http://www.azbex.com/archives/view/az_corporation_commission_approves_power_agreement/
The Phoenix Business Journal shows that the AZ Corporation Commission has decided to give an unfair advantage to solar companies selling power to Arizona schools by exempting them from standard regulations so they don't have to follow the rules of standard utilities. Thus, while utilities have to struggle to get every necessary rate increase approved by the ACC, meet specified percentages of "renewable" energy, and pay taxes, the ACC's pet companies are more profitable by escaping these onerous regulations. Effectively, the rest of the utilities have to pay higher taxes to support these favored companies.
In similar news, tax dollars are supporting corn farmers:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-03-25-corn-ethanol-meat-hfcs/
And the city of Glendale is helping support a failing franchise (Coyotes):
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/14/20100514glendales-phoenix-coyotes-guarantee-nhl.html
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/18/news/companies/auto_bailout/
The US gov't gave $40B to GM & Chrysler so GM could build a $40k car that only goes 40 miles before needing a recharge (while the Nissan Leaf goes 100 miles between charges & costs only $33k).
Is is any wonder we have an exploding debt and no jobs when the gov't sucks money out of viable companies that could be hiring to prop up failures?
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Kyl Emphasizes Water Waste in Proposed Solar System
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/06/21/story3.html?b=1277092800^3527121&s=industry&i=green
Sen. Kyl is to be applauded for reminding us that this is a desert and water cannot be treated as a trivial consideration in the evaluation of power generation alternatives.
Sen. Kyl is to be applauded for reminding us that this is a desert and water cannot be treated as a trivial consideration in the evaluation of power generation alternatives.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
China Kills More Miners than US
Sorry for such a cynical title; I'm in a hurry to get to work & couldn't take time for a better title. And I'm only including this in the Solar blog to keep the number of blogs manageable, w/ the connection being that coal is another energy source.
Aside from that, I think the article basically speaks for itself. On our end, I think we're mistaken to chastize only Massey when the gov't was sleeping at the switch -- over 500 citations in one year and you don't shut a mine down after about 100? But perhaps I'm speaking out of turn, not being an expert on the issue. Maybe these were all minor citations ... but then why does gov't waste so much time & money on minor citations if they're not actionable? There I go again, criticizing w/o knowing enough to judge properly. Maybe I had too much coffee ... off to get ready for work.
Aside from that, I think the article basically speaks for itself. On our end, I think we're mistaken to chastize only Massey when the gov't was sleeping at the switch -- over 500 citations in one year and you don't shut a mine down after about 100? But perhaps I'm speaking out of turn, not being an expert on the issue. Maybe these were all minor citations ... but then why does gov't waste so much time & money on minor citations if they're not actionable? There I go again, criticizing w/o knowing enough to judge properly. Maybe I had too much coffee ... off to get ready for work.
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