Letter to the Editor of N&R

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This afternoon I tried to respond to a comment to my letter to the editor which appeared in the N&R Sunday.

I got this message:
"You are not signed onto the Typekey service. You must register and/or sign onto TypeKey to comment on this site."

I closed the window and opened it again, thinking that maybe my computer was tired or something and the keypad thing would work if I closed everything and tried again. I went back to the letters site and again got the same message.

So, like a good girl, I went to the typekey site. I entered all the required information. I got another message telling me that the name and e-mail address that I had entered was already taken. I returned to letters site later and tried again. This time I went to the help site. I entered my e-mail and password. I got a message that I had entered the wrong password. So, I clicked on the help button. I was told to enter my e-mail address and my password would be sent to that address. I did that and got a message that the e-mail address was not registered. I put in my other e-mail address and got the same response.

I gave up. I can comment somewhere else. Here on my own blog for instance. So here goes.

Here is the letter as it appeared in Sunday's N&R - http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/

September 10, 2006

Solar power promises better energy source

Now is the time for a real change in the way we pay for maintenance of city-owned property in Greensboro. The city can produce energy by using the roofs of publicly owned facilities. This energy can be sold or used within the building. The money saved can be used to help defray maintenance costs of those very buildings.

As roofs are replaced or repaired on existing city-owned buildings or installed on new facilities, they can be fitted with energy-producing solar units. The project would cost less if done as roof repair or as replacement is done. Solar power helps reduce pollution by reducing the need for more coal-burning or nuclear-powered energy plants. Clean solar power pays for itself.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson told me that solar power is not economical and not a good option for city buildings in Greensboro. He did say that the Melvin Building has passive solar because there is a skylight into the plaza area.

Still, I urge citizens of Greensboro and Guilford County to write, call, e-mail or speak to elected officials at meetings. Suggest that solar energy be explored. It is being used in other cities in the United States and around the world. It just makes sense.

Diane Davis
Greensboro

The comment to which I would like to respond is:

"Clean solar power pays for itself.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson told me that solar power is not economical."

Which? If it pays for itself, it's economical. If it's not economical, it doesn't pay for itself.

Posted by: brian444 at September 11, 2006 12:17 AM


My response to brian444 is:
Brian,
There is much information available that solar power is a clean source of energy. When generated by municipal governments in conjunction with a local conventional source of energy it is a good investment for the city (that's we taxpayers) and the utility company (probably Duke Power in this area).

My reference to Mr. Johnson was to emphasize that I don't think the City of Greensboro has seriously investigated the use of solar power. His answer seemed a bit facetious to me.