The Texas Town That Just Quit Fossil Fuels

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At the risk of further beating a dead horse (love the .gif file, George!), here's how the local paper presented the deal to our local community in an article published Wednesday. The green aspect of the agreement is played up by the city utility leaders who assembled the deal.

https://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Williamson1//Magazine81195/Full/index.aspx?II=81195#1/z

Please note that this link is a mess, and it is apparently impossible to provide a direct link to the article. Look for the story titled "City blazes lonely trail with green energy deal."

Georgetown is one of the reddest towns in one of America's reddest states, so despite what the article states there is no way that this made it through the approval chain solely on the basis of being "green" and eco-friendly. Knowing what I know of the city government this had to have been sold internally strictly on a pragmatic basis of economic savings and municipal promotion.

James
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
I used to be stringer for a newspaper covering the county board of supervisors meetings, so I've been to a lot of such meetings.

The "controversial political topics" we were trying to avoid were global warming, carbon credits, and wealth redistribution. Do you think it is more plausible that a town in Texas signed 20-year power-generation contracts based on a mandate to seek out the best deal, or was that Texas town secretly motivated by global warming, carbon credits or wealth distribution? I'm taking it on face value that it was a good deal. You find evidence Georgetown was motivated by global warming, carbon credits or wealth distribution, and I guess that would be a legitimate addition to the conversation, but until then, it seems off-topic to me.

I'll give you 48 hours to crack this case Agent tmacklin, and then it's back to handing out parking tickets for you!
Click to expand...

Nah, I've got a full case load as it is and the Grand Jury can't seem to true bill anything now that Rick Perry has been indicted. Georgetown looks like a lovely city and I understand Nolan Ryan now makes his home there. Besides, everyone in Texas knows that our public servants are on the up and up and the best that money can buy. We ain't like those thieves out in that little California town who screwed the pooch so bad it went bankrupt, no sir-eee Bob! :grin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra#Shutdown_and_investigation
 
tmacklin said:
We ain't like those thieves out in that little California town who screwed the pooch so bad it went bankrupt, no sir-eee Bob! :grin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra#Shutdown_and_investigation
Click to expand...

It probably seems like bringing up the Solyndra case from a half decade ago is off-topic trolling, but in a way it is relevant. The reason the company went under is that the price of silicon dropped so much, and consequently the price of more standard-design flat panel solar panels dropped too --- there was no way their advanced design for using less silicon could compete based on price. No one expected the price of solar technology to drop so fast, least of all Solyndra and its investors. It turned out to be a bad bet for sure, but the good news is that solar turned out to be so cheap in the end.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
It probably seems like bringing up the Solyndra case from a half decade ago is off-topic trolling, but in a way it is relevant. The reason the company went under is that the price of silicon dropped so much, and consequently the price of more standard-design flat panel solar panels dropped too --- there was no way their advanced design for using less silicon could compete based on price. No one expected the price of solar technology to drop so fast, least of all Solyndra and its investors. It turned out to be a bad bet for sure, but the good news is that solar turned out to be so cheap in the end.
Click to expand...

And what about the American taxpayers who ultimately footed the bill for this exercise in crony corporatism to the tune of One Half Billion dollars? I sincerely hope and pray that the citizens of Georgetown, Texas get their monies worth from the Green Men, but I also retain my skepticism. Only time will tell.
 

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