Category Archives: Community

Coalition against private prisons in Shelby County, Tennessee

In at least one southern county, church groups are working together with
other groups to prevent private prisons.
Why not here, too?

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is organizing

a broad coalition against private prisons in Shelby County, Tennessee:




No Private Prisons

The Shelby County Commission is in the process of trying to privatize
our criminal justice system. Private prisons have a well-documented
history of inefficient security, poorly trained and underpaid workers,
high turnover rates, scant benefits and unprofessional and unsupervised
treatment of inmates.

The Coalition Against Private Prisons has been created to fight this
privatization plan. So far this coalition involves Grassroots Leadership,
the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the AFSCME local 1733, Shelby
County Corrections Officers, Women’s Action Coalition, Mid-South
Interfaith Network, educators, faith leaders, artists, and activists.

To address this we are working with our coalition partners and other
community organizations to educate Memphians about the dangers of
privatization, and to mobilize Memphians around the issue.

They’ve got a report,

Progress or Profit? Positive Alternatives To Privatization and Incarceration in Shelby County, Tennessee.

Continue reading →

Projects that can actually be built —Jeff Glavan of MP2 Capital



Representing a San Francisco venture capital firm,

MP2 Capital,
Jeff Glavan said he’s looking for
medium to large scale projects that can actually get built,
with partners in each geographic market, since development is very local.

MP2 also does projects with municipalities that can’t take tax credits
because they are tax exempt. MP2 funds instead.

It’s not just all about large systems….
There’s a market for 1 to 5 megawatt systems.

The three things they look at are
credit, commercial terms, and economic terms.
Commercial terms are what hold up most projects.
MP2 likes to be involved in negotiating a
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
to avoid terms like host may need to repair roof which could
involve removing the solar system for some undefined amount of time.

MP2 is actively looking for solar partners.

-jsq

Transparency is key —Steve Kalland of NCSC

The earth receives enough energy from the sun in one hour
to power the whole world for a year, reminded Steve Kalland of
the

North Carolina Solar Center (NCSC) at the

Southern Solar Summit.
So how do we get solar energy deployed?


Kalland said transparency is key.

Other speakers had said you could have too much transparency,
but Kalland pointed out that it was only through a hearing that
North Carolina found out a major power company was going to use up its
solar energy credits years ahead of schedule, and without transparency
there couldn’t be real competition because the customers wouldn’t
know who had which prices.

What else does it take to make a state competitive in solar?
Kalland discussed this table (reformatted here from the copy of
his presentation he gave me):

Foundational Steps to Focus on Solar

Installed Capacity Manufacturing
Interconnection Standards

Base Resources (economic or voices)

Early Adopters


Military or Large Federal

High Tech Firms

Corporate Greens

University Partnership Opportunities

Existing presence of businesses in multiple fields (diversification)

He said a lot more, but that’s a very interesting table to
consider not only for a state, but for a region, like south Georgia,
or a small metro area, like Valdosta MSA.

I know some people will react with: “but VSU is not a research university!”
Nope, but this could be a way to add some research capacity to VSU.

-jsq

Energy as a National Security Challenge —Col. Dan Nolan @ Solar Summit

In his morning keynote at the sold-out

Southern Solar Summit,
Col. Dan Nolan (U.S. Army ret.) asked the musical question:

“When did our Marines become Birkenstock-wearing tree huggers?”

This was after some Marines asked for solar power so they wouldn’t
have to haul fuel in long convoys, which were among the most dangerous missions.
Most of that fuel was going into very inefficient generators to run
very inefficient air conditioners in tents in the desert.
Dealing with that got the military thinking about energy security:
assured access to mission-critical energy.

Looking up, he asked:



“What is it we as a nation need to understand about our own energy security?”

He identified America’s strategic center of gravity as its economy.
It’s very resilient but has vulnerabilities open to attack.
So how do we secure those vulnerabilities?

The main vulnerabilities are:

Continue reading →

A mix is the way to go —Dr. Noll

This comment from Dr. Noll came in today on

San Antonio promises to shut down a coal plant:

Of course we can! And “a mix of energy efficiency, [energy conservation,]
and new renewable energy projects” (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal)is the
way to go. We simply need the political will and communal support to
make such a transition possible.



I am still in Germany and am amazed to see just how much progress has been
made here in these past couple of years. Solar thermal and solar voltaic
installations abound on private residences; wind mills can be seen in
many regions; cars are more fuel efficient, houses better insulated,
public transportation accessible and affordable, recycling thoroughly
organized, etc.

