To begin, let’s review some basic HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) principals. Heat pumps are basically just air-cooled electric air conditioners that, in addition to taking heat out of a home (in the cooling season) can also be made to run backwards to provide heat to homes (in the heating season). This dual heating and cooling ability is accomplished by the relatively simple reversal of refrigerant flow through an additional control valve.
So-called “geothermal” heat pump are basically just heat pumps that, instead of exchanging heat in the refrigerant with outside air, exchange heat with pipes buried a few feet deep in the yard. In order to minimize the extra amount of refrigerant that would be needed for the vast amount of buried pipe necessary with “geothermal” heat pump systems, intermediate heat exchangers and common “antifreeze solutions” are employed instead.…
Continue Reading“The $3.7 million system is projected to reduce power bills by $3.5 million over the 25-year lease agreement. Unfortunately, as PSC Commissioner Stan Wise pointed out, ‘By the end of the agreement, Dublin taxpayers will actually pay $7.5 million in SPLOST sales taxes for debt service, and this does not include other costs such as operations and maintenance and insurance.’”
Solyndra was a visible black eye for the Obama administration in 2011, when the solar panel manufacturer went bankrupt after taking in more than $500 million from taxpayers and private investors. Closer to home, the silence is deafening: Few even know of the failure of Mage Solar, a company that set up shop in Middle Georgia with great fanfare in 2011.
What started out as a Georgia Public Policy Foundation commentary (by me) to mark Sunshine Week (March 15-21), and the two-year anniversary of Dublin High School’s award-winning solar array, led to a trail of lofty projections, broken promises, unpaid bills, questionable math, and taxpayers left on the hook.…
Continue Reading“We built the 1,700 mile Alaska-Canadian Highway (ALCAN highway) through some of the world’s most rugged terrain in less than a year. We built the Empire State Building in 410 days; the Pentagon, we built it in 16 months. Mr. President, there is NO reason that Keystone should have been studied for six years.”
Mr. President, today I stand in support of the Keystone Pipeline Project.
As an Alaskan, I feel it’s important to talk about this bill and the importance of American energy infrastructure. I live in a state with one of the world’s largest pipelines. In 1973, after bitter debate, similar to the debate about Keystone, Congress passed a bill that led to the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline system– what we in Alaska call TAPS.
It almost didn’t happen.…
Continue Reading