Letter: Renewable energy is the future

Ann Donnelly’s risk-benefit analysis is flawed (“Blackout a wake-up call for council on energy,” The Columbian, March 7). The path to grid reliability is efficiency, renewables and east-west transmission systems.

Nitrogen oxide, or NOx, is a major pollutant from fossil gas. On some days the air quality in a home with natural gas is so bad that it would be illegal next to a power plant. We’ve spent billions of dollars to remove NOx from power plants and tailpipes, but nothing to remove NOx from gas water heaters and furnaces.

Most of Klickitat County is zoned for solar and wind, where an 1,800-acre solar farm is currently being built. It will sell its energy to BPA.

The needed technology is already proven. The cost of solar drops 40 percent every time the number of solar panels made is doubled. With EV batteries, the cost drops 18 percent with each doubling.

Renewable gas is just wishful thinking.

If a developer doesn’t need to include gas pipes in a project, he saves money that can be spent on more conservation, which reduces the heating costs for the occupant.

A developer saves money by not including gas pipes in a project and can spend the savings on efficiency, which saves heating costs for the occupant and makes the home more comfortable.