Archive for the ‘Regulation’ Category

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Alabama Power to switch to biomass?

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Alabama Power is considering powering a small power plant with biomass fuel instead of the coal it currently uses.

biomass types

According to this AP story

Alabama Power Co. is exploring the option of making electricity solely by burning wood or other “biomass.”
Under a study to be completed in the second half of this year, the state’s top power provider is looking into converting a coal-fired generating unit at one of its facilities.

Among the sites under consideration is Barry Steam Plant in north Mobile County.

The amount of power involved would be 70 to 80 megawatts, according to a description of the project recently released by the city of Mobile. That’s a fraction of the company’s total output but still enough to light thousands of homes.

…

“I think it’s more of a pre-emptive effort,” Adam Snyder, executive director of Conservation Alabama, said of the Alabama Power study, adding that he considers it “a great move.”
Along the same lines, Georgia Power Co., another affiliate of Atlanta-based Southern Company, is seeking regulators’ permission to convert a small coal-fired plant to biomass, said Anne Blair of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, another advocacy group headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn.

…

“I think they are doing a good job in terms of anticipating what is likely to be coming down the pipeline at the federal level and simply diversifying their energy mix,” said Blair, who is the alliance’s program manager for diesel and biofuels.

One of the new items of the Energy & Environment Agenda of the Obama administration is to “Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.”  It will be interesting how utilities without access to abundant wind or solar resources comply with new energy regulations.

More on biomass at WikiPedia.

More on biomass at Alabama Power’s Biomass Energy page.

Posted in Alabama, Biofuels, Coal, Environment, Power Grid, Regulation | No Comments »

Balloon solar power plant? Cooler than mini-nukes?

Monday, November 10th, 2008

So which is cooler (global warming or style wise, either way), a solar power plant made of balloons or min nuclear power plants?

Green Wombat describes a balloon solar collector:

It sounds like something out of one of those do-it-your-self magazines: Stitch together two buck’s worth of thin-film plastic – the stuff potato chip bags are made of – stick in a photovoltaic cell, inflate with air and, voilà, you’ve got yourself a “solar balloon” that will generate a kilowatt of electricity. String together 10,000 balloons and you’ve got a solar power plant that can power a town. California startup Cool Earth Solar believes this high-low tech approach is what will make its solar power plants competitive with fossil fuels.

Instead of using expensive optics to concentrate sunlight on the solar cell, Cool Earth manipulates the air pressure inside the balloon to change the shape of the mirrored surface so that it focuses the maximum amount of sunlight on the solar cell, boosting electricity generation 300 to 400 times. By replacing expensive materials like steel with cheap-as-chips plastic and air, Cool Earth aims to dramatically lower the price of solar electricity.

A prototype power plant is being built in a field across the street from Cool Earth’s offices and Lamkin says a 1.5 megawatt plant will be constructed early next year in the Central Valley town of Tracy.

Lamkin estimates that a Cool Earth power plant can be up and running in six months, which should appeal to [California] utilities [...], which are under the gun to meet state mandates to obtain 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

“Our major structural element is air, which so far is free,” Lamkin says. “And the sun isn’t taxed either.”  Yet.

Careful, don’t temp Obama.

A micro nuclear reactor in your garden?

According to The Guardian, a U.S. company based in New Mexico, Hyperion Power Generation, has designed mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes. The company has already received firm orders and expects to deliver about 4,000 ‘individual’ plants between 2013 and 2023.

In the U.S., where people spent more energy than in other parts of the world, such a reactor should be able to deliver power to only 10,000 households, for a cost of $2,500 per home. But in developing nations, one HPM could provide enough power for 60,000 homes or more, for a cost of less than $400. This is quite reasonable if you agree with Hyperion, which states that the energy from its HPMs will cost about 10 cents/watt.

Posted in Economics, Environment, It's Science, Nuclear, Power Grid, Regulation, Solar Power | 1 Comment »

Minnesotans FOR Global Warming

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Turn your snow shovels into a lawn chair – that’s just one benefit of global warming for Minnesotans.

Minnesotans for Global Warming has to be the hottest political groups in the Twin Cities. They jokingly ask people to stop breathing since we contribute to CO2 the global emissions.

I had the good fortune of meeting the brains behind M4GW this past weekend.  Check out their blog.

