Tag Archives: Economy

I am committed to developing a culture of sustainability on this campus –VSU President McKinney @ SAVE 2013-11-15



At

installation of VSU’s solar canopy,
the president of VSU answered

SAVE’s question:



You’ve heard about how these kinds of projects
can yield a relatively quick return on investment.
And you all need to know that, so long as I am president,
I am committed to developing a culture of sustainability on this campus.
I do not believe for a moment that environmental sustainability
and the long-term economic well-being of the university are
contradictory goals.

He offered an

autobiographical tidbit:



I began my career in academia… as

a professor of environmental ethics.
I didn’t leave that behind when moved into the role I’m in now.
I still hold dear to that kind of thinking.
I still hold dear that kind of open dialog.
And I remain committed to these kinds of projects.
The sun is something we have in abundance here.
And I think it is something we can continue to take advantage of.

Now I will take a little bit of credit.
I remember probably the most opposite of the day we have today.
Back over the summer, and early in the morning, and it was already
extremely hot, and we were walking around trying to decide
where we were going to put the array, and we looked a couple of spots,
and then we came back here.


Smokestack


And the first thing that struck me from an academic perspective
was the juxtaposition of having a solar panel and the old physical plant.
Just from a metaphorical perspective, I just thought that was unique.
But then we started talking about the
fact that we could have shelter, power, for what is in many ways
an academic hub of the university, the library.
And generate some power in the process.



And be able to have not only the event that we have today,
but I would hope other kinds of events, because
I really do see this as a starting point.

He thanked everybody involved, especially SAVE
and

its president Danielle Jordan for her leadership,
and in absentia plant operations.

Continue reading →

More solar jobs already than coal, or oil and gas extraction

Want jobs?
Invest in solar power.



There are more people in the

U.S. employed in the solar energy
marketplace than mining coal. The banal argument that transitioning
to a clean energy economy will cost us jobs is simply false. Solar
is growing more than 10 times faster than the American economy.

Solar already employs more than coal, and that gap is widening. In
2012, solar added 14,000 new jobs, up 36 percent from 2010 and the
industry will add another 20,000 jobs this year. The fossil fuels
industry cut 4,000 jobs last year. So when it comes to employing
Americans, solar is winning.

That 119,000 jobs in the solar industry is also more than
the 106,400 “production and nonsupervisory employees” in the oil and
gas extraction industry, and gaining rapidly Continue reading →

Great Promise and Leadership at Industrial Authority @ VLCIA 2013-11-19



Really; those are the names of two of the organizations they spoke before:
Great Promise Partnership and Leadership Lowndes.
And what is the mystery Project XX2?

Here’s

the agenda:

Valdosta — Lowndes County Industrial Authority

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 5:30 p.m.

Industrial Authority Conference Room

2110 N. Patterson Street

Continue reading →

Why south Georgia actions start in Lowndes County and Valdosta

The biggest population center for 80 miles around is Valdosta and Lowndes County.


Map of population around Valdosta and Lowndes County
Albany to the northwest actually has more people than Valdosta, but Dougherty County
has fewer than Lowndes County.
Beyond Albany it’s Columbus and then Auburn is about the same size as Valdosta.

Farther north it’s Warner Robins and Macon.
Due west Dothan it’s Dothan.
The closest bigger place is Tallahassee and Leon County, Florida
to the southwest.
Farther south it’s Gainesville, then Orlando and Tampa.
East it’s Savannah, and of course Jacksonville.


History of population around Valdosta and Lowndes County

On this handy

interactive google population comparison chart,
you can see
in the 3-6,000 range:
Adel, Ashburn, and Lakeland.

14-20,000:
Americus,
Brunswick,
Moultrie,
Thomasville,
Tifton,
and
Waycross.

55-60,000: Auburn and Valdosta.

67-80,000: Continue reading →

Valdosta force main GEFA loan awarded

Valdosta city PR today,

City Receives $36.7 million GEFA Loan to Move Forward with Force Main Project,

The City of Valdosta was awarded a $36.7 million

Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan by the



Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA), on Nov. 14, 2013.

