Tag Archives: Economy

Solar power in Japan to equal 7 nukes by end of this year

A Japanese feed-in tariff apparently provoked an explosion of solar power,
making Japan head up towards China and Germany in installed solar power.
Where is the U.S.?
Where is Georgia, with much more sun than Japan?
Maybe there is something more to learn from Fukushima after all, SO CEO Tom Fanning.

Michael Fitzpatrick wrote for Fortune 13 June 2013,

Japan: The world’s new star in solar power; China and Germany have new competition at the top,




PV cell production and shipment (GWp) in Japan: Total (orange), Export (green), and Domestic (blue)



しばとも

According to a report by energy analyst IHS on Japan’s energy mix,
Japan’s solar installations jumped by “a stunning 270% (in
gigawatts) in the first quarter of 2013.” That means by the end of
2013 there will be enough new solar panels equal to the capacity of
seven nuclear reactors. Such massive growth will allow Japan to
surpass Germany and become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV)
market in terms of revenue this year.

How did this happen? Continue reading

More new nukes to stop: Vogtle, Summer, and 15 more

Although

TVA’s Bellefonte nuke will never come up
,
others are still being built, including TVA’s own Watts Bar,
plus 19 more.


Document-forging Doosan-supplied

Vogtle 2 and 3 in Georgia and Summer 2 and 3 in South Carolina
are

the only four actually already issued combined licences (COL)

to build and operate.


But 15 other
proposed new reactors are

“Under Review”
, and all the ones in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are within 500 miles of here: Continue reading

TVA Bellefonte nuke won’t be built

Economics stopped another reactor, this time in Alabama,
less than a week after
San Onofre
.
But more are still in the works.



Brian Wingfield wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek yesterday,

TVA Shelves Work at Alabama Nuclear Plant Amid Industry Struggle
,

“Over the past few months, TVA has been looking across the
company, including at our nuclear construction projects, to
determine the work that is most important to perform,” Mike
Skaggs, the TVA senior vice president for nuclear construction, said
in the statement. “Hard decisions are necessary.”

The U.S. nuclear industry is wrestling with competition from a glut
of natural gas, which has lowered its price and made the fuel more
attractive for electric utilities. At the same time, U.S. regulators
are writing safety rules following a triple meltdown at Japan’s
Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in 2011.

The fracking backlash is building against natural gas.
And guess what’s even cheaper? Continue reading

Lowndes County vs. Deep South Sanitation this morning

The county government’s attempt to put a local business out of business
is this 9:30 AM at the county palace this morning 14 June 2013.

Physical Address:

Courtroom 5D, Fifth Floor

Lowndes County Judicial Complex

327 N. Ashley Street

Valdosta, GA 31601


WALB’s earlier story
said June 4th, but now it’s June 14th (today),
because Lowndes County Attorney Walter Elliott is also an attorney
for Turner County in the
LOST case before the GA Supreme Court
,
and he was going to be
in Atlanta arguing before the Supreme Court
on June 4th.
Funny how everything is done for the convenience of the county
government, and not for its citizens.

Maybe we should change that
.

-jsq

Video of oral arguments in LOST GA Supreme Court case

Here’s the Georgia Supreme Court’s own video of

S13A0992 Turner County v. City of Ashburn et al.


Walter Elliott

Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
It starts with the attorney for Turner County, Walter Elliott
(who is also Lowndes County Attorney)
apparently arguing that the courts shouldn’t intervene because
only legislative bodies should decide on taxes.
The judges didn’t seem to understand his argument.

One judge wondered how disputes would be settled then.
Elliott said the local elected bodies would decide or the tax
wouldn’t be levied.
Another judge pointed out that legislative bodies could delegate
administrative functions.
Later the same judge asked how to distinguish this case from
a child custody case as far as criteria and a court being
able to decide.
Elliott claimed that was a judicial function, but allocating
tax dollars was not.
The judges didn’t seem to be buying the city attorney’s argument later, either.

Funny how the Supreme Court of Georgia videos its sessions,
but the Lowndes County Commission does not.

