Tag Archives: Michael Noll

Return of water misinformation by Forrest H. Williams in the VDT

Seen today on the
WACE facebook page
is an image of an op-ed in the VDT, and alongside it I include here
Michael Noll’s initial comments, plus a few links.


There is good reason why Stephen Hawkins once said “the greatest
enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of
knowledge.” When entities like Fox News can claim that “solar won’t
work in America because it’s not as sunny as Germany”, we shouldn’t
be surprised by the results of such “educational” efforts. The fact
is that we have a number of clean and renewable forms of energy
(e.g. wind, solar, geothermal) that already work. Just go to

Spain,

Germany,

Denmark, Iceland, or simply stay in the US and visit places
like from

New Jersey
and

New York
to

California
and

Arizona. Combine
these pieces of a larger energy puzzle with meaningful initiatives
of

energy conservation and energy efficiency, and we find a way out
of our current predicament (i.e. continuing dependence on finite and
dirty sources of energy), while saving money (see

solar vs. nuclear),
preserving our natural resources (e.g. water, forests),
and providing clean, healthy and safe environments to live in (e.g.
wind and solar do not produce radioactive waste, pollute our air and
groundwater).

The guest columnist appearing above is the same individual who
thought

Continue reading →

Solar: Pieces of a Puzzle —Dr. Michael G. Noll

Op-ed in the VDT today, responding to

a response
to

my op-ed. -jsq



If the attempt of

a guest column from Jan 13 was to shine light on solar power,
it left everyone in the dark.
Neither mockery nor close mindedness will assist us in finding real answers
if we want to solve

the energy puzzle of the 21st century.


In July 2012, the Financial Times interviewed Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE.
GE knows perhaps more about the world of energy business than any other company.
Immelt stated that

“on a cost basis it is impossible to justfy investing in nuclar power for the future.”

People who sitll claim that solar is more expensive
than nuclear are not paying attention.
If solar is viable as far north as

New Jersey, it certainly is in Georgia.
If countries like

Germany can excel in solar energy production,
so can we.
Companies like Walmart, Costco, Apple, and

Google
are havily investing in solar because it works.

It should also be noted that the nuclear plant on

Crystal River has been idle since 2009.
As

the Tampa Bay Times reported last December,

Continue reading →

It is time to finally put the pieces of a larger energy puzzle together —Michael Noll

Seen today on the WACE facebook page: an online comment the VDT declined to let appear. It was on Natural gas use expanding; station planned for Valdosta by Kay Harris, VDT, 22 July 2012. -jsq

There are some major problems with this article, but let’s first begin with the points one can agree with:

Mr. Putnam is correct when he says that natural gas is a much cleaner source of energy than coal and oil. It is also true that natural gas is a “bridge fuel” which can buy us time to develop new technologies. However, here are the points that are missing (or were glanced over) simply because we are, again, looking for a quick fix to our dependence on foreign oil, while doing little to address issues that really matter:

  1. Neither Mr. Putnam nor the VDT seem to fully understand or recognize the environmental damage fracking does. This new technology is not only responsible for our nation’s current natural gas surplus, but also comes at an enormous price to both people and the environment.
  2. Time and again we are talking about the need to become independent of foreign oil, yet little attention is paid to the need to conserve. Instead we continue to ‘live it up” and consume more energy per capita than any other western nation. If you are addicted to a “drug” (as in an overly consumptive lifestyle) hopping from marijuana to heroin won’t help your general problem.

It is time to finally put the pieces of a larger energy puzzle together because at the end of the day natural gas, too, is a finite source. But how will we ever get there when a) entities like Southern Company (i.e. Georgia Power) refuse to embrace truly clean sources of energy production like solar and wind, when b) people like Mr. Putnam and papers like the VDT only present a one-sided view of an important and complex issue, and when c) we, the consumers, refuse to accept our responsibilities in this whole mess as if we had a God given right to be wasteful?

-Michael Noll

I only got the answering machine —Michael G. Noll

Received today on

Industrial Authority held unannounced meeting last night. -jsq

Unfortunately I missed this meeting as well, and not by choice.

I vaguely remembered that Roy Copeland mentioned after the October


meeting that the December date might be changed to December 6. Thus,
I called Tuesday shortly after 5pm to verify if a meeting was indeed
scheduled. I only got the answering machine (indicating to me that the
office was closed) and the IA website (as so often) was no help.

Thus I, too, was assuming the meeting would be later this month … only
to find out the next day in the VDT that there had been a meeting
after all.

Our community has gone through so much these past couple of months,


highlighting more than ever the need to communicate and cooperate.

I was hoping after all this that we could finally start working together,
despite any differences we might have. That would, however, not only
require a certain amount of transparency but also communication of
such simple matters as meeting agendas and calendars. How difficult can
that be?

Communication is, and always will be, the key to success. Whether this
is about your children’s education, such matters as energy efficiency
and energy conservation, or a Strategic Planning Process which can only
benefit the community … if that very community (not just the same old
status quo) is actually included in the process.

