Georgia Power is Going With the Wind

Georgia Power has just joined other southern electric utilities by announcing a decision to buy wind energy. If the Georgia Public Service Commission agrees to the deal, the Peach State will be receiving up to 250 megawatts of wind power – enough power for about 50,000 Georgia homes – from Oklahoma around the 2016 timeframe . In doing so, Georgia Power will follow in the footsteps of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Alabama Power and the Southwestern Electric Power Company in buying wind energy from the midwest.

How does Southern Company sell more electricity?

With energy efficiency, of course! A couple of weeks ago, we showed you how Southern Company “squirrels” the energy efficiency debate. One of our fantastic readers sent us an ad from the New Yorker, in which Southern Company tries to persuade its customers in New York City that it is promoting energy efficiency by selling [...]

EPA: Coal Plants Still #1 Source of U.S. Carbon Emissions

There’s nothing like a heaping serving of data to really drive a point home – and that’s exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency does with its most recent report of plant-by-plant emissions data.  EPA’s 2011 Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program report is loaded with emissions data from 1,594 fossil fuel plants across the nation.  The resoundingly [...]

Southern Company: Squirreling the Energy Efficiency Debate

‘Squirreling’ is banned at the World Schools Debating Championships. What, you don’t know what squirreling is? Or what it has to do with energy efficiency? Well, today is your lucky day! According to those who set the rules for debate competitions, squirreling is the unreasonable redefinition of a term in debate in favor of the team [...]

Mississippi to surpass Alabama in energy efficiency?

Slow and steady wins the race, they say. Though Alabama was off to a better start,  it’s beginning to look like the state of Mississippi is going to surpass Alabama in their support for energy efficiency in the near future! As I wrote about 18 months ago, Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) released proposed energy [...]

NAACP Releases Coal Blooded Report and Toolkit

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in conjunction with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Indigenous Environmental Network, released a report analyzing sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in conjunction with demographic factors, including race, income and population density.  The report, entitled “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People,” demonstrates [...]

Meeting power needs with less coal in Georgia

Ulla Reeves, SACE’s Regional Program Director, contributed to and edited this blog. On January 7, Georgia Power Co. announced that it would shutter 15 generating units – about 2,000 megawatts (MW) or 2 gigawatts (GW) of coal and oil  capacity – as part of the three-year “Integrated Resource Plan” it will file with the Public [...]

Many Coal Plants in the SE are Ripe for Retirement

Today the Union of Concerned Scientists released an important new report entitled “Ripe for Retirement: The Case for Closing America’s Costliest Coal Plants”, which highlights the financial uncertainty of many coal plants around the nation.  It turns out that the Southeast is home to a staggering number of inefficient and uneconomic coal plants. As of  May 31, [...]

Alabama Getaway: State rejects over $540,000 in federal efficiency funding because of utility and commission

This blog was written by Jimmy Green and Natalie Mims Alabama getaway, getaway. Alabama getaway, getaway. Only way to please me Turn around and leave and walk away. And that’s just what Alabama did. They turned around and walked away from over $540,000 in Federal money earmarked for energy efficiency in the state. After all, [...]

Follow the Money: How Dirty Energy Donations Impact Our Energy Policies

A well-known politician once famously quipped that ‘all politics is local.’  However, the reality is that our elected leaders (and therefore our laws) are influenced by money originating well beyond our local districts. Big Oil and Big Coal have donated well over $150 million to political campaigns in the past decade in the hopes of [...]