IS IT TRUE the headline concerning the Johnson Controls contract that was dealt from the bottom of the deck by the Weinzapfel Administration during its last few weeks is still that the Winnecke Administration had been advised by the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) that the deal was not financially what it was advertised to be?…the IURC actually turned down the City of Evansville’s proposal as the Weinzapfel Administration had signed it and was considered to be terminated?…CCO Moles very close to this situation were privately telling us that Mayor Winnecke was pleased that the IURC had turned the City of Evansville down on this and that he had been given the gift on one of Weinzapfel’s albatrosses being eliminated without obligations?
IS IT TRUE that may well have been what Mayor Winnecke was saying in private when preaching to the choir but when it came time to take actions the City of Evansville and Johnson Controls teamed up to file a formal legal appeal in hopes to challenge the ruling of the IURC and stuff this deal through the same way Mayor Weinzapfel did like a thief in the night?…by that we mean that this was done behind the backs of the Evansville City Council including Council President Connie Robinson and Finance Chairmen, John Friend, CPA?…the Winnecke Administration appealed the original ruling to the IURC which was published and the re-consideration soundly rejected?…City attorney, Ted Ziemer, filed an action in the Indiana Court of Appeals requesting the Court to order the IURC to rehear this absurd position the third time?…on December 13, 2012 the City’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss, and never informs the City Council President and Finance Chairmen, John Friend, CPA?…to top it off, the city is moving to re-submit the Johnson Controls contract with the half baked assumptions similar to the ones in the original application that was denied by the IURC for not providing the financial advantages as advertised?
IS IT TRUE the Johnson Controls deal is no longer one of Weinzapfel’s albatrosses?…this albatross was hatched by the Winnecke Administration and custom tailored by the Mayor and his staff before hanging it around his own neck?… Mole #16 tells the CCO that the City of Evansville is now 360 million dollars in debt and is on the verge of having to take on another $130 million dollars for the Bee Slough project immediately, followed up by an additional $97 Million on various other mandated EPA projects if the EPA approves the City’s watered down proposal?…it not that $227 Million will turn into over $500 Million?…a city with a declining population that is aging can only handle so much debt and the burden is high enough with providing essential services?…all of this proposed spending on fun, games, and techie toys is adding needless debt appears to reflect the actions of the California cities of San Bernardino and Stockton?
IS IT TRUE that SNEGAL appears to be on the payroll of the Winnecke Administration with all of the untethered authority that SNEGAL enjoyed under Mayor Weinzapfel?…it is high time that the SNEAKING stopped and sanity at least gets due consideration in the Winnecke Administration?
IS IT TRUE that is also is becoming apparent that a tax deal is about to be struck between the President and Congress that will increase the tax rate on people who earn more than some number between $400,000 and $1 Million per year and above?…while compromise is admirable this one thing will only run the government for about 4 days and will do absolutely nothing to solve the debt and deficit problems the country is facing?…sometime in the next 14 days that cast of clowns will smile for the cameras and claim to have averted a financial disaster?…when they do with no more of a solution than has been even discussed to date it is time to send every last person in Congress and President Obama a 1st Grade Arithmetic book in hopes that they will learn those skills along with a Bronx cheer (BOOOOOO!!)?
Indiana Governor Mitch DanielsINDIANAPOLIS (December 15, 2012) – Governor Mitch Daniels today challenged the graduating class of Indiana University to continually step out of their societal comfort zones to avoid insulating themselves from the less fortunate.
“It’s at times of discomfort that we encounter the new and are taught and challenged and stretched by it. Each of your new commencements, and perhaps especially the toughest of them, will be the times through which you grow the most,†Daniels said.
