Letters: Rooftop solar | Prop. 47

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There are still benefits
for rooftop solar

Re: “Rooftop-solar firms struggle” (Page A1, Jan. 10).

The abrupt change is concerning. However, the future of our grid is still clear: abundant daytime solar, with more expensive wind, nuclear and energy storage in the evening.

Homeowners can still get solar and store the energy for their own use. During the daytime, electric vehicles can be charged, water can be heated to a high temperature and mixed down to household temperature for use around the clock, and batteries can shift energy to the evening.

For heat pump water heaters local residents are in a fortuitous position. California is offering large rebates through contractors, with one of the goals to promote the storage of energy in water heaters, helping our grid. Combined with rebates from local power companies the net cost to the consumer is almost free. This is a fantastic deal for those installing rooftop solar, and a great deal for others, too.

Robert Mayo
Mountain View

Prop. 47 has property
crime out of control

Re: “Proposition 47 helped reform state’s criminal justice system” (Page A8, Jan. 7).

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While the statistics quoted indicate crime went down for a period, it acknowledges it has gone back up. But it gets tossed in there like it’s no big deal. It is a big deal. Just ask the victims of property crimes that get almost no response from the justice system because there is so little it can do.

Property crimes have likely gone up even higher than reported because people aren’t reporting much of it anymore because they know nothing will be done about it. The voters that voted for this had no understanding of the likely unintended consequences of “decriminalizing crime.” Now we are all paying the price.

Proposition 47 needs to be reversed to get property crime back under control.

Brian Blackford
Menlo Park