Cathryn Chudy’s op-ed piece (The Columbian, Nov. 27) suggests that Clark Public Utilities can do more to combat climate change than it is currently doing. She is right. In addition to starting its own smaller-scale solar project, Clark Public Utilities could reduce its reliance on its natural gas-powered plant by increasing the number of houses in our area with solar collectors on their roofs. It could help do this by offering seed-money subsidies to help homeowners and businesses with good south- or west-facing roofs to make the initial investment in solar collectors. Seattle’s City Light utility did this for homeowners way back in the 1980s.
The city of Vancouver could also use some its federal money to subsidize such projects in the city.
Installation of small-scale rooftop collectors would also stimulate local employment for installation contractors and for the Washington-based companies who manufacture the solar panels. It is a win-win strategy.
Phillip Johnson’s tongue-in-cheek proposal (“A win-win for local energy,” Our Readers’ Views, Nov. 29) that environmentally concerned citizens simply should go “off the grid” was clever, but silly. We don’t have to go that far. We only need to make individual changes on a small scale to generate more electricity locally, and the means are right above our heads on our own rooftops.