The governor also urged the graduates that “when your success enables you to assist those less fortunate, as I trust you will do, don’t stop at writing a check. Do it face to face, for your own good as much as those you are helping. And if it’s a little uncomfortable at first, well, that was the idea.â€
The full text of the governor’s speech is included below:
Indiana University Commencement
Remarks by Governor Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
December 15, 2012
Assembly Hall, Bloomington, IN
The first thing you need to know is, I gave President McRobbie a chance to get out of this. I mean, there is no shortage of more interesting speakers he could have invited. Then I went and took a next job at a different university, and not just any university, and so, I thought it might be, well, as the Daniels girls would say, “a bit awkwardâ€.
But in a display of the personal graciousness that is among his hallmarks, and, as I see it, a gesture of the spirit of collaboration that is growing between this great school and its northern cousin, Dr. McRobbie said, no, come on ahead. For his kindness and yours, many thanks.
It’s worth noting on these occasions that we label them “commencement†ceremonies. Not “completion†or “culmination†or “climax†ceremonies, but commencements, and to commence, of course, is not to finish but rather to begin. Today we do celebrate what you outstanding students have completed, but much more so the new lives and adventures you are about to begin.
If you’re a little scared, get used to it, because this is not your last commencement. It’s the first of a series that, for folks your age in this era of life science miracles, will probably extend for six or eight or, who knows, ten decades. Why, even I, at my near-geriatric stage of life, am about to commence to something entirely new. I promise you I’m at least as scared as you are.
That’s only natural. Every commencement means leaving behind the familiar and entering – it will often feel like plunging – into the unknown. A new job, a new city, maybe a new continent, parenthood for sure – each will take you from a comfort zone to a zone of distinct discomfort. I’m here to argue that’s a good thing, something not to dread but to look forward to.
It’s at times of discomfort that we encounter the new and are taught and challenged and stretched by it. Each of your new commencements, and perhaps especially the toughest of them, will be the times through which you grow the most.
College is often the ultimate comfort zone, and now you have to leave it for someplace strange and very different. As you do, let me start you with a word of reassurance, coupled with a caution.
When this event concludes, you will commence membership in a highly important society, and I don’t mean the IU Alumni Association. You are now members of the new American elite. It’s a little bigger than the so-called 1%, but it’s a special, privileged class by any definition.
Unlike elites of the past, it’s not based on an aristocratic name, or inherited wealth, or membership in the political party of a communist or otherwise totalitarian state. The elite of our day is a knowledge elite, comprising those like you who have acquired the skills, knowledge, or at least the credentials of what we call higher education.
In all of history, the marketplace has never conferred so high a premium on cognitive skills, that is, on brains and smarts, as it does today. The data tell us that, on average, you will earn more money, work in safer occupations, and live longer and healthier lives than those without the kind of degrees you are about to receive.
Statistically, you are far more likely to take the actions that produce success in modern life. For instance, you are more likely to practice prudent preventive health. You are far more likely to get married and stay that way, most of you to spouses of similar academic background. That in turn means your children will have greatly increased chances of success themselves.
That’s not to say that your success will come easily. You are more likely to exhibit the qualities of hard work and industriousness that correlate closely with prosperity and leadership. Scholars have found that the factor most directly associated with human fulfillment and happiness is not money or material things but rather what they term “earned successâ€. That means tangible accomplishment based on personal effort, the kind that generates genuine self-respect. As a group, you are far more likely to achieve it than those outside the knowledge elite.
All these facts are matters of averages and probabilities, not sure things. Your diploma today will not come with a warranty or money-back guarantee inside. (Will it, Michael?) But, odds are, after the inevitable scariness of the first of your series of new lives, you will find yourself in a place of relative security and comfort.
Relative, that is, to that large number of our fellow citizens who will not be joining you in this new elite, and it is about them that I ask you to think for a minute this morning.
Whatever career or geographic or lifestyle changes lie ahead, life will invite you to stay nestled snugly inside one ongoing comfort zone. Unless you take conscious steps to escape it, you may spend your entire adulthood there. I’m talking about the increasing tendency of our new knowledge elite to congregate together, cozily insulated from contact with those less fortunate. Professionally, socially, residentially, and most important attitudinally, today’s new upper class is separating from those different from themselves.
