Georgia Power rendering of proposed Plant Vogtle Southern Co.’s proposed expansion of Plant Vogtle near Augusta is expected to become the first nuclear power plant out the gate today with a federal loan guarantee in an expected rush toward more nuclear plants spurred by need to cut greenhouse gas pollution. The Associated Press reported over the [...]

North DeKalb residents may succeed in keeping a proposed biomass plan out of a densely developed district near their homes, the AJC reports. The article describes the he-said/he-said debate between not-in-by-backyard activists and Southeast Renewable Energy, which has proposed a facility that would generate electricity through the gasification of waste wood products. The plant would be [...]

Wait at least two weeks before buying that new refrigerator, stove, dishwasher or other appliance. On Feb. 12, Georgia initiates a rebate program for the purchase of EnergyStar-rated appliances. EnergyStar is a federal green certification program that, among other things, rates appliances. Even without the rebate, EnergyStar-rated appliances tend to be a good deal over the long [...]

Georgia Power filed a plan this afternoon to provide its customers with enough electricity over the next 20 years by adding two new nuclear reactors and three natural gas plants to a production system that currently relies heavily on coal. The utility’s Integrated Resource Plan must be submitted to the state Public Service Commission, which takes [...]

Eight days of civil disobedience at the Coal River mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia has largely notice from the national media. But it has all the markings of a significant act of civil disobedience. There’s a cause: The fight against more mountaintop removal of coal, which by any measure is an extremely destructive form of [...]

The South is positioned to become the “Saudi Arabia” for a vast untapped energy source, a renowned Georgia Tech energy expert told an audience of executives, entrepreneurs and advocates Wednesday. Instead, Public Policy Professor Marilyn Brown lamented, the region is lagging the nation in developing that resource. What energy source was she talking about? Efficiency. “The lifestyles we [...]

Eco-billionaire Ted Turner announced Tuesday that he and the uber-polluting Southern Co. are working together on a major renewable energy initiative. Their initial focus: “Developing and investing in large scale solar photovoltaic projects in the U.S. Southwest.” Turner is the nation’s largest landowner, and much of his property is in New Mexico. Some of the projects under consideration [...]

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s constituents live as far as you can get in North America from the stomping grounds of the Southern Co. But the Alaska politicias still is among the biggest beneficiaries political largess from the Atlanta-based parent company that owns Georgia Power. Murkowski came under fire last week for gobbling up more campaign money [...]

Contractors had weatherized only 3 percent of more than 13,000 Georgia homes slated for energy efficient retrofits by Nov. 30, a snapshot of state records analyzed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But it’s unclear to me whether the AJC’s critical take on the program really is fair. The paper’s angle? “Months after millions of federal stimulus dollars [...]

The proposed expansion of an east Georgia nuclear plant has gotten a lot of attention from in-state environmentalists, and rightfully so. The two new reactors at Plant Vogtle, near Augusta, could become the first two new nuclear reactors in the United States in 30 years. But the possible construction of two long-delayed reactors in northeast Alabama [...]