The energy rate hikes.

Below is a letter that I just sent to one of my congresscritters. I'm
advocating solutions to the energy crisis... The first one follows the
maxim that "all politics are local", and works at the very small scale of
solar and wind power... However, government lives by big business, and an
SPS program might be politically feasable right about now.

There are about 400 members of the house of representatives, and 100 in the
senate... I'll bet that if everyone on this list were to send mail to all
the ones that affected them, we'd hit a stunning majority of them.

Politically, even if the feds ANNOUNCED a funded prototype project for an
SPS, that would go a long way towards helping the situation.

John.

Representative Cantwell,

I'd like to start by saying that I live in West Seattle, and am acting here
as a private citizen.

Attached is a copy of a letter that I sent to Gary Zarker, the head of
Seattle City Light, this morning on a plan to assist private citizens
generate thier own energy as a way to combat the energy crisis.

A federal program to loan money (at very low, or no interest) to homeowners
to allow them to be a part of the solution to the energy crisis would be a
very powerfull thing. (The loans would be used by people to build solar or
wind power generation facilities on thier homes.) A fund on the order of
$100 million would be enough to get you started, and once created it would
be a self sustaining program (the loan repayment monies would go towards
funding more systems). My proposal would be to have the utilities collect
the loan payments as part of the normal utility bill, so that it could be
every month, and on time.

Also, I understand that you sit on the research committe for funding new
power generation research. Have you given any thought to Solar Power
Satellites? This is a VERY important concept... Put the solar cells in
orbit, and use microwave transmission of the power to a remote area to then
feed the power to the regular grid. Almost all of the technologies
involved in building such a facility have been proved already, it's merely
a case of building a demonstration prototype, and then allowing a
consortium of companies use those results to build a real one.

Both of these proposals represent CLEAN renewable power forever.

I'd love the opportunity to talk to you or any of your staffers about any
of these concepts.

Sincerely

John Schlick
5284 44th Ave SW Seattle, WA, 98136

(206) 932-6622

Mr. Zarker,

I recently saw your conservation lightbulb offer, and I'm going to take you
up on it, but I feel that I ought to be doing more to help out.
I'd like to take personal responsibility for the power that I use, and to
that end, I'd like to be responsible for generating (a sizeable percentage
of) the power that I personally use.

With the rate hikes, it's gotten to the point that it makes financial sense
to me to install a wind or solar system on my house, unfortunately, I don't
know who to turn to, and I do not have the financial resources to get it
installed. I know that Seattle City Light is mandated to seek out and
invest in new power sources to meet our power needs, and that you are also
encouraged to invest in renewables, so what I'd like to do is propose a 3
part partnership with you...

1: Can you identify a number of corporations in the local area that can
come and install a solar, wind or combination system on my house? (by
wind, I mean 2 or 3 of the little 300 watt NEO generators, not the big
monsters).

2: Would you go into partnership with me? (I.E. Can you loan me the
money?) At either no interest or some interest rate below %5 for a life
expectancy of at least 10 years to install this system, with the repayment
being added to my utility bill over the life of the loan. I'm expecting
that such a system will cost on the order of $20,000.

3: Can you purchase the energy generated by that system from me at slightly
above market rates? I.E. Install a seperate meter on my house connected
directly from the system to the grid with appropriate safeguards, and pay
me for this power, per kilowatt hour for the power that I generate? That
payment being set over the next 5 years to be 2 cents per kilowatt hour
above the "next" rate on my bill, and thereafter being AT the "next" rate.
The reason that I ask this is that I will be generating power locally, and
I will be selling power ONLY to you, and not to the likes of markets in
california that would be paying me double or triple that rate. since I
AVOID your having to pay those rates to cover the power that WOULD be
needed if I didn't generate it, it seems fair to me to be compensated for
going out of my way to help solve the problem.

Additionally (part 4?): Could you advertize this (the list of installers,
and the availablility of partnership opportunities) as a large program in
the Seattle area in the hopes that other citizens will feel personally
responsible for helping to SOLVE the power problem that we all know is
going on around us? You should do this in one of your flyers just like the
lightbulb program. I'm sure that if even %1 of our citizenry took
advantage of a partnership opportunity like this, it would dramatically
help stabalize the power situation here in seattle.

And also additionally (part 5?): Can you as the head of Seattle City Light,
lobby to have the State (and local) sales taxes dropped for this power
generation system. Since I am helping solve a statewide energy crisis, it
seems fair to me that they offer me an incentive to get involved, and
removing the state sales tax will make that system more affordable to me so
that I can help you.

By the way... All of these programs are in place either in other
juristictions or in other countries (Acchen Germany being a prime example,
and they are farther North and have fewer days of sun than we do here). I
am VERY serious about being interested in generating power to help you, and
I own several rental properties as well, and if you are willing to partner
with me on this, I will happily install such system on ALL of the
properties that I own.

Please give me a call at (206) 932-6622, or respond to this e-mail to let
me know how you feel about this proposal.

Sincerely,

John Schlick