Amazon’s plan to use renewable energy instead of natural gas fuel cells to power new data centers sounds good on the surface, (“Amazon scraps plan to use fuel cells, powered by natural gas, to run Oregon data centers,” June 10). But it is not good if you look at it from a broader system perspective.

The first problem is that Amazon’s data centers represent a growth in energy use. Powering this growth with renewable energy only feeds the growth. It does nothing to reduce overall carbon emissions, as all existing uses of fossil fuels remain.

The second problem is that renewable energy does have a carbon footprint in all aspects except operation of the device itself. Amazon and others would like you to think that renewables are clean and carbon-free, but they are not. Even if Amazon data centers are powered by renewables, there is still some increase of carbon emissions.

The third problem is that renewables have other impacts on the landscape and wildlife, creating new problems that will have to be solved. This concern was recently reflected in the resistance to the proposed Oregon coast offshore wind farms, (“Readers respond: Offshore wind farms pose environmental concerns,” May 26).

As long as energy use, even renewable energy use, continues to grow, climate change will continue to intensify. We need to get serious about significantly reducing energy use if we ever hope to mitigate climate change.

David Garen, Portland

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