Utilities Enter the Photovolatic Market, Why Now?
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
A man died.
Thomas Edwin Lawson died Saturday January 30th 2010. Tom was born in 1909. In his lifetime he lived thru more history than I can imagine. I am going to recall some of the things he told me about that have me in awe. When he was 12yrs old, living in the foothills of the Georgia mountains he saw the first automobile arrive by train to his town. The first automobile his family got he helped his father drive it with his three brothers because his father was nervous. When his youngest brother was born, Tom moved to the porch to sleep with his other brothers while his mother convalesced. Tom saw the invention and introduction of,
The automobile, radio, the telephone, the television, the tank, the airplance,
diesel boats (they were coal-fired) the nuclear bomb, WWI, WWII,
Korean War, The rise of Russia, plastic, the fall of Britain,
The vietnam war, space flight, the microwave, central heating and cooling,
the computer, video, cell phones, the fall of Russia, dvd, cd,
2 space shuttles destroyed,
the international space station,
nuclear energy and solar energy.
Tom was survived by his 98yr old wife, three children, 7 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Tom was once fired from a job because he didn't like one of the other managers sleeping with workers and reported him, (this didn't cause the firing but the other manager got his revenge) Tom was always pleasant, kind and honest. I am honored to have known him and lucky to have married one of his grandchildren. He will be missed.
The automobile, radio, the telephone, the television, the tank, the airplance,
diesel boats (they were coal-fired) the nuclear bomb, WWI, WWII,
Korean War, The rise of Russia, plastic, the fall of Britain,
The vietnam war, space flight, the microwave, central heating and cooling,
the computer, video, cell phones, the fall of Russia, dvd, cd,
2 space shuttles destroyed,
the international space station,
nuclear energy and solar energy.
Tom was survived by his 98yr old wife, three children, 7 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Tom was once fired from a job because he didn't like one of the other managers sleeping with workers and reported him, (this didn't cause the firing but the other manager got his revenge) Tom was always pleasant, kind and honest. I am honored to have known him and lucky to have married one of his grandchildren. He will be missed.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
H.4374 SPONSORS CONTACT INFO
H. 4374
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill Sponsors: Loftis, Hardwick, Mitchell, Simrill, Bowen, Hamilton, Rice, Spires and Umphlett
Dwight A. Loftis [R]
Insurance Agent
Dist. No. 19 - Greenville Co.
(H) P.O. Box 14784, Greenville, 29610
(C) 522C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3101
Nelson L. Hardwick [R]
Businessman/Engineer
Dist. No. 106 - Horry Co.
(H) 714 Cedar Drive North, Surfside Beach, 29575 Bus. (843) 238-1142
(C) 320C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-2967
Daniel P. "Dan" Hamilton [R]
Businessman
Dist. No. 20 - Greenville Co.
(H) 9 Staten Lane, Taylors, 29687 Bus. (864) 527-7685
(C) 312A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 212-6795
Don C. Bowen [R]
Retired
Dist. No. 8 - Anderson & Oconee Cos.
(H) 1176 Embassy Dr., Anderson, 29625 Bus. (864) 934-3272
(C) 306C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3038
Harold Mitchell, Jr. [D]
Executive Director, Regenesis
Dist. No. 31 - Spartanburg Co.
(H) P. O. Box 3046, Spartanburg, 29304-3046 Bus. (864) 583-2712
(C) 414C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-6638
Rex F. Rice [R]
Businessman
Dist. No. 26 - Greenville & Pickens Cos.
(H) 301 Providence Way, Easley, 29642 Bus. (864) 616-5657
(C) 418A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3035
J. Gary Simrill [R]
President & CEO of Carolina Motorworks
Dist. No. 46 - York Co.
(H) 1515 Alexander Rd., Rock Hill, 29732 Bus. (803) 366-0445
(C) 420C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3040
L. Kit Spires [R]
Pharmacist and Pharmacy Owner
Dist. No. 96 - Aiken & Lexington Cos.
(H) P.O. Box 396, Pelion, 29123 Bus. (803) 606-5749
(C) 326D Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3010
C. David Umphlett, Jr. [R]
Retired Vice Pres., Govt. & Consumer Affairs, Berkeley
Electric Co-op, Inc.
Dist. No. 100 - Berkeley Co.
(H) 1145 Hwy. 402, Moncks Corner, 29461 Bus. (843) 899-1744
(C) 310D Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-2946
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill Sponsors: Loftis, Hardwick, Mitchell, Simrill, Bowen, Hamilton, Rice, Spires and Umphlett
Dwight A. Loftis [R]
Insurance Agent
Dist. No. 19 - Greenville Co.
