Category Archives: Solar

A clean energy future is already arriving –350.org & LNS

I’m thankful we’re already on the way to a clean energy future, Big Light bulb with more jobs, less expense than doing nothing, no new nukes, no coal at all, much less natural gas, no need for any new pipelines, better health, clean air and water, and profit. The COP meeting in Paris can do what it will, and we can still make a better world and profit by it. We’re already doing it, with solar and wind power, energy efficiency and conservation,

The Clean Energy Future: Protecting the Climate, Creating Jobs, Saving Money, by Frank Ackerman of Synapse for LNS and 350.org:

[M]eeting the IPCC targets will… create more jobs and save money.

This report, Continue reading →

Duke to build solar in Perry, Taylor County, Florida

Still citing clouds after Georgia has become the fastest-growing solar market in the U.S., and ignoring one of its own earlier Florida solar installations, not to mention its numerous ones in North Carolina, Duke Energy Florida takes a baby step of a 5 megawatt solar installation in Florida.

Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 15 October 2015, Duke Energy to construct solar facility in North Florida,

Duke Energy Florida Thursday announced plans to construct a new solar facility in Perry, which is in Taylor County in the Big Bend region.

This will be the second Continue reading →

Insanity: Sabal Trail pipeline in karst sinkhole Floridan Aquifer @ FERC Lake City 2015-10-01

“What you all have proposed is total insanity…. experts lie… The companies, they don’t care. It’s just greed and arrogance,” said a Marcellus Shale drilling veteran. Karst mitigation won’t work according to Sabal Trail’s own FERC filings, children downwind of compressor, Sabal Trail quashing evidence of its unwanted, unneeded, and unsafe Sinkhole Pipeline, and FERC is cigarette companies pushing cancer cigarettes: on the wrong side of history. We aren’t your test subjects and we can win!

Videos from previous FERC meetings:

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Solar prices will drop much further below fossil fuels

High-placed utility executives have told me solar panels can’t get any cheaper. Here’s why economies of scale will continue to drive solar prices down, just like for Henry Ford’s Model T. There’s no excuse for new pipelines or nukes. Let the sun rise!

tl;dr: If current rates of improvement hold, solar will be incredibly cheap by the time it’s a substantial fraction of the world’s electricity supply.

Ramez Naam, on his blog, 10 August 2015, What’s the future price of solar?, Continue reading →

Kings Bay Submarine Base Solar Groundbreaking Tomorrow

Yay Georgia Power! With Gulf Power in Florida and following along. How long until even FPL flips from fossil fuels to the sun?

Kevin McCaney, 25 August 2015, Navy makes largest federal purchase of solar power,

Fourteen Navy installations in California will get as much as a third of their power from solar energy, following the Navy’s agreement to make the largest purchase of renewable energy of any federal entity, an agreement that calls for the construction of a 210-megawatt direct-current solar facility….

With the Mesquite project, last month’s groundbreaking on a 17-megawatt project at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and an upcoming groundbreaking on a 42-megawatt project at Kings Bay, Ga., the Navy is on track to have 1.2 gigawatts of solar power….

A usually reliable source says groundbreaking is tomorrow for Kings Bay Solar.

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Solar power prices dropping faster than Moore’s Law

More confirmation that solar power is winning so there’s no excuse for any new pipelines.

tl;dr: Moore’s Law is an analogy. As an analogy, it works. And progress is happening far faster than I projected in my ‘solar Moore’s Law’ piece of 2011.]

Ramez Naam, on his blog, April 2015, Is Moore’s Law Really a Fair Comparison for Solar? Continue reading →

Citi agrees fixing climate change is profitable

Save more by acting to fix climate change, on similar overall investment for trying to deal with unfixed effects, says Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions (GPS). Save more on similar expense: that’s profiting by fixing climate change. Fastest way to do that with least expense: deny all new pipelines, all LNG export, and end fracking.

Dana Nuccitelli, Guardian, 31 August 2015, Citi report: slowing global warming would save tens of trillions of dollars: A report from America’s 3rd-largest bank asks why we’re not transitioning to a low-carbon economy, Continue reading →

Solar power for military bases in Florida: Gulf Power, a Southern Company

Southern Company solar farms at military bases are not just for Georgia anymore; SO subsidiary Gulf Power is building more and bigger ones in Florida.

Gulf Power, Solar Energy Farms,

Gulf Power is partnering with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force to build solar energy farms at three different facilities across Northwest Florida. The projects could be in service as early as December 2016.

“This is an important collaboration between Gulf Power, the Navy and the Air Force,” said Stan Connally, Gulf Power president and CEO. “As military installations seek solutions to promote renewable energy generation, we have worked alongside our military customers to help provide cost-effective solutions — and all our customers will reap the benefit.”

HelioSage and Gulf Power, PRNewsWire, 22 January 2015, HelioSage & Gulf Power Announce 120 Megawatts of Solar in Florida: Landmark projects will span three sites through partnership with Navy and Air Force, Continue reading →

Solar airport, Cochin, India

Save money, reduce CO2 emissios as much as planting 3 million trees, and make local power more reliable. Most any airport could do this, putting solar panels on rooftops and some of those buffer acres that can’t be used for anything else.

Press release, 18 August 2015, Kochi airport becomes world’s first to completely operate on solar power,

Cochin International airport… has scripted another chapter in aviation history Continue reading →

Renewable energy world’s second largest source of electricity

Why are we building any new natural gas pipelines when solar and wind have already won the world? Plus solar and wind don’t frack, don’t need any fuel, don’t require eminent domain, and don’t suck up any cooling water.

Alex Kirby, Climate News Network, 19 August 2015, World’s Second Largest Source of Electricity Is Now Renewables, Continue reading →