Category Archives: Renewable Energy

Southern Company “bullish” on solar

Colleen Kiernan, director of the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club,
wrote in the Atlanta Business Chronicle 22 May 2011,

Wind energy a viable option for Southern Co.’s portfolio:



Two years ago, Southern Co. claimed “Renewable energy sources like wind
and solar are not really an option for us in the Southeast.”

Now the new CEO, Thomas Fanning, says he’s “bullish” on solar. While
the new attitude on solar is refreshing,

I’ve seen this before.
AustinEnergy went in one year from solar isn’t an option to

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Trash and biomass —Dr. Noll

This comment by Dr. Noll came in today on
Got trash? Need disposal? Good luck.
I ran across the picture at the same time. -jsq



There are some interesting parallels/similarities in regard to the
discussion of trash and biomass.

There is no doubt mankind produces trash, as there is no doubt that we
need energy. What we keep forgetting, though, is an honest reflection
on how we can be less “waste-ful”, both in terms of energy and trash.

Thus, instead of reducing the amount of trash we create by

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Expand the array, publish the minutes, private prison is a bad idea —John S. Quarterman @ VLCIA 17 May 2011



Here’s what I said to the VLCIA board on 17 May 2011.
Notes are appended after

the video:




Expand the array, publish the minutes, private prison is a bad idea —John S. Quarterman @ VLCIA 17 May 2011

Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),

Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.

Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Congratulations on the

Wiregrass Solar commissioning.


Since this was not ever the largest array in Georgia let’s encourage
Mayor Fretti and Commissioner Powell
to help VLCIA

expand the local array.

Referring to Mary Gooding’s

comments about people who wanted to see minutes probably going to be
frustrated,
I pointed out that

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VSU Faculty Senate passes anti-biomass resolution

Karen Noll reported on WACE’s facebook page that
the VSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday 19 May 2011 that
biomass will not be considered renewable for VSU’s climate commitment goal.

Why?

Because
leading medical associations have identified woody biomass
incineration as increasing risks of
“a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”,
because biomass incineration
produces more CO2, NOX, and fine particulates than existing coal plants,
and because it
“may lead to
unsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse
gas emissions”.

Who proposed this?

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Solar power is the peoples power —Alden Hathaway



After he talked about
expanding the Wiregrass Solar plant by another megawatt,
Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet said this:

Solar power is the peoples power.

Whether you’re talking about grid tied power here in America tied to the wire,
or solar in the rural countryside of Uganda,
it’s immediately available and accessible in all sizes.
So I can use it to power a cell phone, charge a laptop,
put light in a school, or pump water in a hospital.
Solar is immediately available to do that, without massive
which is a barrier to development in much of the developing world.

And to development in south Georgia, for that matter.
So we can

leapfrog that barrier with solar.

Here’s

the video:




Solar power is the peoples power –Alden Hathaway

Commissioning Ceremony,

Wiregrass Solar, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 May 2011.

Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

MAGE SOLAR forging ahead in south Georgia

Valdosta and Lowndes County are not the only places with sunshine
in south Georgia, and Albany and Dougherty County are perhaps
already more organized.

Danny Carter wrote in the Albany Herald 14 May 2011,

Solar power meeting set:
A solar power conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Albany.



MAGE SOLAR, looking for both customers and installers, is hosting a
program at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Albany Civic Center.

Susanne Fischer Quinn, communications manager for MAGE SOLAR, said there
are just 13 certified installers of solar panels in Georgia.

The opportunity for growth in this area is tremendous, she said.
Tuesday’s program will open with remarks by Jeff Sinyard, chairman
of the Dougherty County Commission, and Albany City Commissioner Roger
Marietta

Then, a panel of representatives from MAGE, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the University of Georgia will present information about
solar power in Georgia.

We already did a smaller version of this, but what have we done since?

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Renewable Energy Network at Opportunity Central

Renewable energy for jobs: that’s something that would interest
a Chamber of Commerce.

Partly due to

MAGE SOLAR at Lowndes High School


(thanks, Jerome Tucker!), the Valdosta – Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC) has taken an interest in renewable energy.
ReKasa Deen,

Business Development Director,
already heads the Chamber’s

Opportunity Central:



The Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber is positioning Metro Valdosta as Opportunity
Central with opportunities for business to grow and thrive, career
opportunities for well-educated young professionals and opportunities
for cultural interests and active lifestyles.



The key phrase I keep hearing from

VLCoC president Myrna Ballard
is

“knowledge-based businesses and jobs.”
As it says on a recent

Opportunity Central blog post:

New jobs follow bright and creative professionals…

Ms. Ballard and Ms. Deen have repeatedly said they see renewable energy
as a source of jobs for graduates of our local high schools and colleges.

What do they mean by renewable energy?

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A key to community organizing work —Seth Gunning

This comment by Seth Gunning came in on
the backfire effect and how to leapfrog it. -jsq



Great article John. Thanks for turning me onto the research presented
here, I’ll be looking into and using it. I’d also suggest a book called
“Breakthrough: from the death of environmentalism to the politics of
possibility”. I think you will love it.

Beyond changing the messaging on signs, which I think is a great idea,
I think what the research reflects is a fundamental change in the approach
to the work.

A key to community organizing work, as opposed to activism,

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Wiregrass Solar is the first of several projects —Sonny Murphy

Let’s look at Sterling Planet’s own press release about the
Wiregrass Solar commissioning.
What’s this about a first phase?
And what’s the second phase?


Sterling Planet announces completion of one of Georgia’s largest solar generating projects:
First phase of Valdosta solar project now supplies green energy to Georgia Power.



Sterling Planet, the leading national retail provider of renewable
energy and other clean-energy assets, today announced at a commissioning
ceremony the completion of a 200 kWAC output solar generating project
in Valdosta. One of the largest solar arrays in the state of Georgia,
the Wiregrass Solar, LLC project began commercial operation on April
6 and is now generating annualized output of approximately 350,000
kilowatt-hours. This is enough clean, emission-free electricity to power
350 Georgia homes using the average amount of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity monthly.

Developed by Sterling Planet, Wiregrass Solar supplies green power for
the Georgia Power Green Energy program, an option for the utility’s
customers who voluntarily choose to support renewable power and help
generate more of it in Georgia.

OK, that’s all good. Congratulations!

Also notice Sterling Planet doesn’t make the mayor’s mistake
in saying this is the largest solar array in Georgia, like

WCTV after Pete Marte of Hannah Solar corrected it,
Sterling says “one of the largest”.

But what’s this about “first phase”?

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Why biomass will never cleanly end —jsq



In Harrisburg, PA, same size as Valdosta, in a county of similar size,
a trash incinerator bit the dust once, but got revived anyway,
and will now probably only go away because:

Harrisburg, PA loses solvency and trust over incinerator.
There are many parallels here, especially the old boy network.
However, the main point I want to draw everyone’s attention to
at the moment is that although local activists may have gotten
that incinerator closed down once, it came back anyway.

Why?
Because their local old boys thought it would make money,
and

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