(H) P.O. Box 14784, Greenville, 29610
(C) 522C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3101
Nelson L. Hardwick [R]
Businessman/Engineer
Dist. No. 106 - Horry Co.
(H) 714 Cedar Drive North, Surfside Beach, 29575 Bus. (843) 238-1142
(C) 320C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-2967
Daniel P. "Dan" Hamilton [R]
Businessman
Dist. No. 20 - Greenville Co.
(H) 9 Staten Lane, Taylors, 29687 Bus. (864) 527-7685
(C) 312A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 212-6795
Don C. Bowen [R]
Retired
Dist. No. 8 - Anderson & Oconee Cos.
(H) 1176 Embassy Dr., Anderson, 29625 Bus. (864) 934-3272
(C) 306C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3038
Harold Mitchell, Jr. [D]
Executive Director, Regenesis
Dist. No. 31 - Spartanburg Co.
(H) P. O. Box 3046, Spartanburg, 29304-3046 Bus. (864) 583-2712
(C) 414C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-6638
Rex F. Rice [R]
Businessman
Dist. No. 26 - Greenville & Pickens Cos.
(H) 301 Providence Way, Easley, 29642 Bus. (864) 616-5657
(C) 418A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3035
J. Gary Simrill [R]
President & CEO of Carolina Motorworks
Dist. No. 46 - York Co.
(H) 1515 Alexander Rd., Rock Hill, 29732 Bus. (803) 366-0445
(C) 420C Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3040
L. Kit Spires [R]
Pharmacist and Pharmacy Owner
Dist. No. 96 - Aiken & Lexington Cos.
(H) P.O. Box 396, Pelion, 29123 Bus. (803) 606-5749
(C) 326D Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-3010
C. David Umphlett, Jr. [R]
Retired Vice Pres., Govt. & Consumer Affairs, Berkeley
Electric Co-op, Inc.
Dist. No. 100 - Berkeley Co.
(H) 1145 Hwy. 402, Moncks Corner, 29461 Bus. (843) 899-1744
(C) 310D Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29201 Bus. (803) 734-2946
Friday, January 22, 2010
Energy bill, jobs bill, get it done.
Bloomberg
Energy Measures May Go to Jobs Bill After Brown Win (Update1)
January 21, 2010, 03:17 PM EST More From Businessweek
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Kim Chipman
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Measures to spur green-energy jobs may end up in a new economic-stimulus bill after Republican Scott Brown’s Senate victory in Massachusetts dimmed prospects for legislation to curb carbon-dioxide emissions.
Provisions to help homeowners reduce power use and make industry more energy-efficient may be shifted out of cap-and- trade legislation that’s stalled in the Senate, said Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Those Democrats who may have already been nervous about a vote on climate policy are even more nervous now,” he said.
Brown, who on Jan. 19 won the Senate seat held by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy for almost 50 years, opposes the emissions-trading program that President Barack Obama says is needed to fight global climate change. Republican opponents say the cap-and-trade legislation would boost costs and cut jobs in an economy that already has a 10 percent unemployment rate.
“A large cap-and-trade bill isn’t going to go ahead at this time,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, told reporters in Washington yesterday.
Putting energy provisions into a bill to stimulate job creation instead “makes sense” because that’s the Senate’s next priority after health-care legislation, Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said before Brown’s win.
“Everybody who’s got a job-creation idea is going to try to get on this train,” Brown said in a Jan. 15 interview, referring to a new jobs bill. “Anything that we’re thinking of doing in any energy related area that can produce jobs short- term, mid-term, long-term will be considered in this.”
House Jobs Bill
The House passed a $154 billion jobs bill before the Christmas break. The Senate was planning to take up a bigger package this year.
Some Republicans may support moves to help manufacturers make the transition to clean-energy production if the provisions aren’t too costly, said John Feehery, a Republican strategist who advised former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The loss in Massachusetts should prompt Democrats to seek smaller-scale legislative victories.
“What Democrats are going to want to do more is get some discrete, easily understandable accomplishments that they can take back to the voters,” Feehery said in an interview. “They’re going to have to ditch climate change and push on more targeted agenda items, like energy independence and green jobs.”
Renewable-Energy Investment
The U.S. lost 85,000 jobs in December, and unemployment remains close to a 26-year high. Republicans have successfully cast the cap-and-trade bill as “as a job-killer and a tax- raiser,” Feehery said.
