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Profits per Market Cap in the Forbes 2000: solar and wind still win

We saw that two out of three of the most profitable electric utilities in the world emphasize solar and wind energy: ENEL of Italy and Iberdrola of Spain, both of which operate in multiple countries, including Iberdrola claiming second most wind power in the U.S. Well, maybe those companies are small, so their profits are a fluke. Nope. We get similar results for profits divided by market cap:

ENEL of Italy is still number 1, with no nuclear and a lot of solar and wind energy. Iberdrola is #4 in profits/market instead of #3 in profits alone. However, Electricité de France (EDF) is #7 instead of #2, and Exelon is #9 instead of #4. Number 2 is Energias de Portugal (EDP), which is heavily into wind power including owning Horizon Wind Energy LLC:

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Jody Hall is running for Lowndes County Commission District 5

Planting a sign Jody Hall is running for the Lowndes County Commission in the new District 5. Here’s his campaign website and his facebook page. I saw him at Valdosta Farm Days, 16 June 2012:

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Gretchen Quarterman is running for Lowndes County Chairman

In case you haven’t heard, one of the LAKE crew, Gretchen Quarterman, is running for Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission. Today she’s at the Spirit of America Celebration at Valdosta Mall (next to Buffalo Wild Wing). As you can see, she’s been practicing.

Here’s her campaign website and her facebook campaign page. According to the VDT, 8 May 2012,

“Anyone who is entrusted with the resources of another human being or thing, you have to be a good steward of tax money, air, and water. They are entrusted to us and need to be handled with responsibility.”

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Southern Company deploying solar in Nevada and New Mexico (but not Georgia)

Southern Company (SO) is deploying solar power in two southwestern states. Meanwhile, in Georgia, the 1973 Territoriality Act continues to impede others deploying solar while SO and Georgia Power waste our money on a nuclear boondoggle.

PR from Southern Company and Turner Renewable Energy, 29 June 2012, Southern Company and Ted Turner Acquire Second Solar Photovoltaic Power Project

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning and Turner Renewable Energy founder Ted Turner today announced that the companies have acquired and will bring on line a 20 megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant in Nevada.

The Nevada plant is the Apex Solar Project, and earlier they did the Cimarron Solar Facility in New Mexico.

“Southern Company is proud to play a leadership role in renewable generation as we deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Fanning. “Our all-arrows-in-the-quiver approach calls for 21st century coal, nuclear, natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency in a diverse fuel mix necessary to meeting growing consumer demand and furthering America’s energy independence.”

Maybe it’s just an oversight that SO CEO Fanning listed coal first Continue reading →

Nuclear and coal burning water: solar doesn’t

Solar power is the smart thing to do for jobs, energy independence, and profit. It’s also what we need to do to save water.

Julia Pyper and ClimateWire wrote for Scientific American 29 June 2012, Electricity Generation ‘Burning’ Rivers of Drought-Scorched Southeast: A new report reckons the water cost of electricity generation

Power plants are guzzling water across the United States and increasing the risk of blackouts in the Southeast, where the precious resource is drying up.

“Burning Our Rivers,” a new report by the River Network, found that it takes about 40,000 gallons of water to meet the average American household’s energy needs, which is five times more than the amount of water used directly in that home….

Table 3. Total Water Footprint of a Kilowatt-hour
(Gallons per kWh)
2009 U.S. Electric Grid
(National weighted average)
Hydroelectric 29.920
Coal 7.143
Natural Gas 1.512
Nuclear 2.995
Geothermal 0.002
Solar 0.002
Wind 0.001
Total 41.575

In the Southeast, which has been battling a drought for more than a year, the impact of power plants is especially worrisome and could lead to brownouts and blackouts throughout the summer and beyond.

“The conflicts between energy and water needs are ones we’ve seen before … and will only worsen as the frequency of drought increases and water temperatures rise driven in part by climate change,” said Ulla Reeves, regional program director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The report’s number 1 recommendation:

1. As a nation, we should focus on renewable energy sources and low water technologies.

Why?

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It’s only going to get hotter: time for solar power

Looks like the heat wave is going to continue for a while, according to NOAA’s maximum heat index forecasts. Reuters wrote today,

A heat wave baking the eastern United States in record temperatures is set to continue on Sunday after deadly storms killed at least 12 people, downed power lines from Indiana to Maryland and left more than 3 million customers without power….

Utilities in Ohio, Virginia and Maryland described damage to their power grids as catastrophic.

Laura J. Nelson wrote for the LA Times Friday, As a heat wave rolls across U.S., scientists predict more to come

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Record Georgia temperatures above 100 degrees

Driving north Friday, the temperatures kept getting hotter. John C. Griffin recorded these temperature signs, used here by permission. Friday 29 June 2012:

Record heat wave with triple digits in Macon, Georgia on Riverside Drive at Arkwright Road
Photography by John Griffin (c) 2012 All Rights reserved

I can attest it was still over 100 in Macon after dark Friday.

And it only got worse Saturday 30 June 2012:

Arkwright Road at Riverside Drive – I-75 Exit 169 – Macon, Georgia Record Heat Wave
Photography (c) John Griffin All Rights Reserved

That’s 107 on Friday and 111 Saturday in Macon, where the previous record high for June was 106.

You know, Macon, where Georgia Power is still “studying” and “experimenting” with solar power. Solar power that continues to generate in the heat with no water use. Solar power that Continue reading →

Millions without power due to no smart grid

We know the answer to this! Top story on CNN.com today: Millions without power as storms pound U.S. following record-setting heat

Nearly 4 million homes lost power early Saturday across the Midwest as a fierce line of thunderstorms and winds pounded the region after record-setting temperatures.

The storms moved east from Indiana through Ohio and into West Virginia, according to utility companies. Virginia was hit with power outages to more than 1 million homes.

The outages come as tens of millions in the central and eastern United States are battling a sweltering summer.

Thirty years ago the Internet demonstrated distribution and decentralization is the way to avoid widespread outages. That's what a smart grid would give us. I can say by experience that if many of those homes and businesses had solar panels with batteries, they could weather 10 hours or more of no grid power with no problem. My solar panels and batteries have done that for my house for years. Yours could too, and you could be selling excess power to people and businesses that don't have panels, if Georgia Power would let us change state law to let us.

And hey, with wind power, in a storm you'd have more power!

Temperatures Friday soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit from Kansas to Washington, with scorching conditions expected to continue through the weekend and beyond.

It was 107 degrees in Macon, Georgia yesterday at 7:30 PM. So what's Georgia Power doing about solar power in Macon? Still studying it, according to Josephine Bennett in NPR a year ago:

Georgia Power's Carol Boatright says for 18 months researchers will collect data and then ask the following questions.

How about this question, Georgia Power and the Southern Company and Oglethorpe Power and all the EMCs: Will you wait until Georgia is without power until you deploy solar power, or get out of the way so we can do it ourselves?

-jsq

 

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