Alternative Power Keeps Earth in Balance

Re “The Nuclear Option Revisited,” Opinion, July 8: A better idea than nuclear power is using wind and solar power. Small, wind-powered electricity-generating machines, with 3-, 5-and 10-foot diameters, can be placed on the rooftops of industrial buildings, office buildings, government buildings, warehouses and apartment buildings. Larger sizes can be installed in desert areas, farmlands and mountain areas. Also, 5-and 10-foot solar panels can be installed on rooftops and large panels can be installed in deserts. The empty areas of Northern Canada and platforms at sea near coastlines can be used for large installations of wind machines and solar panels, generating huge amounts of power. Electricity can be used for electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen gas to burn in pollution-free automobiles.

Martin Annenberg

Huntington Beach

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A July 9 letter states that the plight of the caribou is due to nature and not to the drilling of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The central arctic herd increased in numbers on the Prudhoe Bay oil field last year due to the killing off and displacement of their predators, in direct relation to the massive changes in the ecosystem from this drilling. ANWR is one of our last pristine frontiers and efforts should be made to protect it. There are many renewable sources of energy that do not put our environment, not to mention our health, at risk. Wind, solar and geothermal resources will also be more cost-efficient--without the extreme fuel hikes that fossil fuels can create because of their small handful of production sites.

Chari Birnholz

Venice

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I have read in the Vancouver Sun that California is complaining about paying too much money for power it “purchased” from British Columbia. I put “purchased” in quotes because it hasn’t even been paid for yet. In this land of caveat emptor, how fitting is it that when the government feels it has been taken advantage of it suddenly enacts legislation. Perhaps the slogan should be seller beware, or get the cash upfront.

I’m currently in California, and like most people, I feel the power crunch. However, the people who negotiated the price of the power knew what they were doing. They can’t suddenly complain after the fact that they didn’t like the price. Commerce doesn’t work that way. Can you imagine buying groceries, eating them and then complaining about the price? This is exactly what California is doing.

David Hamel

San Juan Capistrano