Why does Xcel Energy keep building gas lines to new homes, when we know gas needs to be phased out? There are big profits to be made with gas. Xcel’s profits increased over 10% last year as we shivered, and many of our power bills tripled.
Now Xcel wants to dress its emperor in new clothes, with hydrogen.
Why is Xcel Energy investing in hydrogen blending for our homes when the American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution saying it is dangerous and bad for the environment? There are big profits to be made with hydrogen.
We all remember the middle school experiment when our teacher ran electricity through water, and made hydrogen. It was so clean! While Xcel is banking on that memory, they are hiding that more than 99% of hydrogen produced in the US comes from fossil fuels, worsening climate change.
Hydrogen is so explosive, it makes rocket fuel. None of us want a hydrogen blend piped into our homes, where it leaks from pipes and explodes at 4x the rate of “natural” methane gas. It’s also bad for our health. Burning hydrogen results in more dangerous NOx (an ozone precursor) than methane alone. Asthma patients like me know how that endangers our health.
The AMA condemned hydrogen blending because it’s dangerous and unhealthy. It’s leakier, more explosive, more corrosive, more expensive, and worse for our climate than methane gas. Xcel needs to tell us the truth, and keep hydrogen out of our homes.
Ruth Hund, Golden
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