Chuck Eaton, Georgia Public Service Commissioner,
moderating a panel of Georgia’s Policy Makers at
Southern Solar Summit
said
Solar is great for diversity, independence, research, and business.He said that until recently he had discounted solar, but now he had seen it. Continue reading
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):
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.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 GreensUniversity Partnership Opportunities
Existing presence of businesses in multiple fields (diversification)
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
They’ve done it in North Carolina:
Solar is hands down the most popular energy source across NC, across parties, ages, genders, etc. Coal and nuclear are the politically charged energy sources, and neither got a majority. Number 2 was offshore wind with 83% and number 3 was onshore wind with 82% support. Here’s the NCSEA press release. Here’s the survey.91% of voters support using solar power to meet our growing needs for energy and electricity
How did they do this? Continue reading
Here’s the video: Continue reading…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.
Patrick Davis wrote, Rural Republicans in Georgia can’t have it both ways on immigration reform
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 readingWith 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.
The original post included this:On Friday June 17th, exactly 40 years after President Richard Nixon declared a “War on Drugs,” Internet activists organizing from the social news and activism website, Reddit.com, called the White House en masse to demand an end to the War on Drugs, calling it a “trillion dollar incarceration machine” with a measurable failure to reduce drug use, or harm from drug use.
This is also the last vestige of Nixon’s fight against the civil rights and anti-war movements: And if you look at US incarceration rates, it’s been incredibly effective. . .That’s right, almost six times as many black males per capita get locked up in the U.S. than in South Africa under apartheid. The numbers are even worse for young people and especially young black males, leading to this summary:
- 4,919 Black males per 100,000 population
- 1,717 Latino males per 100,000 of population
- 717 White males per 100,000 of population.
- South Africa under Apartheid (1993) – 851 Black males per 100,000
This isn’t a War on Drugs: It’s a Race War; It’s a War on the youth, likely to protest controversial policies (a war that conveniently takes away those groups voting rights). It’s a war on the American People, paid for by the American people, for the American people’s own good.Yep. Except a majority of the American people don’t want the “war on drugs” any more. It’s time for the laws to change.
Back to the main article: Continue reading
Imagine that! A drug policy meant to address the problem.… has made some courageous and profoundly important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective control over the illicit drug trade. The commission includes the former presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary general of the United Nations, human rights leaders, and business and government leaders, including Richard Branson, George P. Shultz and Paul A. Volcker.
The report describes the total failure of the present global antidrug effort, and in particular America’s “war on drugs,” which was declared 40 years ago today. It notes that the global consumption of opiates has increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent and cannabis 8.5 percent from 1998 to 2008. Its primary recommendations are to substitute treatment for imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm to others, and to concentrate more coordinated international effort on combating violent criminal organizations rather than nonviolent, low-level offenders.
These recommendations are compatible with United States drug policy from three decades ago. In a message to Congress in 1977, I said the country should decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, with a full program of treatment for addicts. I also cautioned against filling our prisons with young people who were no threat to society, and summarized by saying: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”
How did we go wrong? Continue reading
The Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) is holding
a conference
Friday a week from today in Atlanta,
and you can still sign up at the advance rate today.
Sounds like a good place for networking potential projects.
Announcing Solar Summit 2011! Join utilities and policy experts from around the country as we present a full day of panel discussions and presentations on solar renewables. With the theme, “Solar Works in Georgia” GSEA will layout the roadmap for success in Georgia.Coffee starts at 7:45 AM, with the Welcome session at 8:15 and keynote speaker Col. Dan Nolan (USArmy Ret.) speaking at 8:30 on “The Military’s integration of Green Energy”.
Where: GTRI Conference Center- 250 14th Street, Atlanta, GA 30318 When: Friday, June 24th 8a-4p How: Tickets on sale now What: $79 before June 15th — EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, 6/17 $99 at the door
Another panel asks the question, “Will military and institutional adoption lead the way?” Hm, maybe municipalities should help pioneer solar with financing from banks and power companies.
Another panel notes, “A recent ASU study ranked Georgia 3rd in the nation for solar development potential.” That would be this study.
A wide range of speakers come from industry, military, finance, and government. Sounds like a networking opportunity. Maybe even a good place to pitch a municipal solar project.
-jsq
According to Albor Ruiz in the New York Daily News, 12 June 2011,
Washington’s inaction on the immigration crisis is no longer sprouting only hostile and inhumane local laws. But there is growing evidence an increasing number of local and state officials have tired of playing an abusive and costly anti-immigration game they don’t believe in.And who benefits by arresting such people? Private prison companies, which hold the new prisoners.Two weeks ago, Gov. Cuomo pulled New York State from the Secure Communities federal deportation program, following Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn who had done the same weeks before. And days after Cuomo’s decision Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick took the same courageous step. All three governors are Democrats and strong allies of President Obama.
They had plenty of reasons to quit the controversial Department of Homeland Security program. Promoted as a tool to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes, in reality Secure Communities targets mostly low-level offenders or those never convicted of any crime at all.
It’s not just northeast state, either. Here’s a city and state on the frontline of immigration, Los Angeles, California: Continue reading
John,You may want to consider other reasons for Lanier’s residential growth. There was an explosion of lower cost housing there over the past
10 years. It has attracted a large percentage of Moody folks. This was in part a response to the cost of homes in Lowndes Co. More specifically land cost. One component of the ULDC adoption was a call for higher density developments in the unicorporated areas where at the time, land was cheaper. Unfortunately, those that owned the land picked on the demand and guess what…..the prices started to climb quickly.
Some might refer to this as sprawl. The other item of interest is the budget woes the Lanier County Board of Ed is having as a result of this growth. Residential property demands more in services than it pays for in taxes. Just something to consider. There may not be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.
-Tim Carroll