Posted in Environment, Environmentalists, Great Outdoors, Humor, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Politics, Regulation, Snow | No Comments »

National Electric Superhighway

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Should the US build a “National Electric Superhighway” to transport wind and other renewable resources from the central US to the load centers? Here is one proposal showing what that system of high voltage lines would look like:

national electric superhighway

Further reading:

AWEA – the reliability of wind power (better than you think)

Interstate Electricity Transmission Superhighway Essential to Growth of Low-Carbon Technologies: CleanTechnica

FEATURE-Wind energy lobbyist maps U.S. power superhighway | Markets | US | Reuters

A National Electric Superhighway.pdf by Ed Krapels

Map showing Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standards for the states, note that several states require 20 or even 25+% renewable in the near future:

rps

Posted in Economics, Environment, Maps, Power Grid, Regulation, Wind Power | No Comments »

MN salary cap spurs departures

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Minnesota’s government employees are looking for greener pastures in other parts of the country.

One employee will get a $100,000 raise by moving to California – almost enough to make up for the higher cost of living?

Now, local government employees are limited by a cap that adjusts for inflation each year. It started at 110 percent of the governor’s salary when it took effect in 2006. That means that, unless a local government has received special dispensation for a specific position, the most any local government employee can make is $144,711 — exactly Twa’s salary.

In part because of the change, about 60 Ramsey, Anoka, Dakota and Washington county employees, who are responsible for everything from dealing with information technology to running libraries, make more than Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

While different states have different ways of dealing with public employee salaries, no state has quite the system that exists in Minnesota. Minnesota has had limits on most local government salaries since 1977.

To some, a local salary cap simply makes sense.

To many in metro government, even the current higher cap creates a perverse system of compensation. It’s harder for local governments to hire and retain top-scale employees, and it takes away local elected officials’ power to decide what their employees should earn, they argue.

“When I tell people about the cap, they kind of look at you funny, like: ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” said Dave Childs, a former Minnetonka city manager and current assistant county manager in Washoe County, Nev. Childs is also an adviser for the International City/County Management Association.

Posted in Economics, Minnesota, Politics, Regulation | No Comments »

32 St. Paul bars qualified to serve till 4 AM during the RNC

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Unquestionably, one of the most pressing issues facing the city of St. Paul this summer as they plan for the upcoming Republican National Convention is deciding which bars can stay open until 4 AM during the convention. Fortunately, the Minneapolis Star Tribune is on top of the story, keeping its readers informed of every development.

As of June 26th, 32 bars have qualified.

However, many bar owners are not excited about paying the $2500 fee – is anyone surprised?

The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday voted 6 to 1 to approve an ordinance that will allow bars that meet certain conditions and pay $2,500 to stay open late during the four nights of the event, to be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center.

About 32 bars, maybe more if they can find a way to add more seats, are eligible. There are 257 places that sell liquor, wine and beer in the city. About 90 currently have licenses to stay open until 2 a.m.

Bars must already have a 2 a.m. closing license to be eligible, and they must have at least 291 seats or be in downtown or commercial development districts, such as Selby-Dale.

If a bar without a 4 a.m. license is caught serving after 2 a.m., it faces a $2,000 fine per incident.

Don’t forget – that the crowds will not be homogeneous. In addition to the 35,000 RNC attendees, there will also be upwards of 100,000 protesters here during the convention. It sounds like it will be an exciting event! Even Minnetonka is donating a couple police officers to help keep the peace in St. Paul.

Posted in Freedom, Idiots, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Politics, Regulation, Security, Terrorism | No Comments »

Regulations account for 20-30 % of the price of a new house

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

The Pioneer Press investigates the otherwise unseen costs of regulations on housing prices.  I’m not surprised that they estimate the cost of compliance with housing regulations at 20-30% of the price, are you?  That equals $40-60,000 added to the price of a $200,000 home.

The author describes some of the requirements that contribute to the extra costs:

  • 80-foot-wide lots
  • multi-acre lots
  • no rain runoff flowing into streams & building ponds
  • wetlands
  • rare species
  • $4000 fire sprinkler systems
  • tornado-safe rooms in town homes with no basements (steel-doored rooms lined with three-quarter-inch plywood and Kevlar, the fabric used in bulletproof police vests. The price tag? $2,000)
  • streets wide enough for four lanes of traffic
  • cul-de-sacs enlarged to allow an oversized fire truck to turn around
  • costly architectural extras, such as stonework or full-width porches
  • 360-degree architecture, which makes four sides of a house attractive
  • sometimes, it’s done intentionally to make less affordable housing

Housing construction

In the past, when buyers wanted a certain type of home, developers built it, said Ed Goetz, professor of Urban and Regional Planning for the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

But now, thanks to regulations, they can’t.

