Solar Power Public Information Session Tonight in Point Pleasant

The Point Pleasant Borough Environmental Commission will host a seminar on solar energy and alternate energy at Borough Hall at 7 tonight.

The presentation will be done by Four Point Solar, a local heating and cooling company, on Route 88 in the Borough. All are welcome.

The seminar will explore the possibilities that a solar installation brings to a residential or commercial project. Programs are available, such as the NJNG solar initiative, that can bring solar power to a property owner at little or no upfront expense. 

"My wife and I, as retired naturalists, were looking at the possibility of solar panels for our home on Partridge Run for a couple of years now," stated environmental commission member Shaun O'Rourke.  

Several of O’Rourke’s friends have had them installed down in Waretown and Howell and were raving about them. "We saw a neighbor had installed them a block away and stopped to ask how they were doing."

The neighbor had done a self-install and indicated that they expected the energy savings from the panels to fully pay back the costs of installation in a short period. 

"After having our panels installed, we saw a steep drop in our monthly electric utility costs,"O'Rourke went on to say. “Just the economics alone justify putting up panels."

If our area placed panels on the rooftops, parking lots, and leach fields in areas that were practical for solar, it could be equivalent to a small commercial power plant with less negative effects on the environment. 

When recently coming back from a trip to Quebec, O’Rourke picked up a brochure in New York on the safety of eating local fish; every state now has warnings on fish consumption due to the levels of contamination.  

Much of the contamination has come from burning coal and other fossil fuels laced with mercury. Once airborne, the mercury settles in ponds, lakes, and waterways where it bioaccumulates until it reaches hazardous levels.

This process takes decades to occur and has now come back presenting problems like this.  "When I read a brochure from a respected entity that says some people shouldn't eat fish more than once a month, the red flags get hoisted! What kind of legacy have we, our parents, and their parents left our children and grandchildren if we can't eat what we catch because its contaminated?” asked O’Rourke. 

Some of the benefits of solar panels are that they make no noise, blend in neatly with the roof lines, and can potentially increasing the roof’s lifespan by actually shading it. 

In addition, they can assist us in lowering our dependency on fossil fuels and their inherent side effects. 

The Point Pleasant Borough Environmental Commission recommends that our residents and visitors join us at our next regularly scheduled commission meeting on Monday, October 15th at 7pm at the Point Pleasant Borough Municipal building located at 2233 Bridge Ave, Point Pleasant Borough for an informative and highly educational session on this alternative energy source.