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.
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 →
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.
Paul[?] 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.
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.
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.
Jill Stuckey spoke for wind power for economic development on behalf of
the College of Engineering and Information Technologies at
Georgia Southern University.
She said with its experience in solar and wind Georgia Southern
is willing, able, and ready to help
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
Ready, willing, and able for wind –Jill Stuckey for Georgia Southern
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.
The disruptive challenge electric utilities face
is like
telephone companies faced years ago, as Edison Electric Institute recently pointed out.
Circuit switching 20 years ago is like distributed solar power and
the smart grid it needs now;
this is what I described
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
Hi, I’m John Quarterman, I’m from Lowndes County, down near the Florida line.
These videos I’ve been taking are with Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
and you’ll find them on YouTube later.
Now I’d like to commend Georgia Power for helping fund our Industrial Authority
down in Lowndes County to do a strategic plan.
And in the focus groups they did with that, they discovered there’s
at least
two things everybody wants: business, education, health care, the
people in general: Continue reading →
The recent rains have swollen our blackwater rivers, Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little, under our longleaf pines and Spanish-moss-covered oaks, and filled up the tea-colored tannin waters in our frog-singing pocosin cypress swamps here in central South Georgia. But that was only a dent in our protracted drought that ranges from mild to extreme, with projections not much better….
There is no need to use our Floridan Aquifer water to build more
baseload power plants while Georgia lags behind Michigan,
Massachusetts, and even tiny New Jersey and Maryland in solar power.
WWALS calls on the PSC to ask Georgia Power to conserve our water
and to bring jobs to south Georgia through solar power and wind off
the Georgia coast.
Ask Georgia Power to conserve our water –Garry Gentry for WWALS
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.
Someone made a very good case for the cost-effectivness of energy efficiency
for saving money, health, and comfort,
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
He didn’t start by saying his name, and I had a camera battery replacement
about that time, but most of his talk is here.
Energy efficiency is cost-effective –Another
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.
“I’d like to see Georgia Power… provide a geothermal and solar net zero
energy concept for the project that could act as a demonstration project
for them as well,”
said someone unknown from Putnam County,
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
(This is why to always say your name when you speak.)
Could have been
Putnam County Commissioner Alan Foster.
He also asked for a convention center, golf course, and lakefront activities
area, and naturally at least one Public Service Commissioner latched
onto the golf course.
The speaker said his “vision” involved privatization.
Seems to me the problem is the existing privatization of the GA PSC.
Geothermal and net zero –Unknown
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.
Courtney Hanson of
Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND)
at
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
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.
