We share your concern about rising global temperatures and their impact on our communities. And like many of you, we want to take smart, fast action to protect our climate.
At the same time, we are extremely worried that NY seems to be pursuing a very narrow strategy that would rely on “electrify everything.”
In concept, this sounds great. Make everything electric––homes, buildings, cars, trucks, factories, etc.––and run them all on solar, wind, etc. The problem is that much of this strategy relies on technology that doesn’t exist on scale, will cost billions or even trillions of dollars we don’t have, and will likely end up creating the most pain for those who can least afford it.
We’ve seen it already with the proposed carbon tax that would cost typical NY families upwards of $21,000 over 10 years. In some communities, they are already trying to force people to replace natural gas, heating oil or propane gas heaters with heat pumps that would cost over $20,000 for a full house conversion. This would leave many people feeling cold in the winter.
Then there’s the problem of the electric grid, which is constantly suffering power outages even before we’ve added tons of new demand.
Overlooked is the fact that traditional fuels like heating oil, propane gas and natural gas have made big strides in reducing their carbon footprint. Biofuel, which combines renewable, organic plant matter with heating oil, can dramatically reduce carbon emissions without requiring modifications to your old heating system, costly conversions, or billions of dollars in infrastructure. Propane Autogas used in fleets like school buses has around a third of the emissions of diesel and gasoline models, and costs 30% of what an electric bus would cost.
We need to employ more tactics to accelerate decarbonization with far less cost or disruption––not put all our eggs in one fragile, hugely expensive electric basket.
Visit this website to find out more, stay informed and speak up for your energy future!