To the editor:
Twenty five years ago I bought a used sailboat. It came with a solar panel that powered a fan which removed stale air from the cabin and prevented mildew and foul smells.
Today my wife and I have nearly two hundred solar panels on our property. They power anything electric and charge up some batteries. They require very little maintenance other than clearing out tall weeds beneath them to allow for shifting the angle of the panels twice yearly. This accommodates the varying angles of the sun and in winter, allows the snow buildup to slide down steeply angled panels. The engineering of our panels is tremendously advanced from that 25-year-old panel I started with. The new panels are extremely efficient and the simple symmetry of all those panels together is a work of art. The majority of our panels, excluding our latest installation earlier this year, have already repaid our investment in them.
Why anyone would object to a solar array next to our governmental center is beyond me, especially when they are being paid for through grant money meant to encourage renewable energy. Capable of providing free energy from the sun, they will save our taxpayers, including my wife and me, thousands of dollars each year. This sounds like a win-win solution to a growing problem and will hopefully encourage others to do likewise.
John Todd Northport
