The question should be raised every time supporters of the CMP Corridor or any future for-profit energy delivery scheme echo the phrase “we need the electricity”: Who are the “we” and what is the “need”?

Americans households consume almost three times the electricity of the average German household, which is close to the global average. In the 1990s, Germany initiated its ‘Energiewende’, translated as ‘energy transformation’, which emphasized efficiency and low-C power generation and incentivized residential-scale energy generation though feed-in tariffs, somewhat similar to Maine’s own net-metering.

Key to this or any green energy transformation is the leveling off and reduction of demand. CMP and HydroQuebec profit from higher demand, and so have a built-in incentive to increase that demand. This set up a vicious cycle of consumption that will outstrip any efforts to achieve sustainably.

Make no mistake, the CMP Corridor is not getting us any closer to sustainability as long as the “we” includes profligate consumers of electricity and the “need” includes the likes of lighted 60-foot Citgo signs.

Truly green development of our electricity infrastructure empowers household-scale generation and storage and democratizes our grid rather than submits to corporate monopolies motivated to increase energy consumption.

Eben Rose
South Portland