ClassicCar

The interesting part of this is how they define "green" power- wind and solar is in, but not hydro power! What's up with that? Hydro is the original "renewable" resource- the rain comes down, the water flows down the river, you make some juice. Nothing gets burned, no CO2 released. What could be more "green" than that?



Of course, the reason is that hydro is, hands down, the cheapest power out there. We're still paying only about 4 cents a kilowatt. So they want us to mix in some more expensive solar and wind, because jacking the price of our electricity still will leave it cheap, relative to fossil fuel power.



If you don't like the result of a new rule, just change the definitions to make it come out like you want it to. :mad:

Doug your point is exactly the reason all of us should challenge anyone with a wind, solar or other power solution to provide evidence that Hydroelectric power is completely exploited!

I grew up in NY and the power coming from Niagra Falls was hanessed to make the power the whole state as well as Penn. was using.

My Dad is retired from the steam turbine division of General Electric that was located in Schenectady NY. That division got closed down when the Nuclear folks decided they had the right solutions.

My brother in Law runs a coal fired steam power plant here in Texas. The emissions from that plant are steam and that is it... the scrubbers being used take all the combustion materials out of the combustion process and they sell that to make steel ... it is shipped overseas!

So, you might say I am abit sceptical.

When the return on investment is spread across fifty years ... the solution gets scrapped. But when the cost to do the power project assures the doer gets to line thier pockets... out with the efficent and in with the new technology... so many untruths to keep track of.:eek:

But through it all... remember to VOTE... and VOTE for those who you think have commonsense and can hold thier own in the DC slime pit.:rolleyes:

SuperDave wrote:

Something is happening here in central Florida. The utility company is asking for a rate increse.. based on the fact that people are using less electricity! Seems the everyday cost of doing business remains the same regardless of elctricity used or sold. So going to a cheaper alternative or supplying your own electricity might just cost you more for what you use! The solar people give you an estimate of how much you will save over the life of the panels..aproximatly 30 years. I don't think they factor in the increases the utilities are going to want , due to their revenues decreasing. Danged if you do danged if you don't! I think going totaly off grid is the only way to escape..

When we moved to Tenn. in 1973 for aircraft school, we were asked to conserve electricity. When we did cut back on electric use our rates went up for the very reason you mentioned. California has been doing that for years, not only with electricity but with water rates too.



Here is another area for rates to go up. When we moved to Elizabethton, Tenn. (17,000 Population) and the next nearest town 26 miles away, from Burbank, Ca. (95,000 population) surounded by 1.000,000 Los Angles, our car insurance rate increased "because we moved into a high risk area" . Two years later we moved back to the same house in Burbank. Guess what happened, our rates went up. Not by a little bit this time, but almost 300%. No tickets, no accidents but the reason given again was, because we moved into a high risk area.



So for anyone planning a move, you might want to check with your insurance company on what your new rates will be. And the utility rates in the area you plan to move in.



If green power can be developed by private companys without government (our money) envolvement, I'm all for it.



Have a good day. Lee

I really don't believe the "Green Power Switch" program is to do anything but provide the seed money for carbon credit swapping.



TVA can't get any "green" credits for its hydro-electric power and is sitting there with all the supposed carbon sins of their coal fired plants. So, they need your green money to help defray their potential carbon tax should the Gore laws come into being.



I was engineering a biomass gasification system here on the farm and tried to tap into the "Green Power Switch" program as a producer. No luck - I was going to get the same base rate that TVA gets for its electricity without any premium "as advertised". Even then there was a "net metering" scam that actually discounted any production I would have had above my own needs.



I blew the B.S. horn at them and remarked that I should have known better than to expect them to encourage any potential competition or loss of demand. That's the bottom line.