Will the recent increase in solar requirements by GA PSC on Georgia Power produce any more solar projects in Valdosta? And what’s in the VLCIA annual report? Maybe a list of jobs created?
Here’s
the agenda.
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial AuthorityContinue reading
Agenda, Tuesday July 16, 2013 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
SO CEO Tom Fanning didn’t budge from nuclear and coal, but he did announce a tiger team to get on top of distributed solar and wind through a smart grid, headed by SO’s COO, at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.
Mr. John S. Quarterman from Lowndes County, Georgia, and he holds 220 shares of Southern Company.
TF: Hello, John. Good to see you again this year.
jsq: Hi. I’ve come to compliment Tom Fanning and Paul Bowers. Last year, Tom Fanning was so persuasive I ran out and bought $10,000 worth of stock.
TF: Bless you. [Applause]
However,
apparently because of
SO’s admission a few minutes before in that same meeting
that it was going to have to eat Kemper Coal cost overruns,
SO stock tanked that same day,
causing my stock to stop out,
and Standard & Poor’s downgraded SO the following day
because of Kemper Coal, noting that if the same thing happened
with SO’s nuclear project at Plant Vogtle, S&P’s would probably Continue reading
Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle, especially its water use,
and move to efficiency, wind, and solar power instead,
said
Courtney Hanson of
Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND)
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
She reminded GA PSC Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are late and over budget, and then:
I want to add my voice to the chorus of folks here who are concerned about water issues.We know that Vogtle 3 and 4 will require an additional withdrawal of as much as 74 million gallons a day from the Savannah River and most of that water will not be returned. We know that the central Savannah River area where Vogtle is located is already very prone to droughts and the plant has been close to shutting down several times due to drought conditions.
Georgia is also already struggling to supply enough water for our homes, businesses, industries, and farms.
In addition, the Savannah River is Continue reading
A German national residing in Georgia asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels and nuclear, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change, and we need to do something about it.
I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something, some matter of fact. A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity, and so on. Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out. For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is no longer acceptable. We need drastic changes in our energy supply. We need to use less.
Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s
parent company Southern Company
reemphasized yet again that
To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.
Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude, as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading
Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states, plus efficiency and conservation, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
She said they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle, which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement, costs, etc. She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.
The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power is being isolated. It is protected financially of course because of the small business and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that they are taking. We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.
She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at Port Angeles, presumably the one in Washington State.
Here’s the video:
Continue readingPaul[?] Matthews said he’s been green since before it was cool, first in an earlier Georgia Power program (EarthCraft), and now in EarthCents. He thinks the program is good, with both environmental and economic benefits, but he asked for it to be extended to become a model for the south, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
He spoke about his company’s investment in sustainable
efficiency and conservation, and asked GA PSC and Georgia Power
to also do more.
A much more efficient way and cost-effective of reducing power is by reducing energy used. We’re not only looking at tripling the savings over the next ten years, but we’re also looking at job growth….
…a sustainable and long-term growth approach.
Let’s make the rebates and also the tax credits so they’re a model for Georgia and also for the south.
Here’s the video:
Continue readingA contractor who does homeowner education as part of Georgia Power’s Earth Cents program praised that program at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
He said homeowners tend to complain about power bills:
And this Earth Cents program has, in my experience, taken a lot of that mystery away. The homeowners that I touch and I deal with come away with an understanding that leaves them less concerned about the rate hikes that I’m sure keep you guys up at night when it comes to a vote and more concerned about where the money is actually going.
I’m guessing he means homeowners are more concerned about what Georgia Power is using to generate the power.
Earth Cents, according to Southern Company:
Introduced in 2008, EarthCents energy efficiency programs help our customers save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gases. EarthCents comprises a set of standing and new programs—and educational efforts—to reduce residential and commercial electricity consumption.
Here’s the video:
Continue readingSO has done a lot about energy efficiency, but can it do more, and how will it profit by doing so? Prof. Dan Everett asked this at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.
I have Mr. Dan Everett from Athens, Georgia, and he holds 11 shares of Southern Company.
TF: Talked to Dan earlier today. Dan is a professor at the University of Georgia, right?
DE: Right.
He’s
Daniel M. Everett,
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, UGA Athens.
The SO Annual Stockholders Meeting apparently doesn’t get many professors.
TF: Fantastic. Well, welcome.
DE: Oh, thank you very much. And as a guy who has some professional interest in this stuff, I totally applaud the research that y’all are doing on energy technologies and renewable energies and efficiency technologies because it does take a while to deploy those.
My specific question is about energy conservation. I’ve noticed Continue reading
SO CEO Tom Fanning is a true believer in “all of the above”, yet a skeptic about natural gas. However, he really doesn’t have much faith in renewables, as he indicated at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting and even more strongly in the Wall Street Journal.
This question is from Stephanie Coffin of Atlanta, Georgia, and she holds 18 shares of stock.
TF: Hello, Stephanie.
SC: How are you, Tom?
TF: Dynamite. How are you?
SC: Last year, I came to this meeting to ask a question and to listen to the Southern Company reports. And so before I came I got to thinking about what has changed since the last meeting. I think two things, and then I’ll ask my question.
The first is the chairperson’s salary increased 34 percent, over $13 million a year. I’m sure the retirees and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary and see that as negative PR in the face of continuing recession. $13 million a year, most of us are on fixed income. I mean, your income
is fixed, too, but it’s very high. Mine is pretty low and we all have to pay electric bills.
The second change, and then I’ll ask my question, is that now 70 — 97 percent of all scientists believe that climate change — that is, global warming — is real and caused by human activity and this is a big shift. Last year we were the climate deniers, we’re in control, and now 97 percent of all scientists say it’s real, it’s coming, you better get ready. In the face of this scientific consensus the Southern Company has maintained its reliance on fossil fuels, mountaintop coal, old coal plants and pushing nuclear power with huge wattage demands and the dangers of nuclear wastes.
While I applaud the Southern Company’s baby steps Continue reading
Why is SO gambling our health and dollars on Plant Vogtle when Georgia Power could be getting on with solar power? SO CEO Tom Fanning avoided the first part of Gloria Tatum’s question by simply denying it, and danced around the second part by saying the rate hike for Plant Vogtle’s cost overruns would only be 6 to 8 percent, not 12 percent. Do you want to pay 6 or 8 percent more for a radioactive white elephant when you could be getting power from the sun for less?
The floor person at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting introduced Gloria Tatum with 164 shares, representing Nuclear Watch South, and the SO CEO insisted
TF: Call me Tom. Gee whiz.
GT: Tom. Hi,Tom. It’s great to be here on this beautiful day.
TF: Thank you. Yes ma’am.
GT: And I know Southern Company’s done many wonderful things, but I want to point out a few things to you today.
First, you know, after the Fukushima meltdown, TEPCO’s $50 billion nuclear complex became a worthless liability. The deadly radiation still circles the planet, polluting the earth and increasing cancer. Other countries have abandoned their nuclear and they’re looking to renewable, but Southern Company’s affiliate, Georgia Power, continues construction on two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Now Shell Bluff is a community down the stream from Plant Vogtle and it has experienced a 25 percent increase in cancer since Vogtle 1 and 2 have been built.
Another problem with Vogtle Continue reading