By Fraser Perkins —
On March 29, 2022, Thomas Friedman of the NYT offered an insightful OP-ED article on solving two problems at once – defunding fossil fuel autocrats and promoting renewables. He cited the nonsensical current situation where NATO supports Ukraine with assistance (well deserved), while at the same time NATO countries buy fossil fuels from Russia. Fossil fuel purchases not only fund Russian aggression, but also exacerbate the Climate Crisis.
He faulted the Biden Administration for making the rounds of petrodictatorships asking (begging) that they increase production. A better solution would be to double down on renewables and speed the transition away from fossil fuels. The most feasible tactic for promotion of renewable energy is in our electric grid. Under current conditions, utilities in total are converting to renewables at a rate of 2% per year. The Biden proposal, currently stalled, would increase this to 4% per year. Hal Harvey, CEO of Energy Innovation, says the easiest path forward is to increase the conversion rate to 7 – 10% annually.
An ancillary step is federal legislation clearing away red tape impeding individual households from installing rooftop solar panels. This could be combined with federal subsidies to promote “homegrown” solar.
Thanks to Carol Moeller for bringing this article to my attention.
The link to the article is here.
Leave a Reply