Category Archives: Climate change

China $375 billion conservation and pollution investment

Fayen Wong and Ruby Lian wrote for Reuters 30 July 2013,

China to invest $375 billion on energy conservation, pollution: paper,

China plans to invest 2.3 trillion yuan ($375 billion) in energy
saving and emission-reduction projects in the five years through
2015 to clean up its environment, the China Daily newspaper reported
on Wednesday, citing a senior government official.

The plan, which has been approved by the State Council, is on top of
a 1.85 trillion yuan investment in the renewable energy sector,
underscoring the government’s concerns about addressing a key source
of social discontent.

China has set a target of reducing its carbon emissions per unit of
GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level, and raising
non-fossil energy consumption to 15 percent of its energy mix, Xie
Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC), was quoted as saying.

The article continues about tiered power pricing for energy intensive
industries and carbon trading markets.



Given that most of the world’s increase in energy usage comes from one country,
China,

according to OECD figures,
anything China can do to slow that increase is good.

-jsq

Solar and wind cheaper than fossil fuels –more evidence

The most cost-effective power sources are solar and wind,
re-affirms a study that includes social costs,
such as the environmental costs of the climate
change caused by CO2 from fossil fuels
(the social cost of carbon, or SCC),
and the health damage caused by sulfur dioxide pollution.
It’s time to stop paying for utility executive profits with our health and dollars.
No fracking, no pipeline.

M Caulfield wrote for Exposing the Truth 24 September 2013,

Renewable Energy Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuel,

168292900_900x675[1]Renewable energy is becoming more and more
competitive. Alternative and renewable energy sources are increasingly
becoming more affordable. According to a new study published in the Journal
of Environmental Studies and Sciences, it is now less costly in
America to get electricity from wind turbines and solar panels, than it
is to get it from coal-fired power plants. The study shows, when climate
change costs and other health impacts were factored in, that it is even
more cost effective to convert an existing coal-fired power plant with
a wind turbine, than it is to keep the old fossil fuel-burning plant.



Unsubsidized renewable energy is now cheaper than electricity from coal and
gas power stations in Australia as well. Wind farms in Australia
can produce energy at AU$80/MWh. Meanwhile, coal plants are
producing energy at AU$143/MWh and gas at AU$116/MWh. And the myth that alternative energy sources
were enormously more costly than the typical
fossil fuels, is proving to be untrue. And after initial
investment costs are waged, making them now ameliorated, and the raw materials for solar and wind power are free, besides
costs of upkeep, and the harvesting of those sources doesn’t cause
mayhem to the environment. Making it an ever-more appealing alternative
energy source.

“The perception that fossil fuels are cheap and
renewables are expensive is now out of date… The
fact that wind power is now cheaper than coal and gas in a country with some of the world’s best fossil fuel
resources shows that clean energy is a game changer which promises to turn
the economics of power systems on its head,” – Michael Liebreich,
chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

In lead author Laurie Johnson’s Blog 17 September 2013,

New Study: Clean Energy Least Costly to Power America’s Electricity Needs, Continue reading →

Fossil Free Valdosta




Fossil Free Valdosta, a facebook page just launched by
members of

S.A.V.E. (Students Against Violating the Environment),
under VSU’s new solar canopy:

A student campaign calling on Valdosta State University to freeze
any new investments in the fossil fuel industry immediately and
divest within the next five years.


You can help divestment by

signing their petition.
That will help

VSU stop wasting investments on fossil fuels while solar stocks skyrocket.
And that will help

undermine the political power of the fossil fuel industry.
After all,
all our investments are political, and

there’s nothing neutral about investing in climate wreckage.

-jsq

Divest VSU of fossil fuels –petition

The

divestment movement has come to VSU,
thanks to
Danielle Jordan and
SAVE!
-jsq



Petition:

Divest Valdosta State From Fossil Fuels


To: VSU Administration and VSU Board of Trustees

We are asking Valdosta State University to:

  1. Disclose information on its investments

  2. To divest its holdings from fossil fuels within 5 years

  3. Freeze any new investments in the fossil fuel industry immediately


Why is this important?

As climate change progresses, we become more aware of the hazardous
consequences that manifest in relation to a warming planet. We
understand that in order to combat the issue, we have to alter our
daily practices. However. the lobbying power of the major fuel
companies has diminished the voices and power of individuals within
our political system. Subsequently, policy has been written to favor
the interests of the companies benefiting from the exploitation of
our environment.

We are asking Valdosta State to distance itself from this industry
and pursue alternatives, knowing that if we wish to address climate
change, a collaborative effort must be made. By joining this
movement, we can create a more ethical campus and move in the
direction of sustainability.

Plant Scherer country’s dirtiest again!



Southern Company #1 and #2!
We get most of our electricity from #1 coal Plant Scherer
near Macon, and 1/4 of its power goes to Florida, dirtying our air.
SO says it’s worst only because it’s one of the biggest.
But it still emits more greenhouse gases than any other power plant
in the country.
#2 is only about twice as far away, and it’s also Southern Company.

Kate Sheppard wrote for Huffpost 10 September 2013,

Biggest Polluters In U.S. Ranked By Greenhouse Gas Emissions In New Report,

The top five individual plants were:

  1. Georgia Power Company’s Plant Scherer

  2. Alabama Power Company’s James H. Miller Jr. Plant

  3. Luminant Generation Company’s Martin Lake Plant in Texas

  4. Union Electric Company’s Labadie Plant in Missouri

  5. NRG Texas Power’s W.A. Parish Plant

These power plants, said Julian Boggs, Environment America’s global warming program director, “are the elephant in the room when it comes to global warming.”

