 |
| Steve Pearce |
Commentary by Paul Lindsey, former naval nuclear officer, Wind turbines of all sizes have plenty of advocates, because the promise of electricity with zero fuel cost is very attractive. Santa Fe County has a 10 kW Bergey Excel turbine on a 120 ft tower at their Public Works Complex. The inclusion of the wind turbine at the new complex was justified by stating that it would provide 3-6.8% of the facility’s electricity. Recently, the Sierra Club endorsed Santa Fe County Commissioner Virginia Vigil for the District 3 Public Regulation Commission position. In her responses to the Sierra Club questionnaire, Ms. Vigil cited her support for the 12kw (sic) wind turbine. Now that it’s been in operation for more than two years, has the $75,000 spent by Santa Fe County been a good investment? Umm, no. The wind turbine is averaging 5780 kWh/yr. At 9 c/kWh, that’s a total annual electricity cost savings of $520, or $43.33 per month. At that rate, it will take 144 YEARS to payback the installation expense, assuming that there a no repair or maintenance costs. That is also 3-5 times the design life of the turbine, so the County would have to buy and install a new turbine (currently $32K each) at least two more times. The cost of a replacement turbine alone puts the County in a tail chase, because the payback time for $32,000 is 11 years longer than the maximum expected design life, unless the cost of electricity to Santa Fe County rises to 11 c/kWh. To payback the original $75K turbine cost (which includes the tower, installation and connection expenses) within 50 years, the cost of electricity would have to go up to 26 c/kWh! . Read column
Albuquerque Journal - State legislators who also work for Albuquerque Public Schools will no longer receive their APS salaries for time spent serving in Santa Fe. The APS board’s policy committee voted 4-2 Tuesday evening to adopt a new board policy, which specifies that employee legislators must take unpaid leave to attend legislative sessions and interim committee meetings. The new policy must still be approved by the full board when it meets tonight, but all APS board members serve on the committee, and all attended Tuesday’s meeting. Board member David Peercy abstained because he leads the policy committee and votes only in the event of a tie. The board considered three options: One would not have allowed employees to serve in the Legislature at all, and one would have allowed them to continue serving with pay, although it would have required them to give their state per diem to APS. The option they ultimately chose — allowing employees to serve with unpaid leave — was a compromise between the two. Board member Lorenzo Garcia, who backed the compromise from the outset, said it would be bad policy for APS to pay employees for their time in Santa Fe when budgets are tight. “I strongly support the idea of a citizen Legislature,” Garcia said. “I think in these budget times, however, we cannot afford to pay somebody to be in the Legislature. And we should allow people, if they want to be in the Legislature, to do so, but not with pay.” Read More News New Mexico (Subscription)
 |
| Rand Paul |
New Mexico Business Weekly - The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is adding two express trains and quiet cars to its schedule, as well as ticketing via mobile phones. It is also implementing a new fare structure, according to the Rio Metro Transit District. Fares for one-way trips and day passes are set to increase by $1 to $2, while monthly passes will increase by $4 to $11. This is the first time the Rail Runner Express has implemented a fare increase and the changes follow meetings last fall to address a funding shortfall for the train. The cost for the two new trains and other services will be covered by the fare increase as well as new federal clean air grant funds of about $4.8 million, said Jay Faught, marketing manager with Rio Metro. The district saved about $1.2 million by renegotiating its contract with Herzog Transit Services, which operates the Rail Runner under contract with Rio Metro. Read More News New Mexico
Posts
All Comments
