LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Clean-energy innovation a must

4/27/2014

Ohio’s six-year-old clean energy and efficiency standards have been a triple win (“Don’t lower the standards,” editorial, April 10). They are improving our environment, creating more than 25,000 jobs in Ohio, and saving money for individuals and businesses.

But some lawmakers are bent on sabotaging this progress and turning the clock back with Senate Bill 310. Your editorial is correct to oppose this rip-off of ratepayers.

Senate Bill 221, passed almost unanimously by the General Assembly in 2008, has limited the rise in energy prices by incentivizing conservation and renewables. Three separate business reports this month showed that solar and wind power are now often cheaper than fossil fuels, even without factoring in pollution costs.

Because fossil fuel supplies are finite, prices are volatile and inevitably will rise. Smart businesses are investing in renewable energy sources to stabilize costs. Meanwhile, SB 310 would crush innovation and capitulate to big utilities and the outmoded brown-energy industry.

AL COMPAAN

Springfield Township

Editor’s note: The writer is professor emeritus and former chairman of the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Toledo.