Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has placed a definitive bet on wind, water, and sunshine. Last week, he signed a bill, the Public Energy Policy Law of Puerto Rico, to power the island solely by renewable energy by 2050. Along the way, the island must draw 40 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2025 and give up coal by 2028.  Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello on Thursday signed into law a bill that sets a 100% renewable energy target by 2050 and w Puerto Rico Governor, Ricardo Rossello  This puts Puerto Rico in league with more than 90 cities, counties, and states like Hawaii and New Mexico that have set 100 percent clean energy targets. It also gives the territory a head start in bigger, more aggressive climate proposals like the Green New Deal. “I’m pretty sure that this will be, by leaps and bounds, the quickest transition to renewables that’s ever happened anywhere on the planet,” said P.J. Wilson, president of the Solar and Energy Storage Associat...

K-School Board members for District 202 heard a presentation Monday night for the installation of solar panels to reduce electricity costs. Superintendent, Steve Wilder informed the board that he had been approached by Eagle Point Solar several months ago about an energy project. According to the superintendent, the district would be able to offset their power consumption pretty significantly with the proposed installation of solar panels. “Bus garage, softball field, sports complex, every single building that the district owns and operates was included in this study,” Wilder told board members. “So really, if you take the high school out… we could potentially generate anywhere from 92 to 100 percent of all the electricity that we would need for our school district.” He added that power consumption at the high school would only be offset by 57 percent. In total, if the board approves the purchasing and installing the solar panels, the indication is the district could see abou...

A solar energy generation system planned for Farmington Central won approval for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) Wednesday, April 10. The IPA held the lottery to determine which projects would receive the REC incentives based upon a predefined application process and tied to the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2017 which opened up block grants to be utilized for clean energy. The credits are tied to a planned solar installation on Farmington District property on approximately 15-acres of unused ground on the east portion of the campus and will be governed by a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Farmington Central CUSD#265, Clean Energy Design Group, Inc., (CEDG) from Springfield, and its financing partner, DynaSolar, a national energy partner located in California. Combined with the existing 756-Kilowatt installation installed by CEDG in 2014 on District property, once this project is complete and operational the district will have at least 80...

DuPage County Forest Preserve commissioners recently agreed to expand a proposed clubhouse at The Preserve at Oak Meadows. The expansion will include include the installation of a solar power system for a cart storage building at the district-owned golf course in Addison, Illinois. "It's not a home run," forest preserve President Daniel Hebreard said. "I would like a better vision. But we did a great thing in adding a responsible environmental project to the construction project." The Preserve at Oak Meadows  (formerly Oak Meadows Golf Course)had a clubhouse for decades until the structure was destroyed in a 2009 fire. Now officials are going to seek price quotes for a new structure. Construction of the clubhouse is estimated to cost roughly $12 million. That number could change once the results of the bids are known in July. If commissioners agree to move forward, the project would break ground in late September or early October. The board discuss...

T he state’s largest electricity utility, Green Mountain Power, has announced plans to procure 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Three other utilities in the state — Burlington Electric Department, Swanton Electric Department and Washington Electric Co-op — already have 100% renewable portfolios. Mary Powell, the chief executive of GMP, made the announcement Saturday in South Burlington. She said the utility, which serves 75% of the state, plans to have a “carbon free” electricity supply by 2025 Capping global warming at a 1.5 degrees celsius increase would require global carbon dioxide emissions to decline 45 percent from 2010 levels in the next 12 years, wrote the report authors. Green Mountain Power’s  current power supply  is just over 60 percent renewable and 90 percent carbon free, which Josh Castonguay, the company’s chief innovation officer, referred to as “a good starting point.” Nuclear, which the utility estimates will account for 27...

GUEST COLUMN  EFFECTS OF BUILDING STRONGER INSTITUTIONS THAN STRONGER MEN IN NIGERIA: Our forum should be commended for their commitment to our collective concerns and interest towards the well being of our colleagues. And it is pertinent that if some of us are not meeting up with these ideals, I hereby advice that you had better resolved to do that, because “A friend who understands your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only know your smiles”. The theme of my presentation, which is – “Effects of Building Stronger Institutions than Stronger Men in Nigeria”, will attempt to highlight on issues that will be based on the empirical and ephemeral; the empirical will stand with the issues of nations being better as a strong entity, while the ephemeral relates to the demerit of personalities being stronger than nations. This in the first place, conveys the fact that since nations lasts for a longer period of time, grows and remains (as we always say “soldiers co...