Letter: Renewable energy could be safer option

It makes no sense to use more fossil fuels (from fracking or any other source).

You're stressed ... would you take up smoking, which is highly likely to kill you in the long term? Or would you try to remove the source of stress, or find a much less harmful way of dealing with it?

Our energy supplies are currently under stress. But it makes no sense to use more fossil fuels (from fracking or any other source) since if we do, climate change will kill more people in the not so distant future.

Removing the stress would mean using less energy: insulating more, having more efficient motors, valuing people rather than things, and so on. A lot of this can be done while maintaining and improving our quality of life.

Additionally, we can make use of less harmful energy sources. Renewables, being widely distributed, don’t cause a sudden large deficit in supply. Energy can be stored in batteries, where technology is advancing rapidly; in compressed air, in pumped water, or as hydrogen.

Some gas will still be needed while all this is further developed, but there is plenty in known reserves without fracking.

We just need the political will to support progress in the right direction.

Dilys Cluer,

Scarborough and Whitby Green Party,

Alexandra Park,

Scarborough