WARMING: Look at Germany's plight

I agree with Jeff Bourget; knowledge wins in the climate debate. In his “My Turn” column Tuesday, he states that solar, wind and tidal can replace our dependency on fossil fuels. Let’s see where we are, and where we would need to go.

Currently, the U.S. has the highest rate of renewable generation of electricity in the world (12.5 percent); most is from hydro, while wind produces less than 3 percent of our power, and solar .04 percent. The greens look to emulate Europe, which is leading the movement to wind and solar. Germany is the leading “green energy” producer.

Germany also leads in cost of electrical energy, $.34/kilowatt hour, due mainly to the high costs of subsidized green power. The U.S. average is $.11/kwh and we pay about $.08/kwh in Hayden. Germany is currently cutting subsidies for wind and solar, and they are rapidly retreating to coal and even burning wood.

The U.N.’s IPCC (Mr. Bourget’s favored authority) has just released a new global warming report. There, they conveniently ignore the indisputable fact that global temperatures have been flat (not increasing) for the past 15 years. The authors decided to ignore this fact, hoping people are not aware of it.

We are all responsible for this planet; however we need to consider the arguments, and make informed choices. I do not want my electricity rate to increase 4X (or more) in a futile effort to offset pollution by China, especially when the premise of “global warming” is very tenuous. Don’t believe me; please keep an open mind and do your own research.

EDWARD RUSSELL

Hayden