons for cooking with electricity.
“Gas stoves emit pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and benzene into the air we breathe,” he said, and almost 13 percent of childhood asthma cases in the US are connected to the devices.
Besides the gas stove warning, there are other reasons to be cautious about the poll results, said Sanya Carley, an energy policy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She says the framing of the question may have led to results that are particularly favorable to electrification. For example, using the term “fossil fuel” as opposed to “electricity” may make people choose electricity the first time.
“People have much more extreme views when you talk about fossil fuels than when you talk about anything else,” she said, also noting that electricity is often generated by burning coal or natural gas. “I think it’s either confusing to some people or misleading.”
The survey also told respondents to assume “cost and other features are the same.” This is a big assumption because the price and performance of gas, oil, propane and electric systems can vary greatly. For example, the cost of heat pumps depends on state and local rebates, and homes in cold weather climates may still need backup sources of heating.
The language of the question was heavily tested, Marlon said, and had to fit a national audience. Its goal was to elicit what people really want in a way that allows comparison across different geographies and demographics. She also admitted that there is probably a gap between someone who prefers an electrified home and someone who actually takes steps to make it happen.
But, she said, probably the most important part of the poll is that it sets a baseline against which future polling can be compared. The plan is to continue asking the question at least annually and ideally to add other more specific inquiries as well.
“There are a lot of questions we’d like to ask,” Marlon said. “We squeezed in this one question to start.”
