“A New Age for Energy in South Carolina”

July 29th, 2008: Lonnie Carter was introduced by Dr. Earl Walker as an extremely accomplished professional who is best known for his “plain spokeness” but is treated as a “rock star” wherever he goes. Mr. Carter took the podium with the comment, “I’m not a rock star, but I am a big fan of Rotary International.” We were treated to an enlightening talk on the background of Santee Cooper. It has grown from a sleepy little business in 1982 to the largest producer of electricity, 5700 mega-watts, in South Carolina … a company that supports over half the State’s population through 20 electrical co-ops with low cost reliable power it in an environmentally responsible way.

Lonnie emphasized the decisions our leaders are now making relative to energy are critical to our economy, ability to compete globally, quality of life, and economic security. He confirmed our State is growing faster than most, 8th last year. That is extremely positive and extremely challenging at the same time. Our base level requirement for energy by 2020 will be 1,100 meg-watts. Though that’s 11 years and 5 months from now Lonnie said we must be planning now to meet that challenge. We’re currently making great strides in conservation management of energy through demand-side management; that won’t be enough. To meet this challenge, we’ll need a combination of:
– Conservation
– Energy Efficiency (1.6 million CFL light bulbs we give away)
– Renewable Power (Wind & Solar Projects)
– Base-load Power Generation (Coal & Nuclear)

Mr. Carter explained the challenges to these endeavors: “not everyone wants wind towers on our beaches or solar panels on our homes.” We can’t get people to pick up the CFL light bulbs or use our free energy audits at www.santeecoopergreen.com. Lonnie emphasized that re-starting the nuclear project will be difficult and costly: $10 billion … it’s been dead for 3 decades.
Concerning the topic of coal fire, he was passionate in stating we’ve reduced mercury by 95%, particulates by 99%, sulfur-dioxides by 98%. He also challenged the audience to get the truth on mercury at www.therealstoryonmercury.com. “Less than 1% of all mercury is produced by the energy industry.”

The Q&A session was lively; in a nutshell: “the world is run off energy, everyone wants our standard of living. To protect our future, we need a viable national energy policy.”

Reported by Bill Crowe, Keyway Committee Chair