Letter: Switch to clean power now

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 | 9:08 a.m.

There is a process that if you super heat water you can separate the hydrogen from the oxygen. The oxygen can be vented to the atmosphere and the hydrogen can be stored to run steam boilers at night when the solar cells lose power. The byproduct of burning the hydrogen is water.

States such as Nevada and Arizona have the space available to build massive generating plants with acres of solar cells and solar boilers to super heat the water for nighttime generation of power that could, I would think, in less than 10 years provide enough clean recoverable power to run America.

America has the power grid in place to transport the power to all states. The money we save in oil imports would in short order pay for the construction of this system and reduce power costs to all Americans. America's total economic base runs on power and the total effect of this system would cause economic growth -- jobs beyond comprehension.

Carbon-based fuels are running out, we all know that the day is coming when the price will be so high that we will need to switch, so why not now?

PHILLIP HURBACE