Re: End electric car subsidies (PNR letters, July 17).
Welcome to the 21st century, Rein. I suspect that I won’t change your mind. So this is not so much for your benefit but for those of us who are dumbfounded by your comments.
First let’s remember that hydrocarbons receive about 1.4 billion dollars a year in federal subsidies alone. We all pay for that. Second, let’s point out that it costs less than two cents per km to run an electric car. Try that on natural gas.
But most importantly let’s get our head out of the sand and acknowledge that burning hydrocarbons is the cause of runaway climate change and ocean acidification which is threatening a mass extinction by the middle of this century. Yes a mass extinction of the scale that wiped out the last dominant species on this planet — the dinosaurs.
I will readily concede that if we all switch to electric vehicles and burn coal to produce the electricity we are not much further ahead. But let’s not be so short-sighted. The world is waking up and hydrocarbons are yesterday’s fuel. Distributed energy production through net zero living is taking off and the houses of the future will all be producing surplus energy for the grid.
You are correct to point out that new power generating capacity comes at an increased cost if we leave it to the utilities. But the utilities know that they can make more money simply re-distributing the electricity we produce.
Take a look at your smart meter. It registers current flow both ways. See those zeros coming up every once in a while? They tell you that you have not been doing your part to feed the grid.
Instead of robbing from the future why not get some solar panels for your roof. It’s the right thing to do.
Thomas Teuwen
Sidney