The proposal described in a recent op-ed, “Generate clean, cheap, local power” (BDN, Sept. 29) to use waste heat from the Eastern Maine Medical Center’s heating and cooling plant to produce electricity is exactly the sort of highly efficient combined heat and power facility that the Conservation Law Foundation believes should be a major force on our energy landscape.

While we do need large, regional electric transmission systems in New England, generating power locally and using it without the losses that are part of long distance transmission are important components of a sensible energy structure. Local generation is a great complement to distributed generation, which is inherently less vulnerable to power outages as well as being the cheaper option in many cases.

We need Maine’s Public Utility Commission to be a strong advocate for these improvements to our electricity system, and developers of such projects need the PUC’s protection in their negotiations with our regulated utility monopolies. More efficient use of energy not only saves the consumer money over the long term, it also helps reduce pollution. Ultimately in New England, we need to shift to renewable energy sources; until then using the waste heat from electrical generation is a good way to get more value out of any fossil fuel that has to be burned.

Rob Gardiner

Conservation Law Foundation

Brunswick