Greater Boston Real Estate Board members should expect more from their leader than pronouncements of economic gloom, should the city require commercial building owners to report annual energy and water use (“Menino takes on Boston buildings’ energy use,” Business, Feb. 22). Rather, Gregory Vasil, chief executive of the board, and its members should embrace this proposal. They would reap millions from energy savings and good public relations, and would cut carbon emissions — a sure way to postpone the day a Hurricane Sandy rams into our harbor, causing damages to their properties in the billions of dollars.
I would leap at the opportunity that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is proposing. The nonprofit I manage in the Four Corners neighborhood of Dorchester invested in an innovative roof for its warehouse six years ago; our energy use is down by two-thirds. This summer we begin work on a solar dehumidifier and heating system designed and manufactured in Boston. (Listen for the sound of industries returning to our city.)
In reality, to halt the intensifying effects of global warming, humanity must collectively cut its consumption of carbon-emitting fuels by 99 percent — a daunting task. But we must never stop trying, despite grumblings of doom. Doom will only come if we do nothing.
Bill Perkins
Jamaica Plain
The writer is director and manager of Boston ReStore Inc., an office furniture recycler.