The report,

America’s Dirtiest Power Plants,
by Environment America,
says (page 5) Plant Scherer alone produces 0.4% of all U.S. CO2 emissions
and 0.1% of all the world’s. Plant Miller emits almost as much, so that’s 0.8% of U.S. and 0.2% of world CO2
emissions from just the top 2 Southern Company coal plants.

How about we insist Georgia Power and Southern Company get on with solar
power inland and wind off the coast to replace all those coal plants and
the water-sucking nukes, too?

-jsq

AGL pipeline station in Atlanta leaking, eroding, substandard construction

Citizens are calling for GA PSC Chuck Eaton to call it off.
Since apparently

GA PSC does have authority over natural gas pipelines,
maybe we should talk to our Commissioner
H. Doug Everett about that

proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline through Lowndes County.
Wasting resources on natural gas now is foolish when

solar will overtake everything within a decade
and we should be getting on with sun power for Lowndes County
instead of methane for Florida.

Brookhaven Post 23 August 2013,

Deteriorating conditions at AGL regulator station site has citizens calling for its removal,



An Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) regulator station that is being
constructed on Parcel 36 off of Clairmont Rd., has been a project of
concern for some time now. Site conditions such as trenches full of
water, deteriorating banks, eroding foundations, corrosion,
substandard and hazardous construction practices, and a host of
other issues, have become the catalyst to amplifying an effort to
have Public Service Commissioner, Chuck Eaton, intervene and ask
that AGL cease construction and remove the station.

-jsq

Climate change adversely affecting U.S. power grid

Yes, and moving away from baseload coal, nukes, and natural gas
and towards distributed solar and wind power will help with that,
both directly by making the grid more resilient, and indirectly
by slowing climate change.

Clare Foran wrote for NationalJournal 12 August 2013,
Climate Change Is Threatening the Power Grid:

So says the White House, in a new report that recommends strengthening the grid.



Just days away from the 10-year anniversary of the worst power
outage in U.S. history, the White House and the Energy Department
released a report on Monday evaluating the resiliency of the
nation’s electric grid and recommending steps to prevent future
blackouts.

The report called storms and severe weather “the leading cause of
power outages in the United States,” and warned against the steep
cost of weather-related damage to the electric grid. It put the
price tag for electrical failures caused by inclement weather at
between $18 billion and $33 billion annually, and noted that costs
have increased in recent years, jumping from a range of $14 billion
to $26 billion in 2003 to $27 billion to $52 billion in 2012. Storms
exceeding a billion dollars in damages (electrical and otherwise)
have also become more frequent in the past decade, as the chart
below shows.

Well,
Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear 1 (ANO1) is still down

more than four months after a fatal accident
(hey,

look at that; Continue reading →

Southern Company missed earnings on Kemper Coal but Plant Vogtle is dominant

The dominant financial consideration
is “what’s going to happen with Georgia”,
meaning with nuclear Plant Vogtle,


said SO CEO Tom Fanning, referring to

the GA PSC CWIP monitoring hearings currently in progress.
Meanwhile, that
$160 million estimate 2 July 2013 of more Kemper Coal cost overruns
by 30 July turned into
$278 million after taxes (AP).

This is on top of

$333 million after taxes in May.
SO earnings fell 52% (WSJ), missing projections, and SO stock dropped 2% yesterday.


Remember GA PSC Tim Echols

already suggested a Plant Vogtle cost overrun cap
similar to the one Mississippi PSC applied to Kemper Coal that caused
SO to have to eat all those costs.
If that happens, SO’s got financial problems.

Has SO seen the solar light yet, as in reliable, dependable, and deployable
on time and on budget?
Nope.
Solar was tacked onto the end of

Tom Fanning’s summary of interesting stuff
in the 31 July 2013 earnings call: Continue reading →

The Economist answers Paul Bowers about carbon tax

Back in May someone asked Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers what
he thought about a carbon tax,



and he answered, “Why would anyone
want that?”
The Economist answered his question,
29 June 2013,

Tepid, timid:
The world will one day adopt a carbon tax—but only after exhausting all the alternatives,

Winston Churchill famously said America would always do the right
thing after exhausting the alternatives. The right thing in climate



You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they ve tried everything else. --Winston Churchill

policy for all the big countries is a carbon tax, which is simpler
and less vulnerable to fluctuations in emissions than cap-and-trade
schemes. For years, such a tax has been a non-starter politically.
But as the alternatives are tested to destruction, it deserves to be
looked at again. Current environmental policies will not keep the
rise in global temperatures to below 2°C—the maximum that
most climate scientists think safe. A carbon tax, if stiff enough,
could. Big polluters should assume that such a tax will one day
arrive, and start planning for it now.

Dear Paul Bowers,



Stop being tepid and timid.
Go beyond Continue reading →

Flooding again at Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant

Third major spill this year, after

March by Valdosta


and

April by Lowndes County.
Or did I forget some?
Lookout, Florida!

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV today,

Nearly Eight Million Gallons Of Raw Sewage… Straight Into Area River,

Almost eight million gallons of raw sewage flooded here at the plant
and made it’s way directly into the Withlacoochee River. Which is
about a half mile away. Which makes the city’s plans to relocate
this plant all the more relevant.

Since the beginning of this year more than Continue reading →