It was in Germany that Ed Regan realized Gainesville, Florida, was going about things all wrong. The assistant manager at Gainesville Regional Utility (GRU) was out looking for ways to boost his city's renewable energy capacity. "Germany was a game-changer," Regan says. Wind turbines and solar panels seemed to be everywhere. He soon learned the secret.
Before Regan's June 2008 trip, the GRU was trying to promote small-scale renewable energy generation by offering hefty cash rebates to customers who installed solar photovoltaic panels. And it had a "net metering program" that allowed customers who generate their own power to run their electricity meters backward, thereby cutting their electric bills potentially to zero.
But the programs weren't attracting a great deal of interest. The utility's rebate program had yielded only 300 kilowatts of solar power capacity--roughly the amount of electricity used by 160 hair dryers--and it cost a lot of money.
The difference between Gainesville and Germany was that Germany had a national feed-in tariff. Under this system, energy consumers can become renewable energy producers by installing solar panels on their roof or a wind turbine in their backyard and selling their energy to the local utility. These customers-turned-producers receive above-market prices for their energy, often for up to twenty years. With the feed-in tariff, Germany boosted its renewable energy production from 1 percent of its total output in 1995 to 12 percent in 2005. By 2007 renewables supplied 14 percent of Germany's electricity. Denmark and Spain also have successful feed-in tariff programs.
So this past March, Gainesville rolled out its own feed-in tariff. GRU now pays twice the retail cost for every kilowatt of solar power-generated electricity. The extra cost means a small increase in electrical bills for all utility consumers, less than a dollar per month per household.
But in order to keep consumer prices down, the feed-in tariff is limited to expand by only 4 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity per year, for six years. And the first year's quota was snapped up in just two weeks. The program now has a waiting list through 2016. Rather than a bunch of homeowners each installing a few panels, the Gainesville quotas were mostly taken by commercial investors.
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Green Diary Rescues appear on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The diary rescue begins below and continues in the jump. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
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Rei asked Who's killing the electric car again?: "How did a woman who the SEC says planned one of the largest accounting frauds in US history end up as Chief Financial Officer of Aptera Motors? It's just one of many questions swirling around what appears to be a meltdown in progress at the beleagured manufacturer of safe, hyper-efficient electric vehicles. When a business is running smoothly, there are strong incentives for everyone to be a team player and hide any signs of internal strife. As the rate of layoffs and "vacations" increases, however, so does the potential for leaks. And sometimes a simple name can take you places you never thought you'd go."
David Brin offered a lesson in capitalism with his diary Re-allocating energy research: "The Obama Administration, while pumping up funding and incentives to further develop hybrid vehicles, has slashed $100 million (60%) from the budget for George W. Bush’s preferred approach -- hydrogen fueled cars. Of course, this is one more sign that we are being led by people who want America to succeed, and no longer by technological morons, determined to make every possible wrong decision. Why am I so fierce in my appraisal of so-called ‘hydrogen-power’ -- despite my portraying it positively, in several stories and novels? Because it cannot possibly help us in the near (twenty year) future, as was cogently pointed out recently by Energy Secretary (and Nobel winner) Stephen Chu. "
Spencer Troxell muses on diet and parenting in Who Eats Who? (jlms qkw)
Christian Wright represented the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship at a White House security council briefing on Afghanistan and Pakistan and reports back in Me, Kal Penn, and Peace. (srkp23)
CA-Sen: Boxer Maintains Solid Edge, Even in Ras Poll Given that the Rasmussen poll in question had some data that hinted at a GOP skew (the 55% job approval for President Obama, for example), the news on the Senate race has to be considered very good news for Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. In the new Rasmussen poll, she leads both of her likely Republican challengers (Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore) by nearly identical margins. She leads Fiorina by nine (46-37) and leads Devore by a ten-point margin (49-39).
The Race for 2012: Obama Still Leads All Comers, According to PPP Despite flagging approval numbers with the same pollster (PPP had him under 50% for the first time this week), a new set of numbers on the 2012 elections from PPP (PDF File) shows that President Barack Obama has leads of between 5-8 points over four leading GOP figures. As has been customary as of late, Mike Huckabee (49-44) and Mitt Romney (48-43) keep Obama the closest in terms of margin. Against Sarah Palin (51-43) and Ron Paul (46-38), Obama stretches out his advantage.
National: An Embarrassing Moment For Gallup It was almost undoubtedly coincidental, but a sequence of events occurring over the past few days has put quite a bit of egg on the face of the most venerable pollster in the game: Gallup. Apparently, Rush Limbaugh decided recently to mix his polling analysis with a little racist speculation:
"Gallup has it [Obama's job approval] just teetering there on the little teeter-totter at 50%, and they're doing everything they can, they're upping the sample of black Americans, to keep him at 50% in the Gallup poll."
This, of course, is an incredibly serious accusation, and it led to a sharp denial from Gallup polling head Frank Newport on Thursday. But what happened on Friday? Gallup's tracking poll broke the barrier and found Obama at 49%. No word on how many seconds into his broadcast it took for Limbaugh to claim the credit and proclaim his infallibility.
IN POLITICAL NEWS....
NY-23: If you wondering what was going to be the excuse du jour for Doug Hoffman and the teabagger crowd in explaining his defeat to Democrat Bill Owens, wonder no more: the computer virus stole the election this time. Put the virus next to ACORN, labor unions, Democrats, and beer bottles on the shelf of reasons why Doug Hoffman was defeated. Like most allegations from Team Hoffman, this one did not stand up well to scrutiny. Hoffman is still contemplating a challenge to the election this weekend, despite the fact that nearly a dozen 2008 contests wound up closer than his race with Bill Owens.
