Solar energy, we are told, is the energy that will disconnect us from big government, and to fight off the avalanche of more laws, decrees, regulation, coercive zoning, and other bureaucratic interference, the Hayes' go to war en famille. Gail Boyer (Mrs. Denis) Hayes has come out with a book Solar Access Law, whose blurb announces that "radically new types of laws, as well as familiar tools such as zoning, are examined as possible protective measures;" the book is heartily endorsed by Amory Lovins, Ralph Nader, Sen. Gary Hart, the Hon. R. Ottinger, and Bruce Anderson.
Bruce Anderson? Yes, the chairman of Total Environmental Action, who has also been appointed to SERI'S Advisory Board.
Meanwhile, Husband Hayes' institute is also studying that same question of solar access. The "solar envelope" is the area round a building within which it may cast a shadow¾a high-school level problem in descriptive geometry, solved long before the advent of computers. But Husband Hayes' institute has funded the City of Los Angeles (whose Mayor Bradley also sits on SERI's Board of Advisers) "to study the development of the solar envelope concept;" and an iterim report on this project released in July shows that it is a triumph over government bureaucracy, as immediately apparent from its language:
"The results of this research will help address concerns of development potential and solar access protection... The public policy mechanism for guaranteeing solar access is conceptualized as a solar zoning envelope..."
To acquaint the world with these pressing scientific problems, SERI publishes the bimonthly Solar Law Reporter, and puts out a news release every time a new issue is published; the current issue (says the news release) "focuses on solar envelopes, solar access, and solar easements." Also more about disconnecting from big government: "the State of Illinois' funding of low income energy projects" and "Colorado's new 30% solar income tax credit, which can be added to the 40% federal tax credit," and...
But if your stomach is turning, we stand ready with a breath of fresh air. For genuine solar energy conversion untouched by Hayes or Washington, for the small scale and low temperatures for which it is so well suited (e.g., combining greenhouses with domestic water heaters), write Zomeworks Corporation, Box 712, Albuquerque, NM 87193.
They do not sit on SERI's Advisory Board.
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Vol. 8, No. 1
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 8 Issue/No.: Vol. 8, No. 1 Date: September 01, 1980 04:03 PM (For actual publication date see newsletter.) Title: The next victim is decency
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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