The advantages of EVs

In light of this month’s Lebanon City Council decision to require electric vehicle charging spaces and stations at new housing developments, I thought that I would share our experience with the many benefits of driving an EV for those that may now be considering migrating to one.

■No tailpipe emissions — protects neighborhood and community air quality.

■No need to be “warmed up” — further protects the air quality in and around your car, home and places of recreation during cold weather operation.

■Saves time — charge your car while you are doing other things like working, relaxing or sleeping, either at home or at the charging station.

■Safer refilling — no toxic fumes, spills, risks of fire, fuel pump rages, or other misbehaving that many times happens at the gas station.

■Cheaper to own — fewer mechanical parts than an internal combustion engine to fail. Less stress on them due to smoother power delivery. In 10 years and 35,000 miles the only mechanical failure that we have had is a $400 windshield washer motor replacement.

■Quiet — makes for easier talking and listening in the cabin.

■Our pedestrian and cyclist experience has been that EV and hybrid drivers are more courteous.

■Lower energy production emissions — no fracking, drilling, mining, or waste disposal if power is generated from solar, wind or hydro. Avoidance of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas with 80 times the heat-trapping potential of CO2 over a 100-year period.

■Smarter car — easier to computerize. It is easier to integrate controllers into the drivetrain, braking and steering, thereby enabling safer driving. Easier monitoring of vehicle vitals.

■Emergency power supply — via inverter technology, an EV can become a rolling power supply. During the Dec. 17-18 power failure, we had electricity to recharge phones, power lights and run a small countertop induction burner.

Until we do figure out how live more local, we should at least figure out how to live, move and tread more lightly. Given our current dependence upon private cars, the change that has the lowest cost, and the greatest benefit, is migrating our private cars to electricity.

Bart Guetti

West Lebanon

Reach out to the desperate

Each day we read about shootings, especially mass shootings. When reporters interview the people who live near those who are accused of the shootings, they often say the same sorts of things: “He kept to himself” or “He didn’t like to talk or be around other people.”

As human beings, we have an instinct to keep away from these sorts of neighbors, or people we encounter in the street. It is uncomfortable to strike up a conversation with them, or to inquire about their well-being. However, I believe it is essential that we do this nonetheless.

By the time someone picks up a gun or rifle and heads out to hurt other people, there are many reasons behind their actions. But one of the reasons shooters can act on their anger is that they do not see the people they hurt as fellow human beings; rather they see them as alien to them, and somehow deserving of the pain they inflict.

At this point they no longer see their targets as people with hopes and dreams, or as fellow travelers with loved ones who will be traumatized by their sudden loss.

It is important for all of us to not let the desperate suffer their pain in silence and show them the kindness they may need to remember that whatever hand they have been dealt in life, that someone, anyone, cares about them.

Barry Wenig

Lebanon

Priorities besides longer life

The article “How do you live to be 100? Good genes, get out, friends” reprinted from The Washington Post (Page A3, Jan. 26) is interesting in its suggestion that there may be genetic reasons why this happens. Besides questioning if everyone would want to live to 100, the article failed to mention a major reason why many of us who might live that long will never get there. That’s disturbing.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, “One in 3 seniors dies of Alzheimer’s or other dementia; it kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.” This is something our society prefers not to think about; as a result, we are failing to invest in a health care industry that is able to deal adequately with those dementia patients and those who are caring for them.

Why aren’t we advocating for improved opportunities for young people to choose health care as a profession, and paying them enough to live on when they do? Why aren’t we training our first responders and our medical staffs how to care for dementia patients? What is the benefit of being 100 if your friends and loved ones are dying long before you do?

Perhaps we should shift our immediate focus to those genes that cause Alzheimer’s, rather than pursuing the ones that will enable us to live to 100. Maybe we should re-examine our priorities.

Donna Grant Reilly

Hanover

The writer is the author of Defined by a Disease:
How We Think About Alzheimer’s

]]>