Copyright Baltimore Sun
The well-researched article on electric school buses by Brooke Conrad was very informative (“Electric school buses expand across Maryland as grid, cost worries persist,” Oct. 19). The author pointed out the various pros and cons of this technology. Of course, the White House was quoted as referring to clean energy projects as a “green new scam.” This is the administration’s usual characterization of any innovation that threatens the fossil fuel industry that supports Donald Trump. It is inflammatory and adds nothing to responsible dialogue about our energy problems, which involve environmental, health and geopolitical concerns. I have often thought while driving past yards of parked school buses that the large, flat roofs of the buses could accommodate many solar panels. I am not an engineer, but it seems to me that these multitudinous solar panels could generate a huge amount of electricity that could power the buses. These buses are basically sitting or being driven in sunlight all day long, and the electricity could be stored in batteries. Think of all those hours spent in daylight parked in yards or sitting in line, waiting to pick up school children. I believe that crude prototype solar cars and even airplanes have already been built. The same technology, once developed, could be applied to public transportation. Sunlight is free. Some of the poorest countries in the world have abundant supplies of it. — Edward Leslie Ansel, Owings Mills