The city will use the low-interest loan to finance the construction
of two major pump stations, two minor pump stations, a 6-mile
32-inch and 40-inch force main, a headworks structure with grit
removal and bar screens, and a 6-million gallon equalization basin.
Wastewater will be gravity fed to the existing site of the
Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) for final treatment
and discharged utilizing the existing plant outfall, until the
relocation of the plant is completed in November 2015.


Easement Exhibit Context

This project will Continue reading →

Mississippi PSC required spending docs for Kemper Coal: what about Plant Vogtle?

Maybe Georgia PSC could do about Georgia Power’s nuclear Plant Vogtle
what Mississippi PSC did about Mississippi Power’s Kemper Coal:
hold their parent Southern Company accountable for cost overruns.
And for pipelines!

Sam R. Hall blogged for Daily Ledes 1 November 2013,

Sources: U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to visit Kemper coal plant,



The PSC voted unanimously to require Mississippi Power to provide
additional documents justifying their spending on the Kemper plant.
The hearing is set for May 2014, when the plant was originally
supposed to go online.

“If the PSC rejects some of the spending as imprudent, it
could add to the $1 billion in costs that shareholders have already
agreed to absorb,” the Associated Press reported last month.

Meanwhile, GA PSC Continue reading →

LEDs vs. the entire U.S. nuclear fleet (and gas pipeline)

All U.S. nuclear power reactors could be replaced by LED lighting
with a few clever on-off controls.
More evidence Plant Vogtle is a boondoggle good for nothing but

propping up profits for Georgia Power and Southern Company.

Michael Kanellos wrote for Forbes 28 October 2013,

Can LED Bulbs Make Nuclear Plants Obsolete?

One $7 billion nuclear plant like one of Georgia Power’s 1.2 GW
units would add a little over 1 percent of capacity. The bulb
solution would cost $60 billion, and around $36 billion two years
from now, and require only that consumers know how to screw in a
light bulb. Nuclear would cost $105 billion, probably more, and take
decades.

So maybe it’s not

just weather that’s pushing down your demand, Southern Company:
maybe Continue reading →

Southern Company missed earnings: weather and Kemper Coal and nuclear Plant Vogtle



SO CEO Tom Fanning continued to blame slow sales and earnings on mild
weather (air conditioners running less), but the big boondoggle
going bad is Kemper Coal, which has slipped six months from May 2014 to Q4 2014,
and even the Wall Street Journal calls it “possibly the most expensive fossil-fuel power plant ever built in the U.S”.
How bad will SO’s stock tank when SO’s even more expensive
nuclear Plant Vogtle slips even more?

Dividends can’t prop up SO’s share price forever, not when PSCs are revolting against the rate hikes
and guaranteed profit hikes that prop up those dividends.
When will Southern Company and Georgia Power get out front and lead in solar and wind power?
Before or after the public, state public service commissions, and investors make them do it?

Justin Loiseau wrote for DailyFinance 4 November 2013,

Southern Company Earnings: A $5 Billion Blunder? Continue reading →

Rural broadband economics slides



Use of fast Internet access by as many people as possible improves
local income and jobs, and fast Internet access is necessary for
creative workers, according to a nationwide detailed study.

Courtesy of lead author Brian Whitacre (pictured),
here are the slides from

Broadband’s Contribution to Economic Health in Rural Areas: A Causal Analysis,
presented at the

Telecommunications Policy Research Conference
and previously blogged here as

General broadband adoption improves rural economic health.
They’re a lot easier to see than my blurry pictures.
You can see the Valdosta MSA on the maps of some of their underlying data.

-jsq

Rezoning for another industrial park? @ VCC 2013-11-07



Why is the Valdosta City Council considering

annexing and rezoning
land for VLCIA that the Industrial Authority apparently doesn’t even own?
Revolving loans, railroad, and appointments to
the Central Valdosta Development Authority/
Downtown Development Authority,
to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center & Tourism Authority,
to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Citizen Advisory Committee,
and the Valdosta Tree Commission.

That rezoning was considered at the
28 October 2013 Planning Commission meeting.
Here’s

the Valdosta City Council agenda:

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, November 7, 2013

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →