Building a solar still

To the real estate editor: In your April 15 Energy Q&A column Mary Fleming of Huntington, N.Y., inquired about a solar still for ethanol. She can obtain a book on how to build one as well as where to obtain the permits.

Send $10 to Gary Owens, Make Fuel, PO Box 2046, Irwindale, CA 91706. In the book Mr. Owens explains how he and his family moved to Boise, Idaho, and couldn't get fuel for home heating and cooking. Because of government allotments the fuel suppliers would not take on new customers.

So, as a matter of survival, he built a solar still; and I'm in the process of building mine now. Jim Sines Bakersfield, Calif.