Category Archives: Renewable Energy

Biomass protesters @ VCC 24 March 2011

Black and white, young and old, conservative and liberal,
college professors and unemployed:
dozens of them demonstrated against biomass
outside the Valdosta City Council meeting, 24 March 2011:


As Dr. George said

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Current costs of major power sources

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, here are the
current costs of coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind (onshore and offshore),
solar (electrical and hot water), geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric:


Here’s a four page explanation of that table.

Coal is not the cheapest: natural gas is.
Onshore wind actually costs about the same as coal, and less than nuclear.
Offshore wind is currently about 2.5 times more expensive.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) currently costs a bit more than twice as much as coal,
and already less than offshore wind.

The table does not take into account the environmental costs
of the various power sources, or obviously coal would fare far worse,
and biomass would not be rated anywhere near as good as wind.

Remember, the cost of solar is

falling rapidly,

so solar will rapidly become more cost-effective compared to other
energy sources.

-jsq

MAGE SOLAR at Lowndes High, 29 March 2011




MAGE SOLAR
,
the German company which in September

opened its North American headquarters
in Dublin, Georgia
,
will be giving a 30 minute presentation

at Lowndes High School next Tuesday, 29 March 2011

on

“the immense possibilities of solar power and its economic benefits for Georgia”

Hey, here’s an idea:

Concluding the program will be a highly anticipated Q&A-session which
will provide direct access to industry experts and company officials;
refreshments will be served.

Maybe with real answers, unlike an

expensive dog and pony show

with a hand-picked moderator going

“we’re not going to get into debate.”

Kudos to MAGE SOLAR for locating in Georgia and then forging ahead
into the sunshine of south Georgia!
PDF and image of the flyer, and PDF and text of the detailed invitation,
are available

on LAKE’s website.

-jsq

PS: This post owed to Jerome Tucker.

Wind farms in earthquakes and tsunami?



They keep working.

Kelly Rigg in Huffpo writes

Battle-proof Wind Farms Survive Japan’s Trial by Fire:

Colleagues and I have been directly corresponding with Yoshinori Ueda
leader of the International Committee of the Japan Wind Power Association
& Japan Wind Energy Association, and according to Ueda there has been
no wind facility damage reported by any association members, from either
the earthquake or the tsunami. Even the Kamisu semi-offshore wind farm,
located about 300km from the epicenter of the quake, survived. Its
anti-earthquake “battle proof design” came through with flying colors.

Mr. Ueda confirms that most Japanese wind turbines are fully
operational. Indeed, he says that electric companies have asked wind
farm owners to step up operations as much as possible in order to make
up for shortages in the eastern part of the country:

The only wind farms not operational are stopped because of failure
of the grid to feed electricity into, says Mr. Ueda:

Eurus Energy Japan says that 174.9MW with eight wind farms (64% of
their total capacity with 11 wind farms in eastern part of Japan)
are in operation now. The residual three wind farms (Kamaishi 42.9MW,
Takinekoshirai 46MW, Satomi 10.02MW) are stopped due to the grid failure
caused by the earthquake and Tsunami.

So they wind farms built like that could most likely survive a hurricane

in the Georgia Bight.

-jsq

Protesters at VLCIA, 15 March 2011



The first thing I saw when I drove up to the Industrial Authority building:

protesters outside.

They don’t seem to like some biomass plant.





Protesters, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) at the

regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)

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

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,

15 March 2011.

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



Let’s ask these two what this is about.
Dr. Michael Noll,

President of Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy
(WACE)

said:

“We’re here to protest against biomass.
We wish Brad Lofton well in his new job,
but we want biomass to go as well.”





Karen and Michael Noll, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) at the

regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)

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

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,

15 March 2011.

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

I asked Leigh Touchton, President of
Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP

about

a letter she forwarded to LAKE
, and she

said:

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Wiregrass Solar Plant Completed



Last Saturday I heard Hannah Solar had completed the Wiregrass Solar
plant installation in Valdosta.
Today

Col. Ricketts confirmed that.

Congratulations, Industrial Authority, Wiregrass Solar LLC,
and Hannah Solar!

The first slide shows the location of the solar plant,
which is



in the back of Valdosta’s Mud Creek Water Treatment Plant
on Water Plant Road off of GA 94 (New Statenville Highway).

Where there used to be just a bare field, it’s now covered with solar panels.

The current holdup is


waiting for Georgia Power to connect the panels
to the grid.
After that, they just need to schedule a commissioning ceremony.
Col. Ricketts said they’d discuss that “later”.

Here’s

the video:





Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,

J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director,

Allan Ricketts Program Manager, 15 March 2011.

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

-jsq

VDT on Lofton Leaving



What’s Brad Lofton’s legacy?

The VDT finally published something today about Brad Lofton moving to
Myrtle Beach, apparently mostly drawing on the same SC newspaper story

LAKE picked up on last Thursday,

with some material from

the second SunNews story of Friday
.
The VDT did

add some local interviews:

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The politics of climate change denial

Why do some people deny the overwhelming science of climate
change in a time when the evidence and analysis is so thorough
and so conclusive that no reputable scientific organization
in the world doubts any longer that humans are changing the climate
of the whole planet for the worse:
because it threatens their political and economic beliefs.

Naomi Klein: Why Climate Change Is So Threatening to Right-Wing Ideologues
:



And the reason is that climate change is now seen as an identity issue
on the right. People are defining themselves, like they’re against
abortion, they don’t believe in climate change. It’s part of who
they are.

It’s like denying the earth goes around the sun.
Why would they identify with such a silly thing?
Because of what actually dealing with climate change would mean:

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The business of carbon trading in Georgia



Rich McKay wrote for the ajc,

Carbon limits a boon for traders:
Proposed emissions standards may galvanize business in Georgia
.

The carbon-emitting companies pay the farmers to not cut down the trees
or to plant new trees. The idea is that the trees, which gobble up
carbon, will store up the carbon from the atmosphere and offset what
the smokestacks spew.

Blake Sullivan, of the Macon-based

Carbon Tree Bank,

has 26,000 acres
of forest in the state under contract for carbon banking.

“Georgia has an abundance of forests right here, and trees are like the
lungs of the Earth,” he said. “They inhale carbon and exhale oxygen. We
can be part of the solution right here in our own backyard.”

Why is this suddenly a business?

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“We welcome solar power to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County”



After all the

protesters, police, and press,

representatives of

VLCIA,


Sterling Planet,


Hannah Solar,


Georgia Power,

and the

City of Valdosta

did finally break ground for

the Wiregrass Solar power plant.

I asked Col. Ricketts for a shovel, but he just snorted.
Here’s the

groundbreaking video:





Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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