This blog was co-authored by Simon Mahan. This is the fourth blog in a series of five where the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will be highlighting states throughout our region and their role in the wind industry. Tennessee is the proud home to the Southeast’s first, and as yet only, wind farm. Utility customers [...]
Recently, we shared the great news that most utility customers across the Southeastern states that we focus on have or will very soon have access to meaningful energy efficiency programs. By 2015, these efficiency programs are projected to achieve energy savings ten times what they were just a few years ago. We’re excited about that [...]
Two recent articles about coal ash featured comments by SACE’s Executive Director, Dr. Stephen Smith. An article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, “Environmental groups see politics behind delay of rules on coal ash” brings the unwelcome news that classifying coal ash as hazardous waste will likely not happen until after the 2012 election. Dr. Smith, is [...]
It has been nearly three months since Japan suffered the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. And yet the utility owner/operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), only recently confirmed that three of the nuclear reactors suffered complete meltdowns within hours of the earthquake, with reactor Units [...]
Seven weeks have passed since the massive earthquake and tsunami disaster occurred in Japan. Recent reports have the current death toll at more than 14,000 with more than 11,000 people still unaccounted for and 130,000 people still living in shelters. The situation is also taking a toll on its political leaders as pressure increases for [...]
Six weeks have passed since Japan was struck by the massive quake and simultaneous tsunami that initiated the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and the situation is still not under control. Tokyo Electric Power Company has estimated that it will take nine months to completely seal off the radiation coming from the [...]
Not everybody gets the opportunity to watch a crane lift people 100 feet in the air and call it work. I recently had such an opportunity on a trip to Sewanee, Tennessee when two Duck River Electric Membership Corporation employees were hoisted 100 feet in the air to install wind measurement equipment on a communications [...]
A settlement announced today between TVA, the EPA and several states and public interest organizations is a historic step towards ending our reliance on dirty coal and moving the Valley towards a cleaner, brighter energy future. The settlement, announced at this morning’s meeting of TVA’s Board of Directors, settles lawsuits brought more than a decade [...]
After over a month downplaying the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, officials finally upgraded the disaster to a level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Previously, the ranking was 5, meaning “accident with wider consequences.” Before now, Chernobyl was the only accident rated 7, which is the highest on the [...]
Place your Bets If you were going to spend (bet) $8 billion on two nuclear reactors, would you invest in a nuclear reactor design with the following history? They were designed in the late 1960s. Their design has never received a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) operating license. Only four reactors of this design were [...]
