George Pyle's Dec. 14 column on drilling for oil as only for filthy lucre and with blatant disregard for the environment has not considered what effect this "feel good" policy of green energy has on the poor or the Earth ("Just how dirty do you want your money?"). He writes as if acres of solar panels and giant pinwheels (turbines) add to the quality of nature.
Since Germany has decided to phase out nuclear and invest in clean energy, the average household is expected to pay twice as much for electricity as it did in 2000. Some 300,000 homes have seen their power cut off because of unpaid bills. Only the affluent can afford solar panels, which are subsidized by fees and surcharges on the middle-class and poor.
As Der Spiegel writes, "Saving energy is well and good, but only if people can afford it." Greenhouse gases have also risen by 2 percent.
These technologies have their place and may well one day help save energy as they improve, but in the mean time rejecting all fossil fuels is foolhardy and only increases disparity between the rich and poor.
Kelly Nelson
West Valley City