Solar energy has long-term costs Re: “Study: Solar set to replace nuclear,” Jan. 30
One cost of solar power neglected in your article is the destruction of valuable landscape. Huge portions of the once beautiful Mojave Desert are to be ruined by miles of solar reflectors needed to provide the same power as a two-reactor nuclear power plant.
Another cost is the loss of solar radiation absorption in the Earth itself which, over time, will upset the delicate balance of nature in the region. The loss of natural tranquility and ecological balance are the long-term costs that will prove the short-term analysis mentioned in your article shamefully flawed.
William Burt
Arlington
Electric vehicles are inefficient as well as unreliable
In his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his goal of a million electric cars on the road by 2015, insisting that Congress spend hundreds of millions of our grandchildren’s future tax dollars to achieve it even though it would equal only .4 percent of the current fleet.
One of the serious failings of electric cars is the cold weather battery drain of up to 50 percent. After the recent snow-caused havoc, many more drivers would have been searching impounded car lots in Washington on Jan. 27 if inefficient and costly electric cars were the norm.
If “green power” were an efficient standard to oppose and match up to fossil fuel on a cost-effective basis, hundreds of companies would already be manufacturing green machines and prospering from the sales of their free-market products. Currently less than 1 percent of our energy comes from sun and wind power.
Inefficient, ineffective, overregulating and overcontrolling government is not the answer to our needs. The American standard of free enterprise is.
Mike Finley
Easton, Md.
Wrong Barbara Bush shown in photo
Re: “Newsmakers: Barbara Bush,” Feb. 2
I’m surprised no one noticed that the wrong Barbara Bush photo was posted in your Newsmakers article. The article was referring to Barbara Bush, George W. and Laura Bush’s daughter, but the photo you posted was Barbara Bush — the mother of George W. Bush!
I thought for sure there would be a notice in the next day’s paper correcting the mistake, but nothing!
Patti Adams
Dunn Loring
Editor’s note: The Examiner regrets the error.
