Moving to electric

There is so much momentum behind the rush to ban gas service that it’s not only hard to hear debate, it can be intimidating. It’s an inconvenient truth that our electrical grid is not ready to assure energy services during storms, heat waves and other natural events — or human failings for that matter. It possibly never will be. This month, many of my neighbors got to sample cold nights, uncooked food, and days without bathing. Some could not drive.

We can encourage a migration to electric, including the critical need for affordable multiday energy storage (such as batteries). A statewide program to fund these makes sense. But listening solely to the true believers in absolute zero is not the way a free society moves forward. Many of us cannot afford the conversion, and some honestly do not want it.

Locally, we need to be thoughtful about the move to residential electrification.

Henry Riggs

Menlo Park