In the most important book of your graduation year, Charles Murray catalogs the ways in which this is occurring. To avoid being misunderstood or misrepresented, his research deals solely with white America. It presents a troubling picture of a society that is, as the book’s title says, “coming apartâ€. As Murray puts it, “We need to worry about what happens when exceptionally able students hang out only with each other.†And, he goes on, “It is not a problem if truck drivers cannot empathize with the problems of Yale professors. It is a problem if Yale professors, or producers of network news programs, or CEOs of great corporations or presidential advisers cannot empathize with the priorities of truck drivers.â€
In this audience are many future leaders of the sort he is describing. You are destined to take up positions of influence in the America to come. What will you do to make sure you are not mentally and emotionally distant from people who do not live near you, work where you do, send their kids to the same schools, and consequently do not look at life in the same way you do?
For the last decade, as a hired hand of the people of this state, I have had literally tens of thousands of personal encounters with Hoosiers of all kinds. The nature of the work naturally brought on many of these experiences, but I also have made it my goal to maximize them, any way I can. I have traveled constantly, to our inner cities and most remote rural spaces and to all the small and mid-sized towns in between, seeking out ordinary citizens and giving them a chance to speak directly, through me, to their government. I’ve ridden motorcycles with a lot of folks you won’t find on this campus or any other.
Most usefully, I have spent all my travel nights not in motels but in Hoosier homes. A few days ago I did so for the 125th and presumably final time, on a dairy farm near the northeastern town of Stroh. You all know Stroh. It’s near Valentine. Not far from Plato. OK, think Ft. Wayne.
Those 125 overnights have been fun. I’ve slept in guest rooms, spare rooms, lots of kids rooms, and sometimes just the living room couch. I’ve gotten lost on morning runs, been bitten by the family dog, and taken a bath when I couldn’t figure out the basement shower. I’ve made lots of new friends. But most of all I’ve learned, in those last couple hours before lights out, about the dreams, problems, and often the fears of folks very different from me and from each other.
You won’t all be lucky enough to be able to mooch on the hospitality of strangers the way a governor can. But I hope you will remember to find some way, some new zone– a bowling league, an ethnic club, a church across town, something–to connect with people unlike yourself and your fellow graduates. When your success enables you to assist those less fortunate, as I trust you will do, don’t stop at writing a check. Do it face to face, for your own good as much as those you are helping.
And if it’s a little uncomfortable at first, well, that was the idea.
The last and most dangerous comfort zone to guard against is the one inside your head. It’s the zone of certitude, the smug or maybe just unthinking confidence that you and those around you have all the answers.
Here, too, today’s world will invite you to isolate yourself, to stay in the zone. It’s never been easier. You can watch only cable news channels that select the stories that seem right to you. You can settle in to the chat rooms or internet sites where everyone agrees with the obvious superiority of your point of view.
Supposedly, college has taught you to resist this temptation, to think critically and to stay open to opinions contrary to your own. I hope that’s so. Did you learn to be suspicious about things that “everyone agrees with?†Did you tune up your b.s. detectors? (That stands for “bogus statistics†but they can help you guard against indoctrination, too.) Did you learn that someone’s disagreement with your ideas is not a character flaw or a cause for personal animosity?
Most important, did you learn, as Ben Franklin urged, “to doubt just a bit your own infallibility?†The simple wisdom of Lord Keynes when he said “When I find I’m wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?â€
I have never found “oops†a hard word to say. Someone who never finds an occasion to use it either never tried anything bold or risky, and therefore never made a big mistake, or never considered that someone else might have a better argument. I suggest keeping “oops†in your vocabulary. Take it into that most important discomfort zone, the one where you reexamine your own convictions regularly, in the light of changing facts and new circumstances.
On behalf of the taxpayers of this state, who have co-invested with you and your families in the excellent education IU provides, thank you. Our nation, and this state in particular, needs more college graduates and the abilities they contribute to our collective betterment. So you have already performed a first act of civic leadership by earning the degree you’ll collect in a few minutes.
