Power companies’ main stated objection to solar or wind is that they are not “capacity” or “baseload”
generation because sometimes the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. And those utilities are required by various state, regional Energy Regulatory Commissions right up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to supply capacity or baseload power. That’s their main excuse for coal and nuclear plants. Well, the Chairman of FERC thinks we may not need baseload, nor any new coal nor nuclear plants, either.
Here are videos of the entire approximately eight minute 7 May 2012 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission. They vote in Regular Session tonight at 5:30PM. Here’s the agenda.
See other post about “5. Appointments – Lowndes County Development Authority”.
Two weeks ago they decided to hold a public hearing about abandoning part of the Right of Way of old US 41 South, but this time it’s on the agenda as a Resolution, and it appears part of the request has been withdrawn, and some people would be left landlocked with no access to a public road, so it seems the Resolution will be to table at least part of it to an undetermined future date. Yet the County Engineer seemed to reccomend going ahead with the rest of the abandonment. Where’s the public hearing?
Two rezonings had no comments. The third, just north of Hahira, got opposition at the Planning Commission; see the other post on that.
While /the grid power was out during and after the March F2 tornado (F3 in Lanier County), the lights at our place never blinked, because we have solar panels and batteries. George Mokray has a video that expands on that point.
Solar IS Civil Defense—what we are all supposed to have on hand in case of emergency—flashlight, cell phone, radio, extra set of batteries—can be powered by a few square inches of solar electric panel. Add a hand crank or bicycle generator and you have a reliable source of survival level electricity, day or night, by sunlight or muscle power.
Solar IS Civil Defense PSA Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, . Video by for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
This is also entry level electrical power for the 1.5 billion people around the world who do not yet have access to electricity. Civil defense at home and economic development abroad can be combined in a “buy one, give one” program like the Bogolight (http:// www.bogolight.com) which is a solar LED light and AA battery charger.
Here are videos of the entire 11:11 minute 24 April 2012 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission. They time at 0:57 (before call to order; doesn’t count), 0:42 (mostly dead air), 0:33 (invocation and pledge: not business), 0:29, 0:37, 0:40, 0:10, 0:46, 1:09, 0:46, 0:53, 1:22, 2:08, 1:30, and 0:08: eleven minutes and eleven seconds total. And that’s including the invocation and pledge and the two citizens who spoke (3:38 for those last two). It would seem a good guess that the Commissioners and staff discussed more in the previous morning’s work session, but not really; you can see for yourself.
A Commissioner asked a question! Before they accepted a bid for mowing Bemiss Road, Joyce Evans wanted an explanation of the timeframe of the cutting of the grass. Public Works Director Robin English wanted to know work time or response time? County Manager Joe Pritchard and somebody else simultaneously said “response time”. Hm, how did they know that? In what open meeting was that question previously raised? Also, Pritchard demonstrated he could speak into the microphone and be heard when he wanted to. English clarified the response times quoted by the bidders, and Evans moved to go with the low bidder, which the Commissioners approved, unanimously as usual.
Videos, Regular Session Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 April 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Here are videos of the entire ten and a half minute 23 April 2012 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission. As you can see, these videos time at 1:01, 0:33, 0:44, 1:07, 1:45, 1:40, 0:33, 2:59, and 0:10, and that’s with a camera that stops and starts almost instantaneously. Those times add up to 10 minutes and 32 seconds. Is that adequate discussion for the county’s business?
Finance Director Stephanie Black said the county sent out an RFP for banking services to local banks. Three responded, and one was incomplete. The two complete bids were Regions Bank and SunTrust. Regions will waive charges with $6M balance; SunTrust will waive charges $2.8M balance.
On the FDIC charge, Regions will charge .135 per thousand dollars; SunTrust is waiving that.
She said that was currently about $3500 or $4500 per month. Commissioner Powell asked who they were currently using. Answer: Regions. There’s more in the video, and there was a written report the Commissioners were looking at.
Apparently the county’s own water isn’t good enough for Commissioners and staff,
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Imagine an appointed body that likes citizen input, and even puts (some) board packet items on its website before its meetings! Parks and Rec is that body.
With 1.5 mil of our tax dollars every year, it’s good to see the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority (VLPRA) reviewing finances:
At the end of February, the Parks and Rec had $2.69 million in cash, $541,000 in liabilities, and that leaves about $2.1 million….
For the eight months ending February 29, tax receipts $3.22 million. That’s $79,000 dollars more tax receipts than for the eight months of the previous year.
So that’s about $4.3 million per year in tax receipts, plus SPLOST money (see the video). The board didn’t have any questions about finance.
At least we can see some results of their money, such as
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Paul Wolff showed us his solar panels on Tybee Island:
That’s 28 panels. They’re SolarWorlds, roughly 18% efficiency rating, and it’s a 5.525 kilowatt system.
And another thing I tell people if your roof is at all questionable… right now there’s a 30% federal tax credit on the materials for an EnergyStar roof….
28 SolarWorld panels, 5.25 kilowatts –Paul Wolff renewable energy, Paul Wolff, The Volta Collaborative (TVC), Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia, 17 February 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Instead of arbitrating a fixed-size LOST pie, what if Lowndes County and the local cities worked on increasing the size of the pie through broadband? It’s not just Chattanooga, 100 other municipalities have done it.
Chattanooga is not alone; more than 100 cities and towns have built their own broadband networks. The city of Lafayette, Louisiana offers probably the best deal for broadband in the nation: ten megabits symmetrical for less than $30/month. For non-geek readers, it is actually faster than my home Comcast connection at less than half the price. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has just released a new report detailing how Chattanooga and Lafayette built their networks.
Hm, Valdosta and Lowndes County don’t seem to be on that map. Yet. We don’t have to wait for VLCIA to organize this; there are other ways.
A business our Industrial Authority wanted to get us into still risks bankrupting Irwin County: a private prison. Maybe we should do better due diligence around here and invest in better business ventures.
A privately owned detention center that houses hundreds of illegal immigrants in south Georgia is struggling with finances, and narrowly avoided being auctioned this year.
So we heard about Chattanooga all during the school “unification” referendum. I turns out Chattanooga really does have something that attracts business (no, not a unified school system; if you want to go back into that, I’ve got the references available). What really attracts businesses to Chattanooga is fast Internet broadband access.
While on a site selection visit in Chattanooga, a CEO asked about broadband access. When told that the slowest tier on Chattanooga’s community fiber network was 30 megabits per second, he turned to his IT adviser for a translation. Upon hearing “that’s more than we can get in our headquarters presently,” the company cancelled its other planned visits and located its new site in Chattanooga.
That’s right, Chattanooga really does have one thing going for it: high speed Internet access.
generation because sometimes the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. And those utilities are required by various state, regional Energy Regulatory Commissions right up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to supply capacity or baseload power. That’s their main excuse for coal and nuclear plants. Well, the Chairman of FERC thinks we may not need baseload, nor any new coal nor nuclear plants, either.the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said today.
