SOLAR BREAKTHROUGH

A pair of panels 12.5 by 3.5 feet, containing 1,664 solar cells, is mounted atop the outhouse and provides electric power to run the toilet-flushing pumps. The generating unit cost $9,700, not counting the batteries used for storage and enabling visitors to urinate after sunset.

Though Ralph Nader was not on hand to perform the ceremonial initiation, the opening of the toilet was a truly breathtaking event.

And so solar energy has scored another triumph. Though it is an issue that needs much more research funding before a definite conclusion can be reached, it is widely accepted that the solar outhouse is environmentally sounder, economically less damaging, and politically less divisive than The Nuclear John.