Tag Archives: production

Solar price drops setting invisible price limit for ever-dirtier fossil fuel extraction

A fairly insightful piece on the how oil price rises drive more fossil fuel production, currently fueled by debt because wages of most workers have been falling, still misses two big points: solar prices continually plumetting now undercut all fossil fuel prices, and dirtier fossil fuel extraction and its massive colonial invasion of pipelines are meeting resistance everywhere, including at the regulatory-captured puppet agencies like FERC.

“Tyler Durden”, ZeroHedge, 13 May 2016, Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog, The Real Oil Limits Story – What Other Researchers Missed, Continue reading →

Does SO have a business model for energy conservation? –Dan Everett @ SO 2013-05-22

SO 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.

Prof. Dan Everett speaking 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.

Dan Everett striding to the microphone 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 →

Suniva’s 500 new jobs went to Michigan

According to Sven Gustafson in mlive.com, 7 Oct 2009, Georgia-based solar panel maker Suniva to create 500 jobs at new Michigan plant in Saginaw County
A Georgia-based maker of high-efficiency, low-cost solar panels plans to open a manufacturing facility in Saginaw County after state officials approved a new photovoltaic tax credit. The project, which is still subject to a federal loan, is expected to create 500 jobs.

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority in a special session Tuesday approved the credits for Norcross, Ga.-based Suniva Inc. The company will get a $15 million refundable credit against its Michigan Business Tax liability over five years in exchange for its planned $250 million investment.

Suniva manufactures photovoltaic solar panels. It was getting so many orders it needed a new plant in addition to the one it has in Norcross, Georgia. Those 500 jobs and $250 million in investment could have come to Georgia. Maybe they could have come to Lowndes County. I haven’t been able to find any local government or appointed official who tried to get it to come here.

Suniva is still ramping up production in Georgia. They may eventually need a third plant. Maybe somebody should talk to them.

-jsq

Local Food for Economic Benefit in Georgia

The UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has quantified the economic effects of eating local food in Georgia, in this report: The Local Food Impact: What if Georgians Ate Georgia Produce? Prepared by: Sharon P. Kane, Kent Wolfe, Marcia Jones, and John McKissick Center Report: CR-10-03 May 2010
If Georgians produced all of the fruits and vegetables that they consumed, it could provide a way to close this utilization gap (the difference between state-wide production and consumption) of over $780 million per year. Even if this level can’t be achieved, simply closing the gap in one commodity­lettuce, for example­could mean an additional $83.6 million of direct revenue to local producers.

What is the lettuce gap? The Cordele Dispatch explains it: Continue reading →