Michael G. Noll, President

Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE)

Solar is coming —Michael Noll

Received yesterday on

Solar tipping point within a few years. -jsq

In line with comments made by
Steven Chu:




Solar cheaper than fossil fuels in a decade, says Steven Chu,
by Christopher Mims, 3 November 2011.

Solar power will be cheaper than fossil fuels at some point between the end of this decade and 2026*, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

as well as a recent Op-Ed piece by Paul Krugman:


Here Comes Solar
by Paul Krugman, 6 November 2011.



…progress in solar panels has been so dramatic and sustained that, as a blog post at Scientific American put it, “there’s now frequent talk of a

‘Moore’s law’ in solar energy,”
with prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year.

This has already led to rapid growth in solar installations, but even more change may be just around the corner. If the downward trend continues — and if anything it seems to be accelerating — we’re just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal.

And if we priced coal-fired power right, taking into account the huge health and other costs it imposes, it’s likely that we would already have passed that tipping point.

-Michael Noll

I added the blockquotes and the Moore’s Law link. Seems to me physicist Sec. Chu must be looking only at the sticker price,
while economist Krugman is also looking at other costs and at externalities not currently included in the sticker price, yet still costing us in other ways.
Add in the costs of wars for oil and I wonder how long ago solar already became cheaper than oil….

-jsq

After the VLCIA meeting: brain storming sessions —Dr. Noll

Dr. Noll sent this postscript to

What can we do as a community to better cooperate? -jsq

I was approached after the meeting and informed that the


Industrial Authority intends to invite communal leaders like
myself to brain storming sessions in the future, although I
do not know yet the design for such a forum, nor have I
received any invitations as of today. Still, if there is one
thing that has again become clear in the context of the
consolidation issue, our community desperately needs
structures that a) allow for more transparency and b) forums
in which we can take advantage of the creative energy that
exist in our community, INSTEAD of trying to shut people
out, to hide information from them, or to push through
divisive agendas.

It is my hope that the leaders of the Industrial Authority,
as well as the City Council, the Lowndes County Commission,
and the Chamber of Commerce for that matter, understand the
opportunity we have: to turn a weakness (as exposed by the
way we handled biomass, and are currently handling the
consolidation issue) into a strength … via communication
and cooperation … as is appropriate for a true community.

-Michael.

What can we do as a community to better cooperate? —Dr. Noll

Update 3:45 PM 3 November 2011: Better transcript and pictures. See also what happened after the meeting.

Dr. Michael Noll, longtime opponent of the Industrial Authority’s formerly
proposed biomass plant, asked that same board at their most recent meeting:

What can we do as a community to better cooperate, to better communicate?

He also referred to the

school consolidation issue and to the

nuclear vs. renewable energy issue
among the reasons he gave,
along with some suggestions on how to proceed, and said he would take
the same message to other bodies.

Here’s

the video, and a transcript is appended.




What can we do as a community to better cooperate? –Dr. Noll

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

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

Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2011.

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

Dr. Noll sent an edited transcript removing some of the repetition
to clarify what he was trying to say:

Continue reading →

He is in the business of selling energy, not saving it. —Michael G. Noll

Received yesterday on

Georgia Power forges ahead with expensive nukes. -jsq

Thanks for posting this John!

Mr. Bowers’ visit and his comments are almost comical, particularly his
quote that “the government is stimulating for renewables to give them a
running chance but, when you remove them, the question is can they run
on their own two feet?”



A good question! Fact is that neither coal nor nuclear would be able to
“run on their two own feet” if it wasn’t for the large subsidies both have
received for decades. Now these are nicely hidden subsidies so that the
average consumer thinks he is getting a bargain, without realizing that it
is us, the consumers, who have actually paid for this “inexpensive rate”.

At the same time truly renewable and clean energies

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Notes for Mr. Blankenship —Michael Noll

Please note that

the following was inspired by a letter (attached as a


photograph) that appeared in the Valdosta Daily Times in response to my
earlier piece on

“Solar: Infinite and Clean”. The Valdosta Daily Times
seems to enforce a quota of sorts at this time, so they won’t publish
my additional information for Mr. Blankenship and other “skeptics”.

Sources for the Skeptic

I have no idea why anyone would call companies in Mexico or Canada to
research the feasibility of local solar energy projects. I also do not
know what type of freezer the writer of “Seeking affordable solar
energy” has. Either way, I will be happy to share more information,
so that anyone interested in solar energy can do more research and
educate himself.



At the state level you can contact the “Georgia Solar Energy
Association” (www.gasolar.org/)
to learn more about the viability
of solar power in 2011, which is quite different from the situation
in 2001. A larger solar firm our community

Continue reading →

Solar: Infinite and Clean —Michael Noll

In today’s VDT. -jsq

If we are to believe Fox News and the Tea Party, solar doesn’t work


because the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went belly up, despite the
fact that it received $535 million in subsidies. While wasting an enormous
amount of tax dollars on a company with a flawed business concept should
raise everyone’s eyebrows, the conclusion that the Solyndra mess means
“solar doesn’t work” is mind-boggling. It’s like saying “cars don’t
work” because Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009, or “T-shirts don’t work”
because Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 in 1999.

Solar is one of the most attractive renewable sources of energy throughout

Continue reading →