November 4,2018-

Kern oil prices drop

On October 3 Midway Sunset oil prices from Kern County reached $80 barrel according to Chevron who posts the price daily. This week, a month later ,they are to down $68 reflecting the drop in WTI oil prices in US markets. Not that it has made any difference at the pumps in the state. AAA says the average gas price in California is less than a penny different than a month ago at $3.76 gallon. Now there appears to an oversupply of crude.”The magnitude of recent selling is strongly suggesting that global oil demand is weaker than expected as a result of tariff issues, especially between the U.S. and China,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates.

Fresno County sees new utility-scale solar plans

Three new solar projects in Fresno County are moving forward this fall. A new notice of preparation was released for Scarlet Solar Energy Project , a 400MW project near Tranquility at Hwy 33 and Manning Ave. The project is being built by Recurrent Energy.

Another NOP was filed recently for South Lake Solar, a 585 acre project that will produce 180,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually. The project would be an up to 80-MW PV solar energy facility with associated on-site substation, inverters, fencing, roads, and supervisory control and data acquisition system. The proposed energy storage components would include an up to 80 MW AC max capacity energy storage (battery) system.

Lastly the Little Bear Solar Project released their final notice to construct a 180-MW PV electricity generating facility and associated infrastructure on 1288 acres of private agricultural lands in western Fresno County, on Hwy 33 south of Mendota.The applicant is First Solar.

Kings solar project to get hearing

Kings County Planning Commission will hear a request for a Conditional Use Permit November 5 for American Kings Solar who proposes to construct a 128 MW solar PV power generating facility on 874 acres of private lands. Formerly known as GWF Energy’s Henrietta Solar proposed in 2010, the development now carries the name American Kings Solar. First Solar acquired the right to build the project in 2015. It just across Highway 198 from NAS Lemoore.
The facility will also include battery storage up to approx. 500 MW hours, which will be used to optimize power to the grid, such as charging the batteries when excess electrical generation is available and supplying power to the grid when electrical demand is high.

Thank the toilet for water savings

Throughout the western U.S., water conservation is in the toilet.
And that’s a good thing.

Since the 1990s, a strange phenomenon has played out in arid western urban areas. Populations are booming while overall water use is staying the same or going down. The trend is clear in Denver, Albuquerque, N.M., Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix: Cities are growing and using less water in the process.

It’s impossible to give credit to one single solution, but one could make a strong case that the MVP award for water conservation efforts should go to the modern toilet.

The toilet is the single largest user of water in the home. It uses more than the washing machine, the dishwasher, the shower or the kitchen faucet. About a quarter of all water that enters a home will flow through the toilet according to a 2016 study. Each day the average toilet will use about 33 gallons of water.

That might sound like a lot, but it’s a big improvement. In 1999 the average toilet guzzled more than 45 gallons of water daily.

The story of how the toilet became the unsung hero of water conservation includes an act of Congress, some elbow grease and logs of miso paste.

Out with the old

Theresa MacFarland lives in a historic two-story house in Longmont, Colo., with her husband and two kids. Built in 1928, their home has all the vintage touches: hardwood floors, big windows, wood detailing and one really old toilet.

A little stamp on the bowl says it was built in the 1950s. MacFarland points it out to her 4-year-old daughter Althea.
That toilet has been there longer than daddy and I have been alive.

Teresa MacFarland, mother and Colorado home owner
“That toilet has been there longer than daddy and I have been alive,” she says. “Probably longer than grandma and grandpa have been alive.”

As aging toilets are wont to do, it started acting up. So MacFarland contacted Resource Central, a Boulder-based conservation group and asked for help installing a new, more water-friendly model. Neka Sunlin showed up with the latest in toilet technology. Sunlin oversees the group’s toilet replacement program, Flush for the Future.

“We guesstimate this one is using about five gallons a flush,” she says about the old toilet. “The new one uses less than one.”