We may still have a long way to go, but until

Continue reading →

This is what a mayor with vision sounds like

Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio

speaks at 44:25
about



…the nexus between sustainability and job creation.
Every now and then, perhaps once in a generation,
there presents itself a moment, an opportunity,
for those cities that are willing to seize it,
to truly benefit the region for generations to come.

Here’s
the video:

Continue reading →

Community gardens in buffalo

Brian Meyer wrote in the Buffalo News 15 June 2011,

Community gardeners’ wait is over – after 3 years, Council OKs leases



Gardeners are ready to “get dirty” following Tuesday’s Common Council
passage of long-awaited leases to turn 34 vacant city-owned lots into
neighborhood oases.

Lawmakers approved the leases unanimously and without debate. Some
community gardeners have been eagerly awaiting the action for three years.

Mayor Byron W. Brown’s administration delayed submitting the master leases
because of numerous concerns. The logjam ended late last week when city
planners sent the proposed agreements to the Council for final action.

“We have our insurance signed up, so we’ll

Continue reading →

Many rural farmers are taking notice of HB 87 —Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis points out from Macon that HB 87 is producing
Lowndes County farm employment problems, and maybe local farmers
should take that into account when they vote.

Patrick Davis wrote,

Rural Republicans in Georgia can’t have it both ways on immigration reform



With the law passed and ready for implementation, many rural
farmers—especially in Central and South Georgia—are taking notice to
the exodus of migrant workers and immigrants which has left some farmers
without workers to pick crops.

Many of these same farmers that are hurting economically and losing
crops in these rural counties had voted Republican for years.



Valdosta’s Ellis Black who represents parts of Lowndes County as a
state representative helped to pass Gov. Nathan Deal’s conservative
and punitive agenda and consequently it has contributed to drive an
increasing number of migrant workers out of the Peach State.


Black has continued to justify his HB-87 vote and attempt to support
Gov. Deal’s ridiculous assertion in regard to the use of probationers
as a solution.

That last link is to

Parolees to replace migrants?
Gov. Deal says put probationers in fields
by David Rodock in the VDT 15 June 2011, which included:

Continue reading →

San Antonio promises to shut down a coal plant

We could do something like this.
We’ve already made a start with Wiregrass Solar.


San Antonio, the Clean-Energy City?
Look out Austin, SA Mayor Julian Castro promises to shut-down a coal plant by 2018.



At an event this afternoon at UT-San Antonio, Mayor Julian Castro
announced a suite of green energy projects that he said would position
San Antonio as the nation’s “recognized leader in clean energy technology”
and help fulfill his aggressive environmental goals.

Most notably, Castro and leaders from CPS Energy, the city-owned utility,
pledged to shut down one of its coal-fired power plants 15 years ahead
of schedule. By 2018, the city would mothball the 871-megawatt J.T. Deely
Power Plant — a bold move in a growing state that’s seemingly addicted
to coal.

So what are they going to use for energy?

Continue reading →

Southern Company committed to communities, renewable energy, energy efficiency

Thomas A. Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company,
says his company is committed to communities, renewable energy, and
energy efficiency.
So
helping finance municipal refitting and solar projects
should be a natural for Southern Company!

According to PR from Southern Company, 25 May 2011,

Southern Company Holds Annual Meeting of Shareholders



Fanning also emphasized a continued commitment to the communities the
company serves and stressed the need for a national energy policy and
a robust research and development initiative.

“Southern Company keeps customers at the center of every decision
we make,” said Fanning. “We remain committed to providing reliable,
affordable energy for our customers and to do that we need to maintain
a diverse fuel mix as well as stay focused on developing the newest
technologies.”

Referencing a diverse fuel mix, Fanning highlighted the company’s
commitment to nuclear energy, including building the nation’s first new
units in 30 years. He also discussed the importance of preserving coal –
America’s most abundant energy resource – as well as the role of natural
gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency in meeting its customers
energy needs.

“Furthermore, we are the only company in the industry that is doing
it all. We’ve committed more than $20 billion to these efforts,”
Fanning said.

Sure, he listed renewable energy and energy efficiency last.
But this is the same Thomas A. Fanning who said in May that he’s

“bullish” on solar.
The same CEO of the parent company of Georgia Power, which just

connected a 300 kiloWatt solar plant in Lowndes County.
The same CEO who’s being nagged by the Georgia PSC chairman

“to come up with options in the next 30 days for expanding the tiny amount of electricity generated from solar power.”
And a company that spends more than $20 billion on new energy projects
can afford a few tens of millions for community refitting and solar.

-jsq