Renewable energy the way to go for California’s future
A❚❚ I have solar panels on my house and in the four-plus years since installation, I have never paid an electric bill. The payout on the panels is approximately seven years, but I would rather pay for the panels knowing I will not be paying for electricity soon.
s a retired petroleum geologist and air pollution control inspector, I disagree with Stanford Eschner’s opinion piece (“COMMUNITY VOICES: Mandate for electric cars and zero future oil usage: A disaster that would smother California with solar panels,” Oct. 10) on several points. Eschner states oil and gas is a reliable source of energy. He is correct, but it is not a renewable energy source. There is a finite amount of recoverable product available, and if we continue to use it as though it will last forever, we will doom future generations with shortages and non-recoverable pollution problems.
Eschner spends a lot of time computing how much land is required to provide enough solar power to replace petroleum. His calculations are in error because he fails to consider rooftops of houses, office buildings, schools, parking lots, etc. I am not going to try to compute that space, but if existing structures continue to be used, it only stands to reason there is plenty of solar panel space in California to offset petroleum use. As an example, I have solar panels on my house and in the four-plus years since installation, I have never paid an electric bill. The payout on the panels is approximately seven years, but I would rather pay for the panels knowing I will not be paying for electricity soon. About half of my neighbors own solar panels, and it is probably the same in Eschner’s neighborhood. I own a plug-in hybrid vehicle and get more than 200 mpge (mile per gallon equivalent) using the electricity from my own panels. I believe solar panels are reliable and so do my neighbors, schools, businesses, etc.
Now to the most important rebuttal: pollution. Here Eschner goes on an unscientific rant about too many people breathing, giant vacuums and world population problems. In other words, global warming does not exist and is not our fault. The consensus among the world’s scientists is that global warming is a fact and a problem which needs to be addressed worldwide. Power plants, no matter what fuel source is used, pollute. I know, I inspected power plants here in the San Joaquin Valley. They are heavily regulated, but I consider a power plant to be a controlled polluter. They have to be compliant with state and local regulations but they still pollute. Reducing dependence on power plants will not offset population growth, but it will reduce pollution, making our air quality better, and therefore, reduce one contributor to global warming.
The bottom line here I think is as Californians, we need to do what we can do to reduce our negative impacts on the environment and save petroleum reserves for future generations. So buy the solar panels and electric cars, recycle when possible, bike instead of drive, walk, etc. The result will hopefully be a cleaner planet for everyone, and maybe California will be a leader in the environmental cleanup of the planet.