A Bloomberg Opinion commentary in the Sept. 17 Telegram argued against renewable energy (e.g., wind, solar, etc.), by asking, “What happens when cheap renewable energy isn’t so cheap?” The author points out “that the price of solar, and especially offshore wind projects, is now going up rather than down.”

He failed to acknowledge that the direct cost of fossil fuel energy – coal, oil, gas, etc. – is higher than renewable energy, and is also rising. More importantly, fossil fuels give rise to global warming and loss-of-life costs (from storms, rising temperatures and sea levels, flooding, wildfires, etc.) that are increasing in frequency and severity at an alarming rate. These realities threaten life on Earth.

There are certainly steps that can and must be taken to speed, facilitate and minimize the rising cost of renewable-energy options. These steps may not stem rising renewable-energy costs, but at the same time, renewable energy does not pose the indirect loss-of-life costs that fossil fuels and global warming give rise to.

In short, the true cost of continued fossil fuel dependence is both the direct cost of bringing it online and the indirect loss-of-life costs that global warming imposes. Recent headlines make the point: 474 U.S. hurricane deaths in 2022; 97 forest fire deaths in Maui; 180 flooding deaths in Nepal and India; 11,000-plus deaths in Libya as torrential rains burst two drought-dried dams.

Renewable-energy costs pale compared to the true costs of continued fossil fuel use.

Orlando Delogu
Portland

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