Layton: Offshore wind would save money and lives

Burning fossil fuels to power our homes, vehicles and industries sickens and kills Americans — and costs us hundreds of billions of dollars.

To save lives and money, we must transition to clean energy sources, such as offshore wind, as rapidly as possible. That transition is now within reach in Delaware — if our elected leaders can muster the wisdom and political will to seize it.

According to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the consumption of fossil fuels — such as coal, oil and gas — causes more than $820 billion worth of damage to human health in the United States each year.

That expense doesn’t just fall on the sick. It affects everyone, through higher insurance premiums, taxes, lost productivity and other indirect means.

The $820 billion figure not only includes the cost of treating illnesses such as asthma and cancer, which fossil fuel-related air pollution can cause, but it also contains the statistical value of the tens of thousands of American lives lost to fossil fuel-related illnesses.

The $820 billion figure does not cover the health costs of fossil fuel-driven climate change, which exacerbates heat-induced ailments and the spread of infectious diseases. But, when one considers the health impacts of climate change, the human cost of fossil fuel use in America boggles the mind.

For comparison, the president has requested the United States spend $850 billion on the nation’s military defense in the coming year.

In short, pumping millions of tons of fossil fuel exhaust — which contains particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, greenhouse gases and other poisons — is extremely costly in terms of lives and money. Switching to cleaner power sources, especially offshore wind, would be wise.

This is where fossil fuel apologists correctly point out that building cleaner energy infrastructure also comes with costs but incorrectly imply that those costs are similar to what fossil fuel consumption brings.

For example, over its lifetime, the average offshore wind turbine generates about 11 grams of carbon dioxide emission per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced, but natural gas-powered facilities generate about 450 grams of CO2 per kWh, and coal-powered facilities generate a whopping 1,000 grams of CO2 per kWh, according to an analysis for Forbes magazine.

So, despite the reality that nothing is perfect, stark differences matter, and cleaner power is better for our health.

Far better.

According to Yale University's accounting, immediately switching to cleaner power sources could save more than 1,300 lives and nearly $12 billion in Delaware by 2050.

The Delaware General Assembly set this course in 2023, with the passage of the Climate Change Solutions Act, setting a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, and it has already taken necessary steps in that direction.

Now is the time to take another one.

I call upon lawmakers to pass the Delaware Energy Solutions Act of 2024 as soon as possible and authorize the state to buy electricity from offshore wind farms.

Our health and our bank accounts would thank them.

Greg Layton

Willow Grove

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.