  We demonstrate that band-structure effects suppress bremsstrahlung of
neutrino pairs by electrons in the crusts of neutron stars at temperatures of
the order of $5\times 10^9 \,{\rm K}$ and below. Taking this into account,
together with the fact that recent work indicates that the masses of neutron
star crusts are considerably smaller than previously estimated, we find
neutrino pair bremsstrahlung to be much less important for the thermal
evolution of neutron stars than earlier calculations suggested.
