Solar Power

Solar power will never replace jet power at BWI Marshall Airport, but officials believe the clean energy generated by newly installed roof panels atop the daily parking garage could boost the airport's image and bottom line. The solar panels are part of a $19.4 million package of upgrades to conserve energy, shrink the airport's carbon footprint and reduce water consumption, said Paul Wiedefeld, executive director of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. "Two things drove this project: the environmental impact and the savings," Wiedefeld said Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- This country has plenty of sunshine but not enough electricity, so a partnership between U.S. and South African companies is trying to do something about that.Hazel O'Leary, the U.S. secretary of energy, toured a new factory yesterday that employs 30 people making solar electric panels on the outskirts of the bleak black township of Alexandra, then traveled to the township of Soweto to see the products in action.With the hot sun blazing down from the African sky, Ms. O'Leary agreed that this country was a natural for solar power.

THE GENERAL Assembly didn't just cut taxes, help Baltimore schools and fatten horse-racing purses last spring. It also struck a blow against kosher fraud, chipped away at doctors' prescription-writing monopoly, launched government regulation into the afterlife and made it easier to wire a solar generator into your house.Dozens of new Maryland business statutes take effect this month, the beginning of the government year, or on Oct. 1.In some spots they build regulatory ramparts higher; in others they tear them down; in others they merely remodel, changing crenelation for barbed wire.

Why so many military planes are crashingWhile politicians and others seek the band-aids for the spate of accidents involving our military aircraft, the relationship between the Clinton administration's cutbacks over the last five budget years and the accidents is obvious to those of us who spent the bulk of our working lives involved with military aviation.One need only talk to the commanders and line pilots of any Air Force or Navy aviation unit to see the relationship.Experienced pilots of these potentially lethal aircraft are leaving the services in droves for lucrative jobs in commercial aviation, leaving more junior people to fill the void.

Updated plans to put solar panels in the Maryland Science Center 's parking lot were presented to the Federal Hill neighborhood group Tuesday evening by the museum and Constellation Energy. About 30 nearby residents showed up to hear about the project, which is designed to supply some electricity to the Inner Harbor center while educating visitors about a form of renewable energy. The plans had been modified because of prior objections from neighbors. "Our mission is to explain science and technology and to basically excite the next generation of innovators," said Van R. Reiner, president and chief executive of the science center.

Tom and Frances Yuhas are your everyday environmentalists. They recycle, grow their own vegetables and drive a Honda hybrid. But they still like the suburban comforts of central air and an outdoor pool. So when it came time to replace their old oil furnace, the energy-conscious couple made a natural choice. Four months ago, they outfitted their 1954 Pasadena ranch-style home with sleek new solar panels. Now, their house on the Magothy River no longer smells of oil fumes. Their $80-a-month electric bill has dropped almost in half.

Sun power makes sense right now for Sam Droege. That's because Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. wants nearly $10,000 to hook up his Davidsonville log cabin home to the nearest electric power pole, a half-mile away.Mr. Droege's answer was to spend $9,000 on a solar electric system, avoiding the utility altogether. Mr. Droege's 26-foot-by-26-foot home won't feature an electric stove or heater, but it will have a few of the gizmos of modern society, including a washing machine.Still, it will take a cheaper solar system than that to convert the rest of us to solar.

Global warming already takes big toll on state Hats off to Tom Pelton for an outstanding article about how global warming is already affecting the Chesapeake Bay region in a major way ("New maps highlight vanishing E. Shore," July 30). The state is losing hundreds of acres of land per year to rising sea levels, which are increasingly driven by our warming climate. And with 3,100 miles of tidal shoreline, Maryland will be hugely impacted - particularly our agriculture, tourism and fishing industries - by the up to 3 more feet scientists believe the sea level may rise this century.

Century's EndHoward Garrett (in the Dec. 4 news story, "2000: A planned odyssey") shouldn't worry about being late for the celebration of the end of the century. If he turns up on December 31, 1999, he will be one year early.If we count to ten, we don't stop at nine. There was no year O. And the decade, century, millennium will end on the 31st of December 2000.This was the reason that Stanley Kubrick called his movie, "2001 a Space Odyssey." It's about the beginning of the 21st century.9- I thought this issue was settled in 1990.

MY WIFE and I are building a "green" home, mainly to live in but also to show how the biggest investment most of us will ever make can lessen our impacts on the environment. The solar panels we've installed on the roof will supply about 40 percent of our annual energy needs. Wired into the power company's grid, they involve no muss, no fuss with storage batteries. During daylight hours, they'll simply make our electrical meter spin slower - perhaps backward at times, feeding energy back into the grid faster than we're consuming it. The benefits of reducing the electricity that needs to be generated from traditional fuels are huge.