Reader Laments Option to Ban Solar Parking Canopies

To the Editor:

I am very disappointed to learn that the Bedminster Township Committee is considering an ordinance to ban solar parking canopies in commercial parking lots. 

Solar parking canopies transform existing parking lots into green power plants with numerous benefits. For starters, they lower a building’s consumption of fossil fuels, decrease energy costs, reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions and increase property values. On hot summer days, they produce free and clean power from the sun while shielding parked vehicles from blazing heat. In the winter, they can still produce power and protect people and cars alike from snow. A well-designed canopy will also collect rainwater for recirculation in the building or on-site irrigation.

Solar parking canopies also serve as an important symbol of a community’s commitment to sustainability and forward-thinking energy strategy. A town like Bedminster should encourage solar canopies because they make the town more appealing to the next generation of home-buyers like myself, who are concerned about climate change, rising energy prices and the perils of using fossil fuels.

Committeewoman Carolyn Freeman told the Bernardsville-Bedminster Patch that she “can’t imagine people will want to see parking lot canopies.” So evidently she would rather imagine what people want than ask them directly? I encourage her and other opponents of solar parking structures to go look at the canopies throughout the State of New Jersey or speak to someone who has parked underneath one. NJ-based companies like Johnson & Johnson, Dow Jones and L’Oreal, as well as Rutgers University, have all installed aesthetically-pleasing canopies designed and built by Solaire Generation in their parking lots, reaping the benefits and lowering their long-term dependence on fossil fuels. These projects are all viewable online at www.solairegeneration.com for anyone interested in seeing for themselves. 

It would be a shame—not to mention a huge missed opportunity—for Bedminster Township to outlaw such innovative installations.

Sincerely, 

Luke L. Morgan

Candidate for Masters in Science, Sustainability Management, Columbia University

New York City