Energy Alternatives are Good

Dear Editor:

I am responding to Katie Larkin’s opinion piece on renewable energy. Planting trees is a wonderful thing (I love trees) but has nothing to do with energy. The article quoted was from 2018.  Are you aware that the automobile industry is a little over a hundred years old, commercial aviation is less than one hundred years and personal computers are about forty years old? That article is six years old. We are living in an ever-changing world. Republicans are always painting Democrats as being against the oil and gas industry. It is not true. Most of us travel using gasoline in cars and planes. Natural gas was a clean energy and preferred to oil for heating houses. Unfortunately, now most natural gas must be fracked. The fracking process uses chemicals that contaminate the water, making it extremely dangerous for surrounding areas. This is a problem for many of us who use gas in our homes. We are all consumers of energy and use a lot of it. Energy experts are looking for new ways to produce energy to keep up with our needs. That need is constantly growing. All forms of energy have adverse effects on the environment. Looking for alternatives is a good thing and finding an energy source that is less toxic to the earth should be a goal.

Kathleen Stokes