They’ve done it in North Carolina:
Solar is hands down the most popular energy source across NC, across parties, ages, genders, etc. Coal and nuclear are the politically charged energy sources, and neither got a majority. Number 2 was offshore wind with 83% and number 3 was onshore wind with 82% support. Here’s the NCSEA press release. Here’s the survey.91% of voters support using solar power to meet our growing needs for energy and electricity
How did they do this? Continue reading
Colin McClelland reported for Bloomberg 21 April 2011, U.S. Nuclear Output Falls as Vogtle Reactor in Georgia Shuts
The shutdown was ironically two days after an NRC public meeting “to discuss Plant Vogtle’s annual safety evaluation and assessment.”U.S. nuclear-power output remained near a 4½-year low for a fourth day as the Vogtle 1 reactor in Georgia shut down unexpectedly, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
Power generation nationwide decreased 538 megawatts to 71,781 megawatts from yesterday, or 71 percent of capacity, the smallest amount since Oct. 22, 2006, according to an NRC report today and data compiled by Bloomberg. Twenty-nine of the nation’s 104 reactors were offline.
Southern Co. (SO)’s 1,109-megawatt Vogtle 1 reactor automatically tripped offline yesterday at 5:34 p.m. when it was at full power. The cause is under investigation, the NRC said.
That would be the same location where, according to Tice Brashear back in 18 March 2009: Continue reading
John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham
write about
Solar and Nuclear Costs — The Historic Crossover:
Solar Energy is Now the Better Buy
Solar photovoltaic system costs have fallen steadily for decades. They are projected to fall even farther over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, projected costs for construction of new nuclear plants have risen steadily over the last decade, and they continue to rise. In the past year, the lines have crossed in North Carolina. Electricity from new solar installations is now cheaper than electricity from proposed new nuclear plants. This new development has profound implications for North Carolina’s energy and economic future. Each and every stakeholder in North Carolina’s energy sector — citizens, elected officials, solar power installers and manufacturers, and electric utilities — should recognize this watershed moment.And North Carolina is north of Georgia, so Georgia should have more sun.
-jsq
Previously I promised to come back to the subject of whole trees.
Allan Ricketts asserted in the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens
on 10 June 2010
that the biomass plant Wiregrass LLC proposed for Valdosta will never
burn whole trees because it would be economically unfeasible for it to do so.
While I have no doubt that Col. Ricketts is acting on the best information
given to him, there are reasons to be sceptical about what will happen
in the future.
Continue reading 
Johnna Pinholster
writes in the VDT about The Residences at Five Points:
Benoit introduced Scott Clark from SolTherm, who will partner with Ambling on The Residences at Five Points.Well, it’s a start. But why not solar panels on the roofs of the residences? And why a company out of Asheville when there are at least three companies in Valdosta who could have done that part?The eco-friendly business out of Asheville, N.C., will oversee the construction of 23 solar panels on the roof of the complex’s clubhouse.
Those panels, Clark said, will provide between 50 and 60 percent of the clubhouse’s energy, Clark said.