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9 thoughts on “Progress Energy at sunset

  1. Betty Cloer Wallace

    Beautiful photograph, but some food for thought…..

    Questionnaire from LEAVINGS by Wendell Berry, 2009

    1. How much poison are you willing
    to eat for the success of the free
    market and global trade? Please
    name your preferred poisons.

    2. For the sake of goodness, how much
    evil are you willing to do?
    Fill in the following blanks
    with the names of your favorite
    evils and acts of hatred.

    3. What sacrifices are you prepared
    to make for culture and civilization?
    Please list the monuments, shrines,
    and works of art you would
    most willingly destroy.

    4. In the name of patriotism and
    the flag, how much of our beloved
    land are you willing to desecrate?
    List in the following spaces
    the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
    you could most readily do without.

    5. State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
    the energy sources, the kinds of security,
    for which you would kill a child.
    Name, please, the children whom
    you would be willing to kill.

  2. It’s a beautiful picture. It’s sign of the progress (pun intended) that has supplied us with our standard of living.

    Lives in the stone age or some Neo-Luddite fantasy world would be brutal and short.

  3. Piffy!

    [b]It’s a beautiful picture. It’s sign of the progress (pun intended) that has supplied us with our standard of living.

    [/b]

    Yes, all that progressive pollution for future generations to deal with. Now THAT’S progress!

    [b]Lives in the stone age or some Neo-Luddite fantasy world would be brutal and short.[/b]

    Yes, because that is the only other option available, to be certain.

  4. JWTJr

    pff – So you are saying we should shut down this plant til an alternative can be found?

  5. Piffy!

    [b]pff – So you are saying we should shut down this plant til an alternative can be found? [/b]

    How do you come top these sorts of unfounded conclusions, repeatedly?

    No, I merely took exception with your ridiculous premise that the only possible alternative to an incredibly inefficient, centralized energy grid that has known pollution issues for the region is to live in some sort of ‘neo-luddite’ fantasy. To pretend those are the only two options available is to be either incredibly ignorant or incredibly naive.

  6. because we need it

    pff,

    can you tell me what is coming out of the stack on the left and why the two stacks on the right are dormant?

  7. Piffy!

    Yes, I am aware it is steam. Are you under the impression that because steam is the exhaust that this specific plant doesnt have well-documented pollution problems?

    “because we need it”. What crap. No one here has said anything that could even be considered arguing that we should do away with this power plant tomorrow, but you and your cronies sure seem intent upon battling that straw man none the less.

    Are you aware that we have more options than inefficient centralized power or the dark ages?

    Such hyperbole is idiotic. Hyper-folly. You FAIL, as usual.

  8. because we need it

    pff,

    i am glad that you realize that it is steam.

    now realize something else. do you have a refrigerator? TV? microwave? water heater? lights? how about a heat source for your home or apartment? if so, then you are a contributor (or user in the case) to the problem that you decry. and that is typical of today’s society. it is always someone else’s fault…not mine. i did not have anything to do with it.

    pff, this is the land of opportunity and i am sure when/if YOU, and i do stress YOU, come up with the ultimate solution, develop it, finance it, and market it to the masses, then not only will you be the savior to the environmentalist crowd but wealthy to boot.

    why have YOU, or anyone else for that matter, not accomplished this seemingly easy task? because you cannot and never will be able to simply snap your fingers or wave your little wand to make it happen. it involves alot of work on the part of a lot of people.

    as long as you can dismiss those you see as opponents by calling them “cronies” you feel as if you have accomplished something. stick it to the coorporate man….right? label someone to belittle them. you keep saying what the “cronies” have not done, what solutions they have not offered.

    other than spouting your discontent with us across the Internet, what have you personally done? and remember, the answer (or retort) that you give us, through the use of new technology and your computer, will be using electricity that is generated by the fine folks who work at that power plant.

  9. because we need it

    pff,

    No response? still formulating an answer?

    Here are two stories from state newspapers 9edited for brevity), more food for thought will you are pondering:

    State Port Pilot, Southport, N.C.
    May 19, 2010

    What began with a comment friend and science teacher Bob Simmons made on a fishing trip nearly a year ago has ended with the ability to harness the sun.

    Under the leadership of Bey and Simmons, in December, South Brunswick High took home the top prize — a $20,000 onsite solar generator — in Progress Energy’s “Sunsense” contest to encourage students to develop innovative energy solutions.

    The solar panels, which were installed earlier this month, were officially unveiled Monday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the school.

    “I am thrilled that a simple sentence from Bob Simmons about Progress Energy and the Sunsense school program while we were flounder fishing together would have brought us all here today,”

    A good idea was one thing, but Bey and Simmons knew it would take a lot of hard work to beat the competition. South Brunswick High was one of 30 schools in North Carolina and South Carolina that applied for the Progress Energy program.

    South Brunswick High will use its new two-kilowatt solar photovoltaic demonstration system from Argand Solar, a North Carolina renewable energy company, to power the aerators for the aquaculture program’s fish farm.

    “Two kilowatts is not much more power than it takes to run a microwave…”

    “With your help, we now are the first high school solar-powered fish farm in North Carolina and possibly the United States,” he told audience members.

    ——————————————————————————–

    Chatham County School dedicates solar panel

    Llin Chen, News 14 Carolina

    May 19, 2010

    Four schools across North Carolina were chosen to receive solar panels from Progress Energy as part of its “Sunsense” Schools initiative.

    The students at Jordan-Matthews High School already know some things about solar energy.

    Now, instead of just reading about solar energy in textbooks, they have their very own photovoltaic panels thanks to the $20,000 grant from Progress Energy and the Carolina Hurricanes.

    “This is a 2-kilowatt-size system. It’s enough to power probably the lights in one classroom,” explained Chatham Olive, with Argand Energy Solutions.

    As part of the initiative, students will be able to track the energy output from the panels, which will be available online.

    “The students are able to compare and contrast early in the day versus midday, August versus December, cloudy days versus bright days,” said Phillip Cox, the school’s science teacher who spearheaded the effort to get the Sunsense grant. “There’s just a whole host of applications that we have not scratched the surface of yet.”

    pff,

    So for your $20,000, will you pop some popcorn or leave your lights on? can’t have both at the same time.

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