Letter to the editor:

New houses - solar power

Dear Editor:

The two recent issues of the Yodeler emphasizing "Saving Bay Area open space, preventing sprawl - the Sierra Club way", provide excellent suggestions on controlling excessive development, but say little about reforming the development that does occur in environmentally constructive ways.

In trips around the Bay Area, my wife and I note that the many sprawling housing developments lack solar panels on roofs. I urge the Sierra Club to propose legislation requiring all new housing to install solar panels, thus providing a source of energy which minimizes the increased energy demands on already overtaxed energy supplies. As a standard part of new construction, such a requirement should not add substantially to the cost of a building. Even those new developments already built probably could install solar panels in a cost-effective way if homeowners could take advantage of current subsidies and quantity discounts.

(I would like to add that I am not a contractor or seller, or otherwise connected with the marketing of solar systems in any way.)

Edward J. Jay, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, California State University, Hayward