This opinion piece was authored by Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah. Lee County is located in Southwest Florida. There’s been a lot of talk coming out of Tallahassee recently about fewer government regulations and more market-driven solutions. A similar sentiment was echoed at the recent Florida Energy Summit, sponsored by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, where [...]
Georgia Power Company (GPC) operates a fleet of old coal plants. Their oldest coal units, Yates units 1 and 2, are 61 years old. Unlike wine, cheese or a savings account, coal plants do not get better with age. They become more expensive to maintain, less efficient and more damaging to human health and the [...]
Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving with lots of family, friends and food. Many things to give thanks for today, including for me, that we may be on the verge of a significant investment in renewable energy that will benefit the Southeast. A recent article in the Tennessean titled “TVA may pipe in wind [...]
On November 15, the EW3 (Energy and Water in a Warming World) Initiative released a report titled, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource. Across the Southeast the media paid close attention to the valuable new information in this report, and in large part because of the efforts of SACE staff [...]
Board of Director elections held Saturday, November 12 at Cobb EMC raised the profile of member dissatisfaction with the Atlanta-area utility co-op’s decision-making and leadership to a new level. New board members swept all four seats in the election by huge margins and will be sworn in at today’s Cobb EMC board meeting (Nov. 22, [...]
To follow our recent blog post about activities in North Carolina last week surrounding the release of the Energy and Water in a Warming World (EW3) initiative’s new report, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource, here’s a look-back on our events in Georgia. Why release such a report in [...]
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of working in Charlotte, NC with Dr. Peter Frumhoff, Director of Science and Policy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, to release the new Energy and Water in a Warming World Initiative (EW3) report, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants. Peter is one of the key advisers to the [...]
Bob Inglis’ call to “simultaneously eliminat[e] all subsidies” for energy is another way that he believes we can use the “power of free markets” to make better choices about energy use. Although “subsidies” are often discussed, it is a concept that is hard to pin down. The World Trade Organization definition of a subsidy amounts [...]
A new report by the Energy and Water in a Warming World Initiative (EW3), “Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource,” details how water use by power plants for cooling needs stresses freshwater resources around the country, including here in the Southeast. The report also reveals that the reporting of water [...]
Following the White House’s surprise announcement delaying a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, Bill McKibben posted this blog for tarsandsaction.org on November 10, 2011. It is re-posted here with permission. Um, we won. You won. Not completely. The president didn’t outright reject the pipeline permit. My particular fantasy–that he would invite the 1253 people [...]