If we are to believe Fox News and the Tea Party, solar doesn’t work
because the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went belly up, despite the
fact that it received $535 million in subsidies. While wasting an enormous
amount of tax dollars on a company with a flawed business concept should
raise everyone’s eyebrows, the conclusion that the Solyndra mess means
“solar doesn’t work” is mind-boggling. It’s like saying “cars don’t
work” because Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009, or “T-shirts don’t work”
because Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 in 1999.
Solar is one of the most attractive renewable sources of energy throughout
I thanked the Commission for doing the right thing about the
CHIP grant.
And for at least three people sitting up front (Evans, Paulk, and Pritchard)
lowering their monitors so citizens (and even
cameras) could see their faces.
Then I relayed the news about the
$1.5 billion investment in Gadsden County, Florida
for a 400 MW solar project.
Plus ongoing jobs, expanded education, private sources of investment,
and customers for the electricity.
Unlike the failed local biomass project,
National Solar Power’s Gadsden County project already has
Progress Energy signed up as a customer for its electricity.
I recommended that the Commission go on record as being in favor of such
projects locally.
Thanks for CHIP and lower monitors; also solar –John S. Quarterman @ LCC 27 Sep 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
That’s 400 MW of solar power in twenty 20 MW PV plants,
just across the state line in Gadsden County, Florida.
Plus ongoing jobs, expanded education, private sources of investment, and customers for the electricity.
the Lowndes County Commission could lead by making one of their famous
position statements, this time in favor of solar,
or by putting solar on the roofs of their buildings (solar on the jail! imagine that),
bringing in money to do so by
or by applying for grants,
or by making a project big enough to apply for private venture capital
from the at least two firms that are looking for such projects.
If the LCC won’t do it, how about solar Valdosta fire departments,
or solar Hahira tobacco barns?
This has been a great year for the Georgia Solar Energy Association,
too. Our membership has swelled to almost 300 corporate and individual
members. This number includes manufacturers, installers, integrators,
consultants and advocates who want to see Georgia benefit from an
industry that contributed more than $5 billion in economic activity to
the U.S. gross domestic product since 2008 and now employs more than
93,000 workers nationwide.
Our annual Southern Solar Summit in Atlanta this summer sold out, filling
the auditorium at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center
with Georgians eager to learn what innovations are making solar power
more accessible in Georgia and beyond. Another annual Solar Summit
in Savannah last month doubled its attendance this year, proving that
interest in solar has spread beyond metro Atlanta.
The 2011 Georgia Solar Tour will feature sites statewide. We hope that
some of the participants in this year’s tour will become hosts in
next year’s.
Dr. Noll made the case for the cost-effectiveness of solar energy
through, among other things, an analogy to finaninc buying a car.
First Dr. Noll thanked people who had supported
WACE’s anti-biomass work,
and hoped people had had time to read his recent LTE in the VDT,
Waste Not, Want Not.
Then he addressed Commissioner Raines’
comments of the previous day.
Dr. Noll pointed out that solar is
fast becoming less expensive
and with financing costs little more than a car or truck.
Solar is cost-effective —Dr. Noll @ LCC 13 September 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Solar Roadways received a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway
Administration to build a parking lot paved with solar panels.
Last year the green infrastructure company demoed a 12 square-foot
prototype of its solar road as phase 1 of this new technology. The
prototype was made up of solar panels, heating elements, and a grid of
wireless LED lights encased in durable glass that has the same traction
as asphalt and doesn’t cause glare. The panels generate a total of 7.6
kilowatt hours of electricity per day that can be used to melt snow and
ice, spell warnings for motorists, or be connected to weight sensitive
panels that illuminate a crosswalk when activated. The solar road can
also be connected to a smart grid to power nearby homes and businesses,
or even electric cars.
Google has published an
analysis of the economic benefits of renewable
energy innovation. It has concluded that even a five year lapse without
a national clean energy policy would
cost the United States an aggregate
US$2.3-3.2 trillion in unrealized GDP gains and 1.2-1.4 million net jobs.
The study was about renewable energy in general, but:
Continue reading →
The project will be a network of 20 solar farms, each of which will
span 200 acres and generate 20 MW. It would be much larger than the 80
MW solar power plant in Ontario, Canada, currently the world’s largest.
The finalists are:
The communities selected by National Solar Power as finalists to become
the location of the development are Gadsden, Hardee, Osceola and Suwannee
counties in Florida, Sumter and Tatnall counties in Georgia and Guilford
County in North Carolina.
And Lowndes County isn’t even in the running.
Why not?
Continue reading →
because the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went belly up, despite the fact that it received $535 million in subsidies. While wasting an enormous amount of tax dollars on a company with a flawed business concept should raise everyone’s eyebrows, the conclusion that the Solyndra mess means “solar doesn’t work” is mind-boggling. It’s like saying “cars don’t work” because Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009, or “T-shirts don’t work” because Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 in 1999.
