David Ablett: Put solar panels atop government buildings

Harnessing the sun is a great idea and a good start. But it seems to be fraught with problems initially.

Everyone seems to want to use land with a delicate environmental balance. All that seems to do is make a lot of consultants and attorneys rich with little other benefit.

Let’s challenge our governor to fund a truly effective environmental program starting with the carbon fund. This fund accumulates millions every year without any direct give-back to the environment. The state and the environment would be better off if Gov. Jerry Brown used a portion of that money to install solar generators and electrical storage on the roof of every state, county and local government building that is capable of supporting one. No environmental impact and we already own the property. How many acres of solar panels would this create?

Take it a step further and challenge President Obama to authorize the same for federal properties.

Not enough energy yet? Use some more of the funds to mount solar on top of every commercial building that can handle it. Same benefits.

Got power leftover? Sell it to Southern California for desalinization. Save our water.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 2:14 PM with the headline "David Ablett: Put solar panels atop government buildings."