Headline: Utah Spends $250K Replacing Lawnmowers to Fight Climate Change
The governor of Utah spent, in round numbers, $250,000 on a lawn mower ‘buy back’ program. 944 owners of gas-powered mowers exchanged for electric lawnmowers from Lowe’s. That’s about $265/electric lawnmower, about $66/mower more than the costliest model at $199. He has requested a 2017 budget of $500,000 to do even more.
What to think. Considering Utah electricity comes chiefly from a number of coal-fired power plants across the state and all those electric lawn mowers are powered by coal-fired electricity, I have to ask the question: What was your objective, Governor Gary Herbert?
Cheap, plentiful natural gas is now the top fuel for electrical generation in Texas where, due to efficient and effective ‘fracking’, our state is awash in gas and oil.
The coal hard truth is coal is by no means an obsolete power plant fuel. It’s helpful to know how the depletion rate for oil and gas from fractured shale is about half the time as conventional wells. At some time in the future, Texas coal will again be a top source of electrical energy.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
