PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 20, 2023
Critics of clean energy complain all the time that the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries uses natural resources, or that solar panels contain toxic chemicals – without comparing the environmental impact of clean energy to the impact of continuing to use fossil fuels. William S. Harwood, Maine’s Public Advocate, is one of those who fails to make comparisons. Building a 2,000 MW nuclear power plant would cost multiples more. Coal and natural gas plants are cheaper to build, but would need constant supplies of increasingly costly fossil fuels to keep them running over those 20 years. Building solar has upfront costs, but its marginal costs, over 20 years, are near zero. ~ David Kuchta, Portland