Author Archives: BobbyePeoples

CNN to America: Where Do You Think the Plane Is?

by BobbyePeoples Posted on May 7, 2014

Mother Jones

According to a new CNN poll, 9 percent of Americans believe “space aliens, time travelers, or beings from another dimension” are responsible for the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370.

According to a 2012 National Geographic survey, 36 percent of Americans believe that aliens have already visited Earth.

If you are one of the 27 percent of Americans who believe that aliens have visited Earth but aren’t responsible for the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, please let me know. I’d love to pick your brain.

Bonus: The new CNN poll asks respondents where they think the plane is. Fifty-one percent of Americans believe the plane is in the Indian Ocean around where the search teams are looking, but 46 percent of Americans think it’s “somewhere else.” None of the people polled could possibly have any idea where the plane is. The question is itself ridiculous, but maybe more ridiculous is the idea that almost half of America thinks the experts are wrong. “The search teams say it’s in that one bit of the Indian Ocean, but I think it’s in Canada. Or Hawaii. Or Scotland. Or the moon. Or Benghazi. Why? I’ve just got a feeling.”

Forty-six percent of Americans are living in a world of pure imagination.

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CNN to America: Where Do You Think the Plane Is?

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Vermont expands solar net metering, gives finger to ALEC

by BobbyePeoples Posted on April 2, 2014

Vermont expands solar net metering, gives finger to ALEC

By

Tim Patterson

Bad news for the polluter-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, but wonderful news for the planet.

In 2012 and 2013, ALEC tried to roll back states’ renewable energy standards, and failed. Now it’s trying to roll back solar net-metering programs, which let homeowners sell electricity from their rooftop panels into the grid, and that campaign isn’t going so well either.

Case in point: In Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) just signed a bill that will expand the state’s net-metering program, allowing solar panel owners to sell more of their clean electricity into the grid.

The bill will nearly quadruple the size of a cap on the amount of solar power that utilities must be willing to buy from their customers. It also creates pilot projects that could allow for solar projects as large as 5 megawatts to be built under the scheme. The AP reports:

Alternative energy proponents pushed for the increased cap after some Vermont utilities had reached the 4 percent cap and stopped taking new net-metered power.

“Our success exceeded our wildest dreams,” Shumlin said before signing the bill into law, noting that since he took office in 2011 the state had quadrupled the amount of solar energy on the state’s electric grid.

Vermont’s increased use of alternative energy has helped the state to become the nation’s per-capita leader in the number of solar energy jobs.

The new law is being lauded by renewable energy advocates. “Thousands of Vermonters have already gone solar, and this law will allow thousands more, of all walks of life, to be part of building a clean energy legacy for our state,” the Vermont Public Interest Research Group said in a statement. “While we have more work to do, this law is a good next step.”

Meanwhile, the solar industry recently helped defeat ALEC-championed efforts in Washington and Utah to wind back the net-metering programs in those states. And we told you in November about a similar success in Arizona.

“In state after state, overwhelming public support for rooftop solar continues to trump multi-million dollar attacks from utilities … and ALEC,” an exec with solar company Sunrun told CleanTechnica.


Source
New Vermont law expands use of renewable energy by encouraging small power projects, AP
Solar Industry Defeats ALEC Net Metering Attacks In Utah & Washington, CleanTechnica

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Vermont expands solar net metering, gives finger to ALEC

Posted in alternative energy, Anchor, ATTRA, FF, GE, LG, ONA, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Vermont expands solar net metering, gives finger to ALEC