To the editor:

Ellie Marshall’s piece on the work in the Affton School District to save energy and taxpayer expense was an outstanding piece of reporting. A couple of questions:

• Mr. Rooks notes that the energy savings thus far are around $350,000 annually which is great. Even better would be knowing how much has been invested to achieve this so that there is context in which to make a complete judgement. I don’t question the work, and have a rooftop solar array myself, but having a financial return along with the demonstrable environmental benefits would certainly make future efforts easier for taxpayers to understand.

• Will the district continue to just produce power for Ameren, or are there plans to use the arrays to supply school electrical needs first and send the excess, if any, to the grid? If so, are there plans to install battery or other storage technology to take advantage of the down time when school usage is relatively low?

Dave Conant

Affton