We need more solar energy, less dirty coal

The Miami Herald’s Sept. 13 story about Florida Power & Light’s efforts to purchase more coal-fired power plants, “FPL seeks to buy another coal-fired power plant,” indicates a flawed vision for the future of FPL and South Florida.

We don’t need coal — not even somewhat cleaner coal. On the same day the story was published, it was also reported that Miami moved to re-establish and fund its Sea Level Rise Committee.

We’ve seen photos of flooded Miami Beach streets, presumably with sea water coming up through storm drains at high tide.

The money spent on a new coal-fired power plant, and the extra money needed to make it somewhat cleaner, should be spent on new solar arrays and batteries, which don’t add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and don’t contribute to sea-level rise.

The costs to manufacture both the solar arrays and the batteries are dropping rapidly.

The arrays can be assembled from already-manufactured components — producing power in a fraction of the time needed to get a coal-fired plant designed, built and operating.

The rapidly growing Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is building political support for what it thinks is the best way for a democracy to take real, substantive action to reverse climate change: a federal fee added to the price of fossil fuels entering the economy.

The proceeds from the fee would be distributed to every household in the United States equally, accomplishing a switch from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewable sources without increasing the size of government.

The CCL approach offers strong and growing incentives for energy investors to switch from fossil fuel combustion to clean renewable sources, with the U.S. public cheering them on, while each household receives its monthly dividend check.

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "We need more solar energy, less dirty coal."