“This is not a free market,” Goetz said.

Posted in Economics, Environmentalists, Freedom, Minneapolis, Regulation | No Comments »

St. Paul officials busy setting bar hours for the RNC

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Still waiting to make your late, late night plans during the RNC in St. Paul this fall?

If you want to hang out with the Republicans between 2 and 4 AM come the first few days of Sept. you may be allowed to if St. Paul officials agree to a proposal to let bars stay open two hours later during the convention. Regulating bar hours isn’t as easy as you might think.

rnc

Apparently, St. Paul officials don’t have much to do so they have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out if they should allow bars in the city to stay open until 4 AM during the Republican National Convention.

City officials compiled a list of qualified applicants but admitted their records may not be current.

“Inspectors are out as we speak, counting (seats),”

We can all be thankful that city inspectors are out counting seats – otherwise they might do something beneficial for the city.

Why do they care how many seats an establishment offers? Their proposal limits applicants to those in the downtown district and commercial development districts. Outside those areas, establishments must be on record with the city as having “at least 291 seats” to qualify.

Why 291 seats? I have no idea.

Fredson [deputy chief of staff to Mayor Chris Coleman], asked how the city came up with the 291-seat figure, said officials had to find a way to limit the number of neighborhood establishments that could be open.

A public hearing on the issue will be held June 18.

Fortunately, the city will be able to collect a $2500 fee from businesses that opt stay open later. That should cover their seat counting costs.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is envious of Denver, wishing they were hosting the Democratic Convention instead of the Republican Convention.

 Back in 2006, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington made an unusual bid for both national party conventions.

“They decided as a group that this isn’t about politics, it’s about business,” said Erin Dady, St. Paul’s director of convention planning. “It’s a great chance to showcase our region to the world.”

After months of courting, the Democratic Party finally took a shine to the Twin Cities. They said they liked us but couldn’t commit. That’s when the GOP surprised everyone by racing in and asking us first.

…

obama

Thanks to the precedent-shattering race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Denver is winning the buzz contest in a landslide. Just do a Google search.

More than 2 million Web sites mention the words “Democrat 2008 convention Denver.” That’s almost 10 times the mentions for the Republican convention.

“There’s no question Barack Obama is a rock star — he is the single most charismatic figure the Democrats have had since JFK,” said Maccabee, a Democrat. “No matter how much one admires (Sen. John) McCain, the passion, the stardust, is on Obama.

Posted in Minneapolis, Politics, Regulation | No Comments »

Czech President compares “climate alarmism” to communism

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Klaus

Czech President Vaclav Klaus opposes the “climate alarmism” perpetuated by environmentalism trying to impose their ideals, comparing it to the decades of communist rule he experienced growing up in Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia.

Klaus is promoting his new book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles – What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?

amazon

“Like their (communist) predecessors, they will be certain that they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea reality,” he said.

“In the past, it was in the name of the Marxists or of the proletariat – this time, in the name of the planet,” he added.

Klaus said a free market should be used to address environmental concerns and said he oppposed as unrealistic regulations or greenhouse gas capping systems designed to reduce the impact of climate change.

“It could be even true that we are now at a stage where mere facts, reason and truths are powerless in the face of the global warming propaganda,” he said.

Klaus alleged that the global warming was being championed by scientists and other environmentalists whose careers and funding requires selling the public on global warming.

Posted in Communism, Economics, Environmentalists, Politics, Regulation | No Comments »

Owning your wind farm: Trickier than it seems

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

The title is a little odd as I wouldn’t expect it to be a trivial process to own a wind farm.  I must not be optimistic enough?

wind

Nevertheless, the Twin Cities Daily Planet investigates all the hurdles and red tape one must go through in order to own a wind farm these days.  They find it’s not as easy for John Doe as it is for big utilities.  Most Americans don’t qualify for the wind farm tax credits that large utilities do.

The ideas the author promotes sound a lot like the Distributism (or distributionism) economic philosophy formulated by G. K. Chesterton.

According to distributism, the ownership of the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the general populace, rather than being centralized under the control of a few state bureaucrats (some forms of socialism) or wealthy private individuals (capitalism). A summary of distributism is found in Chesterton’s statement: “Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists.”

Posted in Economics, Environment, Minnetonka, Politics, Power Grid, Regulation, Wind Power | No Comments »

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