Discussing the VSEB program, John Robinson remarked:
We need the council up here to show us interest in this program.He recommended everybody work together, including city and county.
Here’s the video:
Economic opportunity and cooperation —John Robinson @ VCC 9 June 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2011.
Videos by Barbara Stratton for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
GE is working on thin film solar. Meanwhile, costs are already coming down: Continue readingSolar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. (GE)
“If we can get solar at 15 cents a kilowatt-hour or lower, which I’m hopeful that we will do, you’re going to have a lot of people that are going to want to have solar at home,” Little said yesterday in an interview in Bloomberg’s Washington office. The 2009 average U.S. retail rate per kilowatt-hour for electricity ranges from 6.1 cents in Wyoming to 18.1 cents in Connecticut, according to Energy Information Administration data released in April.
Here’s his letter to the editor of the Gratiot County Herald of 12 May 2011:
Continue readingDear Governor Snyder,
In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth and preparing them to take on the issues that society has created.
One solution I believe we must do is take a look at our corrections system in Michigan. We rank nationally at the top in the number of people we incarcerate. We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union. Now, I like to be at the top of lists, but this is one ranking that I don’t believe Michigan wants to be on top of.
Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab. They can earn a degree. A roof over their heads. Clothing. Everything we just listed we DO NOT provide to our school children.
This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison.
I’ve seen this before. AustinEnergy went in one year from solar isn’t an option to Continue readingTwo 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,
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 Continue reading
Here’s another point from Chris Miller at the
2011 Economic Summit,
according to the VDT story by Dawn Castro 18 May 2011,
:
So if the Chamber wants, as it says,
knowledge-based businesses and jobs,
Continue reading
“Thomasville didn’t have hi-speed internet,
so the process of moving products quickly was not possible,”
he said, “With Rose Net hi-speed broadband, it is now able to
work 25 times faster.
That one simple step boosted economic product growth,
and as we all know, the technical industry creates a
wage growth path.”
Georgia Internet Speed Results by www.speedmatters.org
Wendy Koch wrote in USA Today 16 May 2011, Lowe’s to offer Sungevity solar panel estimates:
Wonder how much solar panels on your home would cost and how much power they’d produce? An easy answer will soon be at hand at Lowe’s home improvement stores in eight U.S. states.
Beginning this summer in California, select Lowe’s stores will have kiosks provided by residential solar company Sungevity. These booths will feature the company’s iQuote system, which uses aerial and satellite imaging to give shoppers a firm installation estimate within 24 hours. The California-based company offers solar leases, which include monitoring, repairs, and a money-back guarantee.
-gretchen
I don’t get the complexity part, since certified installers do that for you. But up front cost is the hurdle pretty much everybody local mentions as to why they haven’t installed solar yet. As I’ve mentioned before, Solar Mosaic is one answer to that. It’s one way of implementing what Alden Hathaway says about solar power is the people’s power.Although it’s one of the only forms of energy to offer a 100 percent return on investment, solar energy has only been adopted by about 1 percent of the U.S. population. A recent solar energy industry report indicated that cost and complexity were two of the biggest reasons why people are slow to invest in solar technology.
Solar Mosaic brings the popular crowdfunding technique to the clean tech industry by developing a way for communities to create their own renewable energy without going into debt.
-jsq
Chairman Jerry Jennett reported that VLCIA was generally operating
at a slower pace due to the economy.
Roy Copeland asked for the board to come back to the operating budget
later in the meeting when they could ask their CPA a few questions.
He was out of town, so they agreed to try to get him on the telephone later.
Here’s Part 1 of 2: Continue reading
I found this over in NO COAL PLANT IN BEN HILL COUNTY! with this comment by Dan Corrie:
This Georgia Tech announcement emphasizes how quickly technology is changing toward healthier energy production and away from coal. I would hate to see our South Georgia stuck with a contaminating, health-harming coal plant for 50 years while so much progress would be going on during that time.The article by Daniel E. Frank dated 18 May 2011 appears on a law firm’s page, Georgia Tech Clean Energy Speaker Series: “High-Voltage Grid of the Future”: Continue reading