Climate-change legislation would penalize use of power from fossil fuels while guaranteeing long-term returns for investors in wind turbines and solar panels, said Jeffrey McDermott, the former co-head of investment banking at UBS AG who started Greentech Capital Advisors LLC in 2008 to advise and raise money for alternative-energy companies. Renewable developers in the U.S. must rely on a “patchwork” of state regulations and short-lived federal incentives, he said.
“There’s no way to spin it as positive,” McDermott said in an interview. “The failure of Congress to put in place policies which set a framework is that it’s just going to be more difficult for capital to make long-term investment decisions.”
Exelon, Nike
Chief executives officers of Exelon Corp., Nike Inc., and 81 other companies today urged Obama and lawmakers to enact climate legislation. In a letter, the group called for “strong policies and clear market signals that support the transition to a low-carbon economy and reward companies that innovate.”
The new Senate version of the jobs bill may include funding for a “cash for caulkers” program providing grants to make homes more energy efficient, said Lowell Ungar, policy director for the Washington-based Alliance to Save Energy.
“The money will run out from the recovery act and if there’s not further legislation to push these retrofits, there’s a real risk that the infrastructure we’re creating right now will wither,” Ungar said in an interview. “The people who are being trained right now to do these retrofits will no longer have jobs.”
The Obama administration credits last year’s economic stimulus bill with helping to stabilize the economy and creating 640,000 jobs, including 52,000 in clean energy.
‘Daunting’ Challenges
The cap-and-trade measure that the House of Representatives passed in June would limit emissions and establish a market in pollution allowances. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said yesterday that Democrats “will tackle our daunting energy and climate challenges” with legislation that creates “good-paying, clean-energy jobs.” He provided no specifics.
“The election itself means the loss of one vote,” Nikki Roy, who monitors Congress for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Virginia, said of Brown’s victory. “Obviously the bigger unknown is how it affects thinking by moderates. Most moderate members of the Senate were already feeling very cautious on this issue.”
Some lawmakers were describing passage of the cap-and-trade measure as unlikely this year even before Brown’s win, which gave Republicans 41 votes in the Senate and deprived Democrats of the 60-vote supermajority generally needed to pass legislation.
‘Climate-Friendly’ Measure
There won’t be enough political will left to undertake such a disputed measure after the fight over health-care legislation, Senator Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota who recently announced his retirement, said Jan. 19 on a conference call with reporters.
“It’s my assessment that we will not do a climate bill, but that we will do an energy bill instead.” Dorgan said. “The energy bill will be climate-friendly.”
The Senate Energy Committee approved a measure last year that would require utilities to get as much as 15 percent of their power from renewable sources. That bill, which wouldn’t place a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, hasn’t been taken up by the full Senate.
Carol Browner, Obama’s top adviser on energy and the environment, said last week that an energy and climate bill limiting emissions from power plants, factories and refineries remains a priority of the White House.
Kerry, Graham, Lieberman
Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who co- sponsored a climate-change bill last year, said he is beginning daily meetings with colleagues Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, to draft a compromise bill.
“The political atmosphere doesn’t reduce the urgency of dealing with pollution and energy,” Kerry said in an e-mail. “This is the single best opportunity to create jobs, reduce pollution, and stop sending billions overseas for foreign oil from countries that would do us harm.”
--With assistance from Simon Lomax in Washington. Editors: Larry Liebert,
Energy Measures May Go to Jobs Bill After Brown Win (Update1)
January 21, 2010, 03:17 PM EST More From Businessweek
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Kim Chipman
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Measures to spur green-energy jobs may end up in a new economic-stimulus bill after Republican Scott Brown’s Senate victory in Massachusetts dimmed prospects for legislation to curb carbon-dioxide emissions.
Provisions to help homeowners reduce power use and make industry more energy-efficient may be shifted out of cap-and- trade legislation that’s stalled in the Senate, said Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Those Democrats who may have already been nervous about a vote on climate policy are even more nervous now,” he said.
Brown, who on Jan. 19 won the Senate seat held by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy for almost 50 years, opposes the emissions-trading program that President Barack Obama says is needed to fight global climate change. Republican opponents say the cap-and-trade legislation would boost costs and cut jobs in an economy that already has a 10 percent unemployment rate.
“A large cap-and-trade bill isn’t going to go ahead at this time,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, told reporters in Washington yesterday.
Putting energy provisions into a bill to stimulate job creation instead “makes sense” because that’s the Senate’s next priority after health-care legislation, Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said before Brown’s win.