Here’s

the subject of the case
: Continue reading

A metropolitan area needs better than trash government –John S. Quarterman

My LTE in the VDT Thursday.
I’ve added links to some of my inspirations. -jsq



Local leaders worked hard to get the

Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area
declared.
Why now are they acting like a Ludowici
speed trap for local businesses?

The Lowndes County Commission shouldn’t act like a private business
trying to exclude anybody it doesn’t like. State law says local
governments are supposed to have open bids and public hearings. A
promise (in the VDT) in

March 2013 of a non-exclusive contract
for
trash collection turned into

exclusive in October
; at least two of
the five bidders are now the same company; and the county

is suing


Applause

a

local business
to the profit of

a company owned by investors in New York City
.
Meanwhile,

no public accounting has ever been seen
of the

former waste collection sites
and

no public hearing was held
before
they closed, despite state law.

Business exists to make a profit. Government exists to provide
public services like law enforcement, water, sewers, roads, and yes,
trash collection. Sure, balanced books are good. But money isn’t the
main point of government: providing what the people need is, and

the people didn’t ask the county
to exchange the waste collection
centers for lower prices

that won’t last
.



Businesses (except monopolies)
have to Continue reading

You’re losing the democratic process –Gary Wright @ LCC 2013-06-11



“I hope you’ll consider a democratic process working into your rules,”
remarked a military veteran at
Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session
.

After saying he was also concerned about how Deep South Sanitation
is being treated,
Gary Wright said:


Gary Wright

There is a little bit of a lack of democratic process in your meeting
groundrules.
On your website I don’t know anything in there that said
you have only thirty minute meetings for the entire thing.
I don’t know if this happens whenever you have a meeting
that’s only thirty minutes long; I’ve never been to one.

Their rules

don’t say that
,
but it’s not surprising there is confusion, given Continue reading

Do the right thing –Steve Parker @ LCC 2013-06-11



The right thing is not letting one company take all the money to New York
while putting another out of business, said a local resident
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session
.


Steve Parker

When you get a company like Veolia or Advanced that’s taking
all the money to New York, and then they come to my house
and they leave, I put garbage bags beside my can and they
won’t pick it up.

And then my guy, Cary Scarborough, comes
and picks up everything,
and you know what else he does guys? Continue reading

I want a choice in who I use –Jerome Tucker @ LCC 2013-06-11

“Let me decide who I want to haul my waste,”


said a former Chairman of the Industrial Authority
at Tuesday night’s

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session
.


Jerome Tucker


Bill Slaughter, Chairman

Jerome Tucker thanked

Commissioner John Page for bringing up the topic of freedom
,
since that was his main topic, too.

I’m here to talk about… where I have a choice who handles my waste…


Joyce Evans, District 1

Cary didn’t come to me looking for business.
I saw his truck come along and Continue reading

Review of the misleading movie Pandora’s Promise

Here’s a trailer for the “documentary” pro-nuke film that comes out today,



Pandora’s Promise
.
The film discounts solar and wind energy because its makers
don’t understand the exponential decrease in solar prices or
the night backup power ability of wind connected with a smart grid.
The vast majority of the American people already are demanding
those real renewables instead of nuclear or coal,
and the economics of wind and solar are also rapidly beating natural gas.

Atom Ecology’s promotional writeup 7 June 2013,

Pandora’s Promise – Anti-Nuclear Mob Burns Environment In Coal Fired Forges Of Industry For 30 Years
begins,

A new documentary film that reveals how opposition to and voting
against nuclear power turned into massive increases in coal burning
power plants. The far worse outcome for the environment as coal has
filled energy demand is the story just coming to theatres.

The tiny germ of truth in that ten years ago is just plain wrong now
that coal is not the alternative because

solar has reached grid parity with nuclear, coal, and natural gas
.

The movie plays up Stewart Brand’s conservationist credentials
and his conversion to pro-nuke.


Not in that movie, but

in this TED talk
,
you can see
Stewart Brand lose a debate with Mark Z. Jacobson, who argued
we can power the whole world with sun, wind, and water.
Jacobson’s summary: Continue reading