Saturday, May 20, 2023 | 2 a.m.
To address the climate crisis and protect public health, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating fossil fuel-fired power plants, which includes coal and natural gas.
With 21st-century technology, we must think beyond conventional energy-generating methods and evaluate sustainable techniques. Such solutions are nonfossil-fuel-based, have minimal environmental impact, lower operational costs and reduce pollution, resulting in fewer premature deaths and asthma attacks. Building more natural gas plants would be grossly irresponsible.
One idea is to collaborate with commercial and residential consumers to install solar panels on rooftops, leading to decentralized energy generation, which reduces the burden on the grid. This lowers energy production costs and provides power companies with the same reasonable income through sales and monitoring of these panels, making the grid a potential backup system.
Even if individuals purchase their own panels, hooking up to the grid for energy at nonproduction times would generate income for power companies.
Another idea would be storing unused energy from power plants or rooftops in batteries such as Tesla Megapacks. This energy can then be used for stabilizing the grid.
