The rejection of the proposed Manchester solar array that Bill McKibben highlights (“‘Offensive and shocking:’ We better come to terms with solar panels soon”) is frustrating but relatively unimportant. The now-closed Vermont Yankee nuclear plant provided the equivalent of roughly 5,000 such solar installations, all equipped with a correspondingly immense battery backup system to provide baseload power around the clock and throughout the year. And that’s not counting the energy — largely provided by coal plants in China — required to manufacture all of those panels and batteries, along with the carbon-capturing trees that would need to be cleared to make space for them. With more plant closures planned in the U. S. and around the world, what we really need to come to terms with is nuclear power.

Noah Graham

Bristol