Third Saturday Seminar 2009-2010

Gregg Sellers
General Manager
NextEra Energy Solar Energy Generating System (SEGS)
Boron, CA

Gregg  will update the talk he gave us in April 2008 about what happening now in the field of alternative energy.  He may share a few observations about life among the Californians.

Gregg has over 20 years in the Power Industry mainly working with Gas Turbines of different types. He has held positions ranging from Operator, Start-Up Manager, Construction Manager, Production Manager to his present position as General Manager of the Worlds Largest Solar Plants in Hinkley and Boron, California.

He started his power plant career in the United States Navy. He served aboard the USS Leftwich (DD 984), Homeported in Pearl Harbor, HI.  While he was  a member of her crew the USS Leftwich participated in both Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.

FPL Energy, LLC  a member of the FPL Group, Inc.(FPL),  is a leading clean energy provider with natural gas, wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear power plants in operation in 25 states. More than 90 percent of FPL Energy’s electricity is generated by clean fuels. In addition, they are the nation’s leader in wind energy generation and they operate the two largest solar fields in the world.  (FPL stands for “Florida Power and Light” which is the original corporate entity.) http://www.fplgroup.com/

For those who like to read ahead (and everybody else as well)

Here is a short outtake from a Nova video featuring the Kramer Junction Installation
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs/ht/qt/3406_03.html  (running time 6:07)

FPL Group is a leader in the fields of Alternative Energy and Generating Efficiency
FPL Sustainability Report 2009 (52 Pages)
http://www.fplgroup.com/pdf/sustain-report.pdf

2008 FPL Group Profile (20 Pages)
http://www.fplgroup.com/about/pdf/profile.pdf

Yahoo Finance Chart (FPL)

Technical details about the Kramer Junction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Generating_Systems

Renewable & Alternative Fuels  (Energy Information Administration)
in 2008 “Renewable Energy” accounted for 7% of the 99 Quadrillion BTU used Annually in the USA
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/rea_prereport.html
http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html

CURRENT EVENTS: We will start out, as usual, with “Current Events:”

Obama is still considering what our course of action should be in Afghanistan (And I am glad that he is actually thinking.).  There’s apparently a tug of war going on.  Gen. Stanley McChrystal has presented 4 alternatives. Is it time for Afghanistan to develop a real, functioning central government? (They’ve never had one) His opponent in the election said that a run-off election would just as fraudulent as the first one and refused to participate.  The revelations about Karzai’s brother, a major dope trader and CIA associate, muddy the waters.(Understatement.)

In Iran the annual celebration of the taking over of the US Embassy became problematic for the President and Supreme Leader.  Instead of “Death to America”  the reformers were saying “Death to Nobody.”  The government is in the process of trying around a 100 reformers.  They had sentenced three to death already plus 5 more today.  The government is trying to tightening the screws on the population.  Expanding the role of the Revolutionary Guard and imposing an oppression they are not used to and resent.  Controlling a population that was free will take more and more resources and will cost the government political capital and the traditional support of the people.  It will more and more become a tense, unstable, dangerous time.  Does anybody have a suggestion on how a failed, illegal government can honorably step down without pulling the temple down on the heads of the whole country.
… all dictatorships have weaknesses, internal inefficiencies, personal rivalries, institutional inefficiencies, and conflicts between organizations and departments. These weaknesses, over time, tend to make the regime less effective and more vulnerable to changing conditions and deliberate resistance. Not everything the regime sets out to accomplish will get completed. At times, for example, even Hitler’s direct orders were never implemented because those beneath him in the hierarchy refused to carry them out. …

This does not mean dictatorships can be destroyed without risks and casualties. Every possible course of action for liberation will involve risks and potential suffering, and will take time to operate.  …  The question is how this struggle is to be waged. (From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp, 2003)

Then of course we have the continuing story of Army Psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan .  Although he was born, grew up and educated in America and was sent through Va Tech and Medical School by the U.S. Army, we know now he had some badly unresolved issues which resulted in the deaths and severe injuries of his fellow soldiers.  And of course at the moment, the more we learn, the more questions arise.  I don’t think there are good answers.  There is  more to be learned.  He has not done his fellow Muslims any favors either.

Hold tight to your Constitution …

And whatever comes up.

In the meantime, please, “DON’T (be) PANIC(ed)!”

About The Third Saturday Seminar:

This is the 3d meeting of the Third Saturday Seminar for
the 2009-2010 season. We run from September to June.

Started in January 2000, We are about personal empowerment through
demystification. Our subject matter is broad but it always tries to be
about understanding ourselves and others better; and, having fun.

The Third Saturday Seminar (TSS) is sponsored by the Academy of
Lifelong Learning (ALL) Program at Lone Star College – Montgomery http://montgomery.lonestar.edu/25959/

There is no fee for ALL members to attend TSS. You can find the ALL Schedule at: http://montgomery.lonestar.edu/142962.pdf

Course Information – 
Meets mostly on Third Saturdays in Room B-102

For information about Lone Star College Montgomery : http://montgomery.lonestar.edu/

Maps:
http://montgomery.lonestar.edu/14972/
http://montgomery.lonestar.edu/14970/
http://map-it.woodstock.edu/map_pdf/B_floor_1.pdf

As usual, if anything in this notice doesn’t work or make sense (It is midnight somewhere), please let me know so I can warn the others.  
If the spelling and syntax seems more fractured than usual, chalk it up to the fact I am (still) breaking in a new laptop computer (or, perhaps it’s the other way around.) Down with Vista!! Bill Gates is a nebbish! Windows 7? Give me a break!

Hope to see you Saturday.

Best regards,

Curt Gibby
Spring, TX
281-353-4350 (cell-)
Fax: 281-288-8230
gcgconsult (at) n-star.com

http://www.northstarinst.org/TSS/