Are you an energy hypocrite?
Are you an energy hypocrite?
Have you heard the buzz lately about our energy policies? Hypocrisy abounds.
It seems OK to: drill for oil anywhere but in my back yard (ABIMBY) (our coastline); put a leaking pipeline ABIMBY (Jasper County); put nuclear plant waste ABIMBY; and let the air pollution from burning coal travel ABIMBY. It also seems that solar and wind turbine farms are an affront to our visual landscape, so ABIMBY.
We like using energy, but we don’t want to pay the personal, financial and environmental price for it. We also don’t want to take the individual effort to conserve energy, which would decrease our cost and the need for it. We are all a bit hypocritical.
Many of us have made the switch to LED lights, more moderate heating and cooling settings, increased insulation, hybrid cars, and solar panels to decrease our personal energy use.
My mostly American-made hybrid car uses less gas, so less drilling is needed.
My American-made and installed solar panels, as another example, produced more electricity than I used last year. I “donated” the excess back to the Palmetto Electric Cooperative. Other than the fee I pay to be attached to the grid, I paid about $10 last year for electricity. Had the $9 billion paid for the failed nuclear power plants been invested in solar instead, you all could have done the same.
But when I think of my grandchildren, I know I can still do more. So can you.
Tom Balliet
Bluffton
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This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Are you an energy hypocrite?."