LETTER: We have energy options to lower emissions

I agree with Victor Joecks’ Friday commentary regarding energy costs. He makes it clear that gas-fired backup systems are needed to carry our energy loads when renewable energy sources are not producing. This not only adds to the cost of renewables, it exacerbates the problems with CO2.

Experts tell us that if we quit adding CO2 to the atmosphere today, Earth’s temperature would continue to get warmer for several decades. That means more ocean warming, glacier melting and permafrost thawing and more greenhouse gasses entering the atmosphere without man’s help.

Mr. Joecks mentions other states that utilize nuclear and hydroelectric sources. He failed to mention geothermal in Nevada. Nevada has about 18 geothermal plants producing more than 600 megawatts of power, with applications submitted for plants producing 400 megawatts more. Nevada’s geothermal production is second only to California. We can’t expect more hydroelectric power than Hoover Dam. With Lake Mead’s condition, we are getting only a fraction of that.

We could employ nuclear, a reliable, safe and continuous source of energy. That is unlikely because of the public’s lack of knowledge about the safety of nuclear systems. The United States has been getting 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear for the past six decades or so, with no serious accidents. Nuclear power is many times safer than any fossil fuel energy producer.

We must stop burning fossil fuels.