Now please earn it over and over, in all the future commencements ahead, by seeking out and relishing new zones of discomfort where the greatest satisfaction, achievement, and contributions to the common good await you.
WHITING, Ind., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — As the classic holiday song goes,
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…†Or is it? A new survey reveals
that some aspects of the holiday season can be irk-inducing. The survey,
conducted by coupon site CouponCabin.com, reveals people’s biggest holiday pet
peeves, with traffic congestion and crowding topping the list. This survey was
conducted online nationwide by Harris Interactive on behalf of CouponCabin.com
from November 30th – December 4th, 2012, among 2,691 U.S. adults aged 18 and
older.
While traffic congestion and crowding are the top holiday pet peeves for 52
percent of U.S. adults, a variety of other holiday happenings made the list:
– How early the holiday decorations, sales and store displays start – 46
percent
– All anyone thinks about is gifts, not the spirit of the holidays – 42
percent
– People who cut in line – 35 percent
– Travel prices being too high – 28 percent
– Too much holiday music on radio stations or in stores – 23 percent
– Pressure to give gifts to more people than I really want to – 22 percent
– When people leave their Christmas tree/lights up until late winter
(February or March) – 16 percent
– People who double dip at holiday parties – 12 percent
– Stores that don’t give out boxes – 10 percent
– Family members or friends who don’t bring anything when I’m hosting a
party – 6 percent
– Other – 6 percent
While the holiday season’s pressures can frazzle many people, others stay
festive no matter what. The majority (89 percent) report they have holiday pet
peeves, but more than one-in-ten (11 percent) said they don’t have any.
“The holidays are typically the busiest time of year for many people, leaving
them prone to burnout and frustration,†said Jackie Warrick, President at
CouponCabin.com. “Make sure to carve out time in your day to take care of your
own needs, as well as reflect on what the true meaning of the holidays are to
you.â€
Whether it’s a pet peeve or a frustration, when asked what is their least
favorite part of the holiday season, a random sampling of U.S. adults surveyed
said the following:
– Thanksgiving being forgotten.
– Added pressure at work to cram everything in and get everything done
before the end of the year, right when you want to relax and focus on
the season.
– Burnout! By the time Christmas is here I’m ready for it to be over.
– Taking down the Christmas tree and putting away all the decorations.
– Annoying TV commercials, like the one with the car wrapped in a giant
bow as a gift.
– Everyone feels the need to be artificially friendly.
– Hangovers.
– So many parties and demands on my time then in January, things are dead.
– Spending money on gifts that should really be used for bills or savings.
– The frenzy to purchase the latest electronic gadget.
– Weight gain caused by the vast amounts of food and snacks that we buy,
make or are surrounded by.
– Having to go to office parties.
– Using my credit card when I prefer to pay cash for items and usually
charge some gifts during this time.
– All the same songs are overplayed.
– The political debates my family gets into after we’ve all had too much
eggnog.
– Putting the lights on my house.
– Realizing how fast another year went by and that my children have gotten
old enough that the Christmas “magic†is no longer there.
– Saying goodbye to friends and relatives.
http://www.couponcabin.com/press-releases/
Survey Methodology:
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive
on behalf of Coupon Cabin from November 30th – December 4th, 2012, among 2,691
adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability
sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be
calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables,
please contact Allison Kaplan, akaplan@couponcabin.com.
About CouponCabin.com
CouponCabin.com offers the broadest selection of high-quality,
guaranteed-to-work coupons on the web. With online coupon codes, printable
in-store coupons, grocery coupons, local deals, free samples and more,
CouponCabin.com is the ultimate one-stop-shop for coupons of every variety.
