Javier Blas’ opinion piece on electrifying every part, “It’s electricity realism, not climate denialism,” (April 28, Opinion), made some good factors, however I disagree with the central, unstated premise that often having unreliable electrical energy is worse than the consequences of local weather change. Which was worse: the current energy outage in Spain or the current fireplace in L.A.?
He additionally suspiciously not noted all discussions of batteries to help with renewable vitality. Already, batteries have had a huge effect: in the course of the lengthy warmth waves in Texas in the summertime of 2023, photo voltaic and wind farms with batteries stored the Texas grid from going into blackouts. Firms are engaged on 100-hour batteries that may get us via most longer climate occasions. It’s solely a matter of time earlier than these points are solved.
Relating to bottlenecks for brand new vitality tasks, look to Texas. With its deregulated method, Texas retains rising its renewable vitality sources due to economics, which is exceptional in an oil-and-gas state. Most of the issues that Blas talked about are solvable if we’re good and motivated. Now will not be the time to say, “We tried to cease local weather change, however we simply didn’t need to do what it takes.”
Peter Gruenbaum, Seattle
