Another Opinion

I recently received the newsletter from Carroll Electric Cooperative Corp., “On the Record,” from President/CEO, Rob Boaz. Mr. Boaz establishes his own concerns about the future, as a father of three children. He states he has over 25 years of experience in the industry, though remains a student. Mr. Boaz also states that this letter is not intended to scare people or insult anyone. However, the remaining three pages of the letter outline his concerns for the future if the U.S. does not increase subsidies to coal, natural gas, and oil (dispatchable energy) and end subsidies to wind and solar (non-dispatchable energy).

I find it hard to believe that someone with so much experience, who maintains that they still remain a student of the energy industry, has failed to discover the key way to making wind and solar “dispatchable” is by storing it. Many options for storage are possible:

1. Using excess renewable energy to heat a “pack bed” of crushed volcanic rocks to as high as 1112°F. The stones stay hot for days or weeks simply by being well insulated; then when energy is required, the heat is converted back into electricity and delivered to the grid. 
2. Low-power, short-term storage using batteries.
3. Utilizing pumped hydro storage with existing hydropower stations.
4. Compressed-air energy storage. 

These are just a few options discovered in my initial research, but the fact is, these avenues exist, and Mr. Boaz has chosen to not include these possibilities at all, and instead has focused solely on the dispatchable options that have contributed to our planet’s current climate crisis, which amounts to misinformation.

In this omission, and others (including the failure to include the negative aspects of coal, natural gas, and oil’s impact on the environment among his accounting of the positives and negative of various energy sources), he has created a piece of propaganda posing as an informative document from an expert who simply cares about the well-being of energy consumers.

Time is running out for us to free ourselves from dependence on coal and oil alone to power our nation. Electric companies have delayed investing in renewable energy, resulting in the continued dependence on a limited resource controlled by people who are more concerned with profits over people and the planet. Oil made the richest people even more wealthy, and they have used those gains to reinvest their influence over those in power to make sure other means of energy are never given a chance.

I strongly disagree with Mr. Boaz’s recommendations to increase subsidies to “dispatchable” energy and end subsidies to renewable energy. I condemn this dissemination of misinformation to Carroll Electric customers. The oil industry has more than enough money to profitably function. I strongly support increased subsidies to alternative energies because we have an obligation to the future generations to do so.