Due Diligence on Solar
To the editor:
Re “In Solar Market, Be Picky About Your Installer” [Dec. 21, front page]:
I agree that Cape residents should be hiring and vetting local solar equipment installers. But I would like to come to the defense of SunPower, the San Jose, Calif. solar company, as I’m concerned that folks will avoid their products after reading your article.
I have two SunPower systems installed by local companies, one in Eastham and the other in Austin, Texas. I have been very satisfied with their products and service, and it’s the installers who make the difference.
Consumers need to do due diligence not only on the installer but on their own energy use. Understand your annual electric usage (it’s in your electric bill) and your expectations for what the proposed solar production will cover. Oversizing the system isn’t necessarily bad, if you’re planning on adding heat pumps or an electric vehicle.
We installed our oversized Eastham system in 2018 and added a whole-house heat pump heating system and electric vehicle in 2020. We have not had an electric bill since.
Net metering credits for solar production above what you use don’t expire. They carry over year to year, and you can donate them if you designate that in advance. We donate a portion of our excess production to a nonprofit housing assistance organization to help offset their electric bill. If our usage needs change, we can reallocate the credits accordingly.
I do not work for a solar company, nor do I own any SunPower stock.
Mike Sarcione
Eastham
Coffee Cake Redux
To the editor:
Thank you to Katherine Alford for her recipe for Cranberry-Pecan-Orange Coffee Cake in the Nov. 16 issue [page B1]. It has tied for first place with our longtime favorite coffee cake recipe: “Coffee” Coffee Cake, from One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber (Kyle Books, 2020).
I followed Alford’s recipe as written, except I used a springform pan as I am not proficient at cake flipping. Next time I plan to increase the cranberries to 1 cup, with more added to the first half of the batter.
Matt Hogan
Ephrata, Pa.
‘Capturing a Place and Meaning’
To the editor:
This last issue of the Independent [Dec. 28] is spellbinding, and if there were a Pulitzer for “Capturing a Town’s Place and Meaning Through a Spectrum of Time With a Full Diversity of Tones and Tidings,” you’d surely be a finalist.
I’m so pleased that the Independent is my hometown paper.
“And now we welcome the New Year! Full of things that have never been.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
Zyg Plater
Provincetown
Appreciation
To the editor:
I really appreciated and benefited from your most recent issue of the Independent. It’s a keeper for the sake of Lower/Outer Cape history and civics as well. It records some of the width and depth and facts of our existence out here.
Bruce Mason
Provincetown