Consumers can also be the first to know about the best coupon deals available
with CouponCabin’s Newsflash, a constantly updated and innovative new feature
with dozens of breaking offers each and every day. Shoppers have saved nearly
$350 million since CouponCabin’s foundation in 2003, and the average user saves
$19 in just 80 seconds. With Newsflash, customized email newsletters, mobile
apps for iPhone, Android and iPad, downloadable browser savings alerts and
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CouponCabin.com.
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind., Dec. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — United Community Bancorp
(Nasdaq: “UCBAâ€) (the “Companyâ€) announced today that, based on the preliminary
results of the subscription and community offerings of United Community Bancorp,
the proposed successor holding company to the Company in connection with the
Company’s pending conversion from mutual holding company to stock holding
company form (“new United Community Bancorpâ€), new United Community Bancorp has
not yet received orders for a sufficient number of shares of common stock to
complete the offering. In order to consummate the offering, new United Community
Bancorp must sell a minimum of 2,966,787 shares. In order to complete the
offering, the Board of Directors has determined to increase the maximum purchase
limitations in the offering and offer those persons who subscribed for the
initial maximum number of shares in the subscription and community offerings the
opportunity to increase their orders. New United Community Bancorp will file a
prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission increasing the
maximum purchase limitation for both individuals and groups to 5.0% of the
shares sold in the offering (148,339 shares and 174,516 shares at the minimum
and midpoint of the offering range, respectively). The Company has received the
required regulatory approval to further increase, without further notice, the
purchase limitation to 9.99% of the total number of shares to be sold in the
offering, provided orders for common stock exceeding 5% of the total number of
shares sold in the offering shall not exceed 10% of the shares sold in the
offering.
To the extent that shares remain available for sale after existing subscribers
have had the opportunity to increase their orders, new United Community Bancorp
intends to extend the community offering and solicit additional purchasers. The
Company will make a public announcement prior to any extension of the community
offering and no new orders will be accepted prior to any such announcement. The
community offering, if extended, may be terminated at any time in the Company’s
sole discretion and the Company retains the right to accept or reject, in whole
or in part, in its sole discretion, orders received in the community offering.
The offering is expected to close at no higher than the midpoint of the offering
range.
The closing of the conversion and offering remains subject to final regulatory,
member and shareholder approvals.
United Community Bancorp is the holding company of United Community Bank,
headquartered in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. United Community Bank currently operates
eight offices in Dearborn County and Ripley County, Indiana.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements about the
conversion and offering. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding
anticipated future events and can be identified by the fact that they do not
relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words such as
“believe,†“expect,†“anticipate,†“estimate,†and “intend†or future or
conditional verbs such as “will,†“would,†“should,†“could,†or “may.â€
Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and
uncertainties. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from expected results include delays in consummation of the
conversion and offering, increased competitive pressures, changes in the
interest rate environment, general economic conditions or conditions within the
securities markets, and legislative and regulatory changes that could adversely
affect the business in which the Company and United Community Bank are engaged.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release is neither
an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy common stock. The offer
will be made only by means of the written prospectus forming part of the
registration statement.
New United Community Bancorp has filed a proxy statement/prospectus concerning
the conversion with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders of the
Company are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus because it contains
important information. Investors are able to obtain all documents filed with the
SEC by new United Community Bancorp free of charge at the SEC’s website,
www.sec.gov. In addition, documents filed with the SEC by new United Community
Bancorp are available free of charge from the Company’s Corporate Secretary at
92 Walnut Street, Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025, telephone (812) 537-4822. The
directors, executive officers, and certain other members of management and
employees of the Company are participants in the solicitation of proxies in
favor of the conversion from the Company’s shareholders. Information about the
directors and executive officers of the Company is included in the proxy
statement/prospectus filed with the SEC.
The shares of common stock of new United Community Bancorp are not savings
accounts or savings deposits, may lose value and are not insured by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Evansville, IN ~ Experience Casting Crowns like never before at The Centre on April 11, 2013 at 7:00pm. “The Acoustic Sessions LIVE!†will take you to the heart of some of their biggest hits including “If We Are the Body,” “American Dream,” “East to West,” and more. Join Casting Crowns for the first time ever in this intimate setting… for an evening that will inspire and encourage.
Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall, who serves as the band’s lead vocalist. Band members along with Hall consist of Megan Garrett, Melodee DeVevo, Hector Cervantes, Juan DeVevo, Chris Huffman and Brian Scoggin.
Contemporary Christian music touring and sales leader, Casting Crowns, has recently received three GRAMMY nominations and news of an RIAA GOLD certification. The band was honored in the Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance category for, “Jesus Friend of Sinners,†and in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Album category for its 2011 RIAA GOLD certified, “Come To The Wellâ€. Mark Hall was also recognized as a songwriter on “Jesus Friend of Sinners,†in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Song category. The 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013.
The band was recently notified that “Voice of Truth,†a song from its 2005 self-titled debut project, surpassed the 500,000 mark in digital sales. This milestone comes on the heels of the RIAA double Platinum certification of its self-titled debut project, and its sixth career Gold certification for “Come to the Well†(Oct. 2011).
The “Acoustic Sessions LIVE!†Tour is partnering with Christian humanitarian organization World Vision (www.worldvision.org). World Vision provides assistance to approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Casting Crowns has helped to generate a total of 52,000 child sponsorships for World Vision to date.
Casting Crowns will be at the Centre’s Aiken Theatre on Thursday, April 11 at 7:00pm. Tickets go on-sale Monday, December 17 at 10:00am. Tickets are $46, $36, $26, & $20 a person. You may order your tickets at www.ticketmaster.com or purchase them at The Centre Box Office from 10am – 5pm M – F.
Evansville Redevelopment Commission
AGENDA – Revised
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 – 8:30 am
Civic Center Complex – Room 307
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes of December 4, 2012
3. Approval of Accounts Payable Vouchers
4. Jacobsville Redevelopment Area
Design Review – 101-107 W Franklin/Alva Electric/new storage building & parking area –
Recommended for approval by JACC
Resolution 12-ERC-44 – Authorizing Contract for Repairs at 118 Garfield St in the Jacobsville Redevelopment Area
5. Downtown Redevelopment Area
Resolution 12-ERC-45 – Awarding a Contract for New Accessible Entrance at the Old Post Office
Resolution 12-ERC-46 – Approval of 4th Addendum to Management Agreement With VenuWorks
Resolution 12-ERC-47 – Accepting a Proposal from RTM Consultants, Inc. for Variance Request at Ford Center
6. Other Business
7. Adjournment
* This preliminary Agenda is subject to change. The final Agenda will be posted at the entrance to the location of the meeting prior to the meeting.
Wind and solar power cannot possibly meet the world’s growing need for more electricity.
By ROBERT BRYCE
Investing in and using fossil fuels is so wrong it should be seen as the equivalent of support for apartheid. That is the message being promoted by 350.org, the organization headed by environmental activist Bill McKibben.
Over the past month or so, Mr. McKibben and a rotating cast of activists have held rallies in 21 U.S. cities encouraging students to campaign for ridding their university endowments of investments in coal, oil and natural gas. The effort is modeled on the 1980s effort to get universities to shed investments in companies that did business in apartheid-era South Africa. A few small schools, including Unity College in Maine and Hampshire College in Massachusetts, have responded to the pressure and agreed to rid their portfolios of fossil-fuel stocks.
One of the slogans used in 350.org’s divestment campaign is “Do the math.” OK. Let’s.
Set aside the financial arguments for—or against—investing in companies that produce hydrocarbons. Further, let’s not judge the claims made by Mr. McKibben and his allies that a concentration of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is “the safe limit for humanity.”
Let’s do the math by considering what will happen if we humans—in the words of the campaign—attempt to “go fossil free” and rely solely on “clean energy.” To make the computation simpler still, let’s ignore oil altogether, even though that energy source represents about 33% of all global energy use and is indispensable for transportation.
