Not hot on solar power

I’m sure this is about as un-P.C. as your readers get. But I haven’t been waiting for the cost of solar systems to go down before buying such a system for my house [“Skies to Brighten for Solar?” March 13]. Rather, I’ve been waiting for the associated roof panels to become less of an assault on the eye.

There is nothing worse than an otherwise lovely home with ugly photovoltaic cell panels crying out, “I’m here, ruining the entire aesthetic of this dwelling, and perhaps even the beauty of the entire neighborhood!”

Architecture is significant, if not as significant as the responsible use of energy and our natural resources. This is the aspect that I believe will ultimately doom the widespread residential application of solar energy.

Sid Paris

Long Beach

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My husband and I read with great interest this past week’s story on solar power. We have often talked about installing a solar-powered panel on the southern-facing portion of our roof, but unfortunately it’s still too costly. After carefully calculating all the numbers, we figured it would take us a little more than 10 years to pay off a 2.5-kilowatt system, and that’s after the state and city rebates.

Until the price of the technology comes down, it just doesn’t make economic sense to most homeowners, no matter how “green” they’d like to be.

Christina Tinglof

Glendale