MD-01: It is an internal poll, so enjoy it seasoned with a grain (or several) of salt, but Republican Andy Harris is claiming he has a thirteen-point lead over incumbent Democrat Frank Kratovil in Maryland's 1st District.
THE MONEY CHASE: If the NRCC is going to lead the way to a GOP resurgence in the House, they probably need to get on the stick: the DCCC outraised their GOP counterparts again in October. The NRCC only has about $4 million on hand for the 2010 cycle, far less than the DCCC had in either 2006 or 2008.
OR-Gov: And then there were two (major candidates, at least) on the Democratic side to be the next Governor of Oregon. Steve Shields, a former executive with Hewlett Packard, packed in his bid to be Governor via a message at his website. This leaves former Governor John Kitzhaber and former Secretary of State (and 2002 Senate nominee) Bill Bradbury as the leading Democratic candidates. Worth noting, though, is that Congressman Peter DeFazio has not yet slammed the door shut on a bid of his own (although he has made little movement, either).
MN-01: After cruising in 2008 against an outgunned opponent, Democratic sophomore Rep. Tim Walz might have drawn a slightly higher caliber opponent for 2010. Allen Quist, a former state legislator who made a run at popular moderate GOP Governor Arne Carlson from the right in 1994, is seeking a political second act in a bid against Walz.
Via Grist, the caption reads "EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER!"
Reportedly from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine -- no way to tell for sure without an original copy of that edition. Humble Oil merged with Standard Oil which underwent various name and organizational changes, to eventually become Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest energy company and the most profitable single company in history. But one thing remains the same: they're still melting tons of glacier and they're probably just as proud of it now as they were way back then ...
Keith Olbermann rips News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch for denying that he had accused President Obama of making racist comments:
Unfortunately for Murdoch, he did accuse Pres. Obama of making racist comments, and Keith plays the video.
It’s bad enough that Rupert Murdoch would have ever back Glenn Beck’s absurd allegation that Barack Obama is a racist; the fact that he doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to stick by that attack shows that Murdoch isn’t just a wingnut, he’s a coward.
Standish, Michigan, tells Liz Cheney to sell it up the street:
Officials in a small Michigan town featured in a new video about Guantanamo by Liz Cheney’s national security group want her to know that they’re not falling for her “fearmongering” — and tell us they want Gitmo detainees in their town.
Cheney’s group, Keep America Safe, has released a short documentary starring several residents of little Standish, Michigan, slamming the Obama administration over a proposal to transfer some Guantanamo detainees to the town’s maximum security facility, one of several facilities being discussed. [...]
Cheney is “certainly not representing the views of our community,” the City Manager, Michael Moran, told our reporter, Amanda Erickson.
While some local residents do appear to have expressed mixed feelings or opposition to the plan, Moran says that they’re an isolated minority that Ms. Cheney’s video elevates out of proportion in a way that’s “off base.”
The teabagger way -- pretend that the voice of extremism is speaking for everyone.
Behind the scenes, United States and Russian negotiators have been hard at work hammering out a new START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The Treaty expires on December 5, 2009, and it looks like neither of the legislative bodies in either country will ratify it in time. Plutonium Page will explain what the obstacles are, and how the two countries will handle the gap between the missed deadline and actual treaty ratification.
DarkSyde will introduce a few glitches in the incredible human immune system and exposes some aberrations of our dysfunctional healthcare system in "Resistance is Futile."
When we think and talk politics and strategy, there are distinctions that too easily get blurred. Laura Clawson will highlight some of the fault lines.
DemFromCT will review how the breast cancer screening panel misaligned the science, the politics and the commmunication... and why it matters.
Last month, Germany, France, the United States, Russia, Britain, and China met with Iranian nuclear negotiators to discuss a deal in which Iran would send most of its low-enriched uranium out of the country to be further enriched and fabricated into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. Since then, a lot has happened, including Iran's official rejection of the deal as well as a new, troubling report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear facilities. Plutonium Page will discuss all of this in detail, and what it means for the future.
"Former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed President Obama for bowing before the Emperor of Japan. Cheney said, 'C’mon, it’s not like he’s the CEO of Exxon.'" ---Conan O'Brien - "[Sarah] Palin says that women are held to a higher standard than men. She quotes Margaret Thatcher who said, 'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.' It's an interesting theory. I guess that’s why she asked a woman to write the book for her." ---Jimmy Kimmel - "Republicans Steve King and Pete Hoekstra attempted to wrap the Capitol with the 1,900-page healthcare bill. I mean, come on---shouldn’t that time be spent actually reading the bill? But you know the only way some of them will read it is resting it on the back of the hooker they're bonin' at the C Street House." ----Wanda Sykes - "A tanker truck carrying 7,000 gallons of Canadian Club whiskey overturned on a Kentucky highway on its way to the Jim Beam distillery. Said a nearby child: 'It smells like uncles.'" ---Seth Meyers
Oh, and apparently the reason why Republicans have been freaking out this year is because they're just now finding time to read their back issues of Oh My God We're So Screwed magazine from 2004. Seriously...
Jon Stewart: There's a fear out there that seems irrational. Exploiter of Irrational Fears Lou Dobbs: I think that part of that fear certainly is. I also think part of that fear is simply catching up with the events of some years ago...say, four or five years ago.
Rei asked 