The absurdity of the calls for a “fossil free” future can be illustrated by looking exclusively at the explosive growth in the world’s demand for electricity, the commodity that separates rich countries from the poor ones. Since 1985, on a percentage basis, global electricity demand has grown by 121%, which is nearly three times the rate of growth in oil demand. Over the past two and half decades, electricity consumption has increased by an average of 450 terawatt-hours (a terawatt-hour is one trillion watt-hours) per year. That’s the equivalent of adding about one Brazil (which used 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2010) to the electricity sector every year. The International Energy Agency expects global electricity use to continue growing by about 450 terawatt-hours per year through 2035.
Here’s where the math becomes college-freshman obvious: In 2011, the world had 240,000 megawatts of wind-generation capacity. That fleet of turbines produced 437 terawatt-hours of electricity. Therefore, just keeping up with the growth in global electricity demand—while not displacing any of the existing need for coal, oil and natural gas—would require the countries of the world to install about as much wind-generation capacity as now exists, and they’d have to do so every year.
Put another way, just to keep pace with demand growth, the wind industry will need to cover a land area of some 48,000 square miles with wind turbines per year, an area about the size of North Carolina. Even if that much land were available, no humans would want to live on the land because of the irritating noise generated by those turbines.
There are welcome developments in solar energy: Production is growing rapidly and the price of solar cells is falling. Once again, though, simple math exposes the scale problem.
Recall that we need 450 terawatt-hours per year of electricity production to keep pace with incremental demand. Germany has more installed solar-energy capacity than any other country—about 25,000 megawatts. Last year, Germany produced 19 terawatt-hours of electricity from solar. Thus, just to keep pace with the growth in global electricity demand, the world would have to install about 23 times as much solar-energy capacity as now exists in Germany, and it would have to do so year after year.
And we haven’t even considered the incurable intermittency of solar and wind, a problem that requires backup capacity from fossil fuels or nuclear power.
Last month, the Harvard College Undergraduate Council held a referendum on fossil fuel divestment. (Harvard’s $31 billion endowment is the largest in the country.) With about half of the undergrads voting, 72% voted in favor of divesting. Those students were apparently persuaded by the slick slogans put out by 350.org, such as “We > fossil fuels.”
Harvard is among America’s most prestigious schools. But it is apparent that the students who voted in favor of the divestiture proposal—and presumably to rid the world of fossil fuels—did not do the math.
IS IT TRUE we hear that 5th Ward Evansville City Councilman, John Friend, CPA has been urged to run for re-election as City Council Finance Chairman? …we hear that city council members are extremely pleased with the job Mr. Friend is doing in finding financial errors caused by past and past city controllers? …we predict that Mr. Friend shall be re-elected as city of Evansville Finance Chairman unopposed?
IS IT TRUE our “moles” tell us that an announcement from At-Large City Councilman, Dr. Dan Adams is coming soon about his intention to run for City Council Vice President? …that if he decides to run for this position he shall be elected?
IS IT TRUE that our “moles” tell us that City Council President, Connie Robinson is a shoe in for re-election to this position? …if this happens, we wish her well?
IS IT TRUE that County Commissioner President, Marsha Abell shall be re-elected to serve in that position for another year?
IS IT TRUE our “moles” are telling us that a change of new County Council leadership may be forth coming? …this change could see Tom Shelter, Jr. and/or Jim Raben give up a leadership position? …if this happens, the practice of leap frog leadership of County Council shall be over?
IS IT TRUE that tomorrow evening the Evansville City Council attorney, John Hamilton shall attend his last official council meeting? …the City County Observer would like to commend Mr. Hamilton for doing an outstanding job on behalf of city council and the taxpayers of this community?
IS IT TRUE that the Evansville City Council shall have a new attorney representing them starting tomorrow? …that the new City Attorney is none other than the well known and highly respected Scott Danks? …we can expect Mr. Danks to protect the financial and legal interests of city council starting day one?
