i know it gets annoying constantly posting about this but i do really need the help. i don’t want to be without connection or electricity or housing. i can’t afford it on my own.
if you can spare anything even just a few dollars. please. thank you. don’t let me suffer alone.
If you live in the state of Georgia (USA) there's a very important 2025 election coming up
There's an upcoming statewide election on November 4, 2025 to elect two members of the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) and early voting is happening now until October 31st. The PSC is the elected state board that regulates utilities and this board has approved SIX rate hikes since 2022. If Georgia Power is your electricity provider, then you've probably noticed an increase in your monthly bill. They also want to approve more coal-fired power plants in anticipation of potential AI data centers. All five members of the current board are Republicans, but there's finally a chance to flip two of those seats.
Peter Hubbard is a clean energy advocate who is running to unseat Fitz Johnson (who wasn't even elected btw. Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him). Hubbard has been advocating for lower energy costs and clean energy solutions for Georgians in front of the PSC since 2019.
Alicia Johnson is also a clean and sustainable energy advocate who is running to unseat Tim Echols. Echols has called Johnson a "DEI specialist" and also said she "wants to bring DEI and wokeness to the PSC.” Yes, Alicia Johnson is a black woman in case you were wondering. She also has a nice history of community development and consumer advocacy.
Please vote in this upcoming election if you are able to and if you are not, please share it with someone you know who lives in Georgia. This election will help shape utility policy around AI data center energy usage, coal burning and the cost of living in the state for years to come. Find out where to vote early and your election day location here.
Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! (also my birthday is this month :3)
1. Much like a nursing home, penguins at a Boston aquarium can age with dignity
“The enclosure has some flatter topography and a carpeted path down to the water, which allows Lambert and the other penguins to better navigate up and down the island. [... Lambert has] become more active since moving to the new island — swimming more with his mate and getting off the island more often. […] The older birds get more checkups than their younger counterparts, and [… t]here are also more cameras around the island, so staff can better monitor the birds.”
2. Virginia scored the election’s biggest climate win
“[Virginia’s governor-elect Abigail Spanberger] may be a game-changer when it comes to preserving and enforcing the Virginia Clean Economy Act[… which requires utility companies] to achieve 100% renewable power production in the coming decades. […] In Georgia, Democrats beat Republican incumbents in two elections widely seen as referendums on rising utility bills.”
3. New Coalition Launches to Restore, Protect Waters of Ohio River Basin, Home to 30 Million
““The Healthy Waters Coalition will work to ensure all 30 million people in the region have access to clean, safe and affordable water,” said Jordan Lubetkin, director of the Healthy Waters Coalition. “Together, we will work to elevate the restoration and protection of our region’s waters as a national priority to address urgent threats like toxic pollution, sewage contamination, and flooding through new federal investments and strong clean water protections.”
4. Workforce Participation By Those With Disabilities ‘Historically High’
“A report out from SHRM, an association for human resource professionals, finds that labor force participation by people with disabilities has grown over 30% [… and “participation among those ages 16 to 24 rose by nearly 60%”] since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic[… which is a] “historically high rate,” [… attributed] to expanded remote and flexible work arrangements that were spurred by the pandemic.”
5. New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest
“The Karura Forest […] has been jointly managed by a local citizens’ organization, Friends of Karura Forest, and the Kenya Forest Service since 2010. When KFS announced in August that this arrangement was set to be changed, there was an uproar. The government has since reversed the decision, and the forest service and FKF will now continue jointly managing the forest.”
October 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)
One final hurdle before I start applying for pharmacy tech jobs. I'm nearly there. But I'm so hungry. I had about a quarter of what I should be eating today.
I'm going to level with you all. I'm betting just about everything on getting a pharmacy tech job. I had no choice then and I have no choice now. The money I'm getting from government benefits can never cover everything. It doesn't even cover my low as hell rent.
I'm hungry. The lights need to stay on. The water needs to keep flowing. I'm nearly there, but hunger waits for no one.
As always, I'm keeping track of the dollar amount donated to me. Once my financial situation stabilizes, that money will be paid forward to others in need.
I just need to get a little further. I'll be done with my course at the end of the month. Then, I need to get my certification. After that, I'll go into on-the-job training. Once all of that is completed, I won't have to rely on handouts.
When this is all over, I'll be helping people get their necessary medications. And that will be partially because of your help.
When this is all over, I'll be paying every dollar forward to others in need. And that will be partially because of your help.
My family recently got taken off the AMP program as we couldn't afford the payments. Now they're expecting us to pay those and the original amount we owed. Please reblog and share around. Anything helps.
still here, still asking for help. the $200 light bill is due on the 16th, and i still need groceries and other necessities. reblogs and donations both help a lot.
Plug-in solar provides the opportunity for more people to invest in the clean energy transition, experts say.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, electricity prices shot up across Europe and consumers looked for ways to save. One popular option was plug-in solar—inexpensive and easy-to-install renewable energy systems that began to appear in store aisles.
Now, Germany is the global leader in plug-in solar with about 1 million systems in official counts and probably many more that utilities and local governments haven’t counted.
I looked to Germany this week because I’ve been unsure whether plug-in solar makes sense for U.S. consumers, and I think Germany’s experience provides some clues about what may work here.
