With biomass vitality’s dangers, wind and photo voltaic ought to be prioritized

To the editor: What may very well be the holy messiah of unpolluted vitality and wildfire prevention? In response to Noah Haggerty’s article, our savior appears to be biomass vitality (“California wants biomass vitality to fulfill its wildfire objectives. Its initiatives maintain going south,” Sept. 30). However this text doesn’t point out the mountains of analysis that warn towards the harms of carbon seize and storage to the ambiance, ecosystems and the folks whom such practices are supposed to serve.

Crucially, the mere processing of biomass materials — by way of clearing forests, chopping bushes into wooden chips and transporting supplies over lengthy distances — emits alarming portions of carbon into the ambiance. Together with the high-energy combustion and gasification of the biomass, the “carbon-neutral” or “carbon-negative” claims lose their floor because the web atmospheric carbon emissions trump people who they suggest to sequester.

As a substitute, public funding ought to prioritize research-backed renewable vitality sources like photo voltaic and wind to resolve emissions and public well being crises.

Jojo Pak, Berkeley