Time to Replace Fossil Fuels with Solar and Wind

It Is Time to Replace Fossil Fuels with Solar and Wind Energy

October 26th, 2017. I went to the state house today to testify in favor of Bill H2698. The H means it is a House of Representative piece of legislation. The bill was presented by Kenneth I. Gordon from the 21st Middlesex district (Burlington). The hearing was conducted by the "Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy". The bill is "An Act protecting ratepayers from gas pipeline expansion costs". That means if the gas company needs a pipeline, they pay for it not us.

My comments to the committee were of a general nature:

I have a seventeen-year-old car. Everyone who sees it asks "When you getting another car?" It needs more work that it is worth.

The natural gas industry is in need of too much work. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, some of the pipes in Boston are over 50 years old. The pipes leak. Leaking gas is an environmental problem. Methane is 25 times better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Burning natural gas emits carbon dioxide and toxic chemicals that are poisoning living things and cooking the planet.

It time to trade in that aging fossil fuel technology for something new and exciting. Denmark gets half its electric energy from wind turbines. Italy gets 8% of its energy from solar power. These new technologies are cheaper and cleaner. Wind and solar power are creating many local jobs that we need.