I sent the following letter to National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition, I got a form response. It appears to be regular occurrence on NPR’s Morning Edition to say negative things about electric cars. NPR’s November 21st story focused on the negative aspects of electric vehicles (EVs) and failed to point out some important factual [...]
Knoxville’s 2011 Solar Home Tour is October 22. SACE is excited about this year’s annual tour, and welcomes the recent expansion of solar energy development in east Tennessee. I am especially excited to offer my home as one of the stops along the tour. Our objective is to have a net-zero home, and between our [...]
I wanted to share my first impression after driving the Nissan LEAF for the past couple of weeks. While it may be quixotic to think we can ever truly drive “guilt free,” the zero-emissions LEAF certainly is a step in the right direction. By charging the LEAF at non-peak hours to level off energy load demands [...]
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is very happy to have received our long-awaited 2011 Nissan LEAF. SACE is part of the The EV Project in Tennessee. Staff at our Knoxville, Tennessee office will be writing about their experiences using the LEAF, so stay tuned to hear more about how this new technology can fit [...]
Each year, starting in 1989, an annual report titled, “Our Changing Planet” has been produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and submitted to Congress. The USGCRP also conducts the National Climate Assessment (NCA), which has been previously completed in 2000 and 2009. The assessment serves as a “status report” on the latest [...]
This blog was co-authored by Amy Vaden. It certainly seems that extreme weather events are becoming more commonplace. Scientific American recently reported that 2011 saw the sixth-highest number of tornado-related deaths ever recorded, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a big hurricane season as well. This week, Hurricane Irene threatens the eastern [...]
I wanted to share with you an article I read by Don Shelby of minnpost.com. The piece, “Rising from meter-reader to CEO, Xcel’s Dick Kelly has sound perspective on the environment,” is refreshing because we get to see a utility executive who clearly understands the long-term impact his employer has on the environment. Kelly is [...]
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has long been concerned with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) push to add more nuclear reactors to their energy mix in spite of readily available energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives. But TVA’s dogged pursuit to complete the nearly forty-year-old, antiquated Bellefonte site in Alabama is a unique and especially [...]
This week the city of Knoxville unveiled its first public charging station for electric vehicles (EVs). The EV project, a joint venture between the U.S. Department of Transportation and ECOtality North America will bring a total of 12 EV charging stations to Knoxville by the end of the year. The 240-volt chargers installed at the [...]
This week I spent time in the Florida Keys SCUBA diving the coral reefs. As I glided over Sombrero Reef near Marathon, marveling at the biologically rich rainbow of tropical sea life, a sad thought filled my mind. Would my youngest son Warren or my grandchildren ever get to experience this magic of Earth’s diversity? Are [...]
