Dear Council Members,
I'm writing to thank you for your commitment to addressing climate change, the defining challenge of our time.
As a long time resident of our city, I believe that our community needs to be on the forefront of the battle against climate change. In recent years our ongoing drought, increased fire danger and sea level rise have all shown the urgency of this task, especially for California.
My family and I are trying to do our part. Over the past couple of years we have electrified our cooking range, replaced our gas dryer with an electric dryer and purchased an electric car. Over the next few years we plan to completely eliminate gas from our home by replacing our furnace with a heat pump and our water heater with a solar / electric option.
None of the changes we made were a hardship. The performance of all these electric devices is flawless. In particular we love our electric induction range which is not only fast, reliable and precise, but also easy to clean.
The biggest blocker standing in the way of our community's migration to clean, electric homes is fear of the unknown and inertia. As someone who has gradually shifted from fossil gas to electric I can testify that the change is an easy one, and the results are superior.
Please continue in your efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Let's build more public EV charging stations, and require them for new construction; let's convert city vehicles to EVs when it's time to replace them; let's educate our public and help our community members replace fossil gas appliances, and let's make our community more walkable by building more densely and encouraging mixed use construction.
All of these things will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but just as importantly they will also make our community cleaner, safer and a more pleasant place to live.
Thank you for your service and dedication.
--
Ronen Vengosh
1023 Oakland Avenue, Menlo Park
