The vehicle emissions problem described in your Dec. 15 article looks insurmountable at first glance. But our better selves understand we have a huge problem that requires our best thinking and efforts.

What if a nonprofit organization were established to provide zero percent financing to Maine residents for the purchase of electric vehicles, with loans up to 10 years?

A resident purchasing a $30,000 vehicle, over 10 years, would have a payment of roughly $3,000 annually, or $250 per month. I am betting many residents would like to have an electric vehicle, if not to help with the climate problem, at least to save on gas.

The nonprofit would absorb a certain cost per vehicle, to be determined. Here’s where it looks daunting: If the organization financed all 1.3 million registered vehicles in Maine, the cost would be billions. But let’s imagine that the first year would have a target of 100,000 vehicles.

Targets, costs and interest rates are all negotiable. The point is that solutions are possible. You can also compare these costs to the environmental costs of inaction.

The state would still need to deal with infrastructure: namely, the expansion of public charging stations. But electric vehicles can be charged at home, so the infrastructure can be expanded gradually; it doesn’t all have to be done at once.

The Maine Climate Council has a formidable task in looking to reduce Maine’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 45 percent in 10 years. Like other chapters in history, we now have a new challenge. The question is not “Can we do it?” It’s “How can we do it?”

Alan Letourneau

Tenants Harbor

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