“Everybody who’s got a job-creation idea is going to try to get on this train,” Brown said in a Jan. 15 interview, referring to a new jobs bill. “Anything that we’re thinking of doing in any energy related area that can produce jobs short- term, mid-term, long-term will be considered in this.”
House Jobs Bill
The House passed a $154 billion jobs bill before the Christmas break. The Senate was planning to take up a bigger package this year.
Some Republicans may support moves to help manufacturers make the transition to clean-energy production if the provisions aren’t too costly, said John Feehery, a Republican strategist who advised former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The loss in Massachusetts should prompt Democrats to seek smaller-scale legislative victories.
“What Democrats are going to want to do more is get some discrete, easily understandable accomplishments that they can take back to the voters,” Feehery said in an interview. “They’re going to have to ditch climate change and push on more targeted agenda items, like energy independence and green jobs.”
Renewable-Energy Investment
The U.S. lost 85,000 jobs in December, and unemployment remains close to a 26-year high. Republicans have successfully cast the cap-and-trade bill as “as a job-killer and a tax- raiser,” Feehery said.
Climate-change legislation would penalize use of power from fossil fuels while guaranteeing long-term returns for investors in wind turbines and solar panels, said Jeffrey McDermott, the former co-head of investment banking at UBS AG who started Greentech Capital Advisors LLC in 2008 to advise and raise money for alternative-energy companies. Renewable developers in the U.S. must rely on a “patchwork” of state regulations and short-lived federal incentives, he said.
“There’s no way to spin it as positive,” McDermott said in an interview. “The failure of Congress to put in place policies which set a framework is that it’s just going to be more difficult for capital to make long-term investment decisions.”
Exelon, Nike
Chief executives officers of Exelon Corp., Nike Inc., and 81 other companies today urged Obama and lawmakers to enact climate legislation. In a letter, the group called for “strong policies and clear market signals that support the transition to a low-carbon economy and reward companies that innovate.”
The new Senate version of the jobs bill may include funding for a “cash for caulkers” program providing grants to make homes more energy efficient, said Lowell Ungar, policy director for the Washington-based Alliance to Save Energy.
“The money will run out from the recovery act and if there’s not further legislation to push these retrofits, there’s a real risk that the infrastructure we’re creating right now will wither,” Ungar said in an interview. “The people who are being trained right now to do these retrofits will no longer have jobs.”
The Obama administration credits last year’s economic stimulus bill with helping to stabilize the economy and creating 640,000 jobs, including 52,000 in clean energy.
‘Daunting’ Challenges
The cap-and-trade measure that the House of Representatives passed in June would limit emissions and establish a market in pollution allowances. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said yesterday that Democrats “will tackle our daunting energy and climate challenges” with legislation that creates “good-paying, clean-energy jobs.” He provided no specifics.
“The election itself means the loss of one vote,” Nikki Roy, who monitors Congress for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Virginia, said of Brown’s victory. “Obviously the bigger unknown is how it affects thinking by moderates. Most moderate members of the Senate were already feeling very cautious on this issue.”
Some lawmakers were describing passage of the cap-and-trade measure as unlikely this year even before Brown’s win, which gave Republicans 41 votes in the Senate and deprived Democrats of the 60-vote supermajority generally needed to pass legislation.
‘Climate-Friendly’ Measure
There won’t be enough political will left to undertake such a disputed measure after the fight over health-care legislation, Senator Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota who recently announced his retirement, said Jan. 19 on a conference call with reporters.
“It’s my assessment that we will not do a climate bill, but that we will do an energy bill instead.” Dorgan said. “The energy bill will be climate-friendly.”
The Senate Energy Committee approved a measure last year that would require utilities to get as much as 15 percent of their power from renewable sources. That bill, which wouldn’t place a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, hasn’t been taken up by the full Senate.
Carol Browner, Obama’s top adviser on energy and the environment, said last week that an energy and climate bill limiting emissions from power plants, factories and refineries remains a priority of the White House.
Kerry, Graham, Lieberman
Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who co- sponsored a climate-change bill last year, said he is beginning daily meetings with colleagues Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, to draft a compromise bill.
“The political atmosphere doesn’t reduce the urgency of dealing with pollution and energy,” Kerry said in an e-mail. “This is the single best opportunity to create jobs, reduce pollution, and stop sending billions overseas for foreign oil from countries that would do us harm.”
--With assistance from Simon Lomax in Washington. Editors: Larry Liebert,
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