The benefits are clear. An entry-level plug-in system costs about $500 to $1,000 and can be installed in a backyard, on a balcony or on a roof. The electricity enters your home through a standard wall outlet, where it helps offset the electricity you draw from the grid. The low cost makes solar accessible for people who can’t afford to spend $10,000 or more on an electrician-installed rooftop array.
Here’s the main downside, as I see it: The financial benefits are small, starting at about $15 per month in the United States. It may make more sense financially to spend the cost of plug-in solar on insulation, air sealing or other basic measures to reduce energy use.
To help weigh the benefits against the concerns, I spoke with Craig Morris, the CEO of Bundesverband Steckersolar, Germany’s plug-in solar trade association. Readers may recognize that name. He is a U.S. native who has spent his adult life working as a clean energy advocate and researcher in Germany, and he was a key interview subject in my 2020 series about Germany’s energy transition, and another story since then.
“The distinctive thing about this technology is it’s so small that you don’t need an electrician to plug it in,” he said in a video interview from Berlin.
The do-it-yourself nature of the product is one reason it’s sometimes called “guerrilla solar,” with people installing it even in buildings and jurisdictions where it’s not allowed.
Morris previously worked for a nonprofit that advised the plug-in solar association. As plug-in solar grew in popularity, the association needed its first full-time manager and hired Morris last year.
He and his members are now working to convince the European Union to adopt rules that would allow plug-in solar across the bloc, rather than the patchwork now in place. Germany and Belgium passed plug-in solar laws in 2024 and other nations have followed suit. Hungary and Sweden are among the countries with restrictions.
I asked him if savings from plug-in solar may be too small to be worthwhile.
He responded by referring to an analysis his organization published this week that serves as a useful primer. It has a page comparing costs and payback periods in six international cities for a system that costs about $570.
The fastest payoff is 4.26 years in Berlin, largely because the region has high electricity prices, which create more opportunity for savings by generating your own power.
The slowest payoff is 9.56 years in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where electricity prices are unusually low.
Kansas City, Missouri, the only U.S. city listed, has the fourth-fastest payoff with 4.99 years. The city has high household electricity consumption, which means electricity generated by the panels is almost entirely consumed onsite, accelerating the payback period. This factor is offset by the region’s electricity rates, which are lower than those in all but Ho Chi Minh City.
The payoff periods are estimates that don’t account for consumers’ ability to optimize their power consumption to maximize the value of plug-in solar. For example, someone could choose to do laundry or other power-intensive tasks when the sun is brightest. Also, some markets offer net metering for plug-in solar, which compensates for excess electricity that goes back to the grid.
Customers can buy batteries to store electricity they don’t use right away. This increases the upfront cost but yields greater savings in the long run.
But my focus on the payoff periods may be missing the point.
Morris explained that the main benefit he sees with plug-in solar is that consumers are taking greater control of their energy costs and becoming participants in the transition to clean energy. He views this as part of creating and maintaining a political consensus that supports the transition, which is good for everyone.
He also sees land-use benefits, with plug-in solar occupying otherwise unused spaces in yards and on roofs and balconies. His organization has calculated that widespread adoption of plug-in solar would meet about 2 percent of Germany’s electricity demand, which would reduce the need to build new power plants on undeveloped land.
Utilities tend to be the primary opponents of plug-in solar, citing safety concerns. I’m not going to go point by point through the objections, other than to say that consumers shouldn’t plug a solar panel into a broken outlet or one that’s on a circuit that’s already prone to overloading.
To get a view from closer to home, I contacted Steven Hegedus, an engineering professor at the University of Delaware who has spent most of his career researching solar power.
Like Morris, Hegedus is someone I’ve known for a while, a longtime friend of my wife’s family. He’s also an expert in plug-in solar who appeared last year on the radio program Living on Earth.
Hegedus’ main concern is that the often-touted plug-in solar savings numbers may be overstated. He has kept an informal tally of costs and savings for systems in his region and has found that some would take 10 to 15 years to pay off.
He thinks payoff estimates are usually based on systems in markets with expensive electricity, such as California, which doesn’t apply to most of the country.
And he believes the savings estimates are based on systems that have been installed in positions that maximize sunlight exposure. But with the product’s do-it-yourself process, he argues that not all customers install it in the most effective location.
He thinks the benefits of plug-in solar probably exceed any concerns. The main benefit is that plug-in solar is widely accessible, creating an opportunity for many more people to generate clean energy, assume greater responsibility for their energy use and feel connected to the energy transition.
“You’re doing this for reasons other than just to save money,” he said.
The legal status of plug-in solar is unclear in much of the country. Bright Saver, a plug-in solar advocacy group, counts nine states that have passed laws or rules allowing the systems: Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. Four states have bills that have passed one legislative chamber: California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey.
California is almost certainly the leader in plug-in solar purchases, according to industry professionals, but I haven’t found any reliable data. The estimates I’ve heard are thousands of systems, so we’re talking about an industry that’s just getting started.
For more information, Solar United Neighbors, EnergySage and Bright Saver offer resources to help consumers answer basic questions about costs, savings and technical issues.
A few years ago, it would have been easy to dismiss a comparison of Germany and the United States as plug-in solar markets since electricity is much more expensive in Germany. But U.S. power bills have soared in recent years and are likely to continue doing so.
As this happens, plug-in solar will become a better deal, and, I think, much more popular.
