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It's the wrecking ball for Point Loma's Dolphin Motel
Plastic sheets and hourly rates...— January 27, 2018 8:16 p.m.
Balboa statue for Balboa Park unlikely
Bad idea and a century or two too late. What guns and steel didn't kill the natives, germs like small pox did. We know what Spanish explorers did from reading history, and the history books is where these characters must remain, not idolized.— January 27, 2018 8:14 p.m.
Sempra hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2008
monaghan, I shared/hijacked the thread to help people understand there is a way out of under the utilities thumb. But it does take money and planning. I started on the project 5 years ago with the insulation. Then replaced the windows with double-pain. Although in our temperate climate the replacement windows don’t make much a dent in energy savings but they do eliminate noise. I live near a flight path and I don’t hear as much annoying aircraft noise. The LED lights, maybe $500, and then they never seem to burn out. The appliances, I used SDG&E and water rebates. The AC system was 20 years old; I had to replace it –that was $8,000. About $5,000 to replace every major appliance with rebates. This is over a five-year period. Then the solar panels. I attended an 80-hour night course at Cuyamaca College in photovoltaic systems. I then volunteered for a non-profit call GRID Alternatives. I did a couple of real world installs for low-income communities and one install on a Tribal community. I learned enough to know what to do and made some contacts. I designed my own system, got SDG&E to buy off on it, go a city permit and ordered the materials from a supplier in Kearny Mesa (CED Greentech). I’ve always done my own electrical work so I did all the electrical except the tie-in to the meter where I had a licensed contractor friend do the inspection and then go over it with the inspector. A laborer, friend and I installed all the rails, micro-inverters and panels on a Saturday. We completed everything the next Sunday morning. We tested the system and then shut it down… to wait for the city inspector and then SDG&E to set-up the solar account. About 60 days in 2015. 22 panels with 22 Enphase micro-invertors ran about $11,000.00 and you can take some federal rebates and tax incentives. Of course the industry is hot so companies have high mark-ups. But if you can DIY you can do it for around $10,000….. I have taken the time to elaborate on this subject because I hope more people look into it. There is not any “technology” to roof-top solar. People generally seem to be afraid of electricity or the new generation, tools. I think it was easier and faster for me to install my own solar system than it was when I tiled a bathroom.— January 21, 2018 9:08 p.m.
Sempra hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2008
Thank you Don. I just wanted to share that so show it is possible to become somewhat energy independent. My concerns in the future are what roadblocks SDG&E and other utilities will create to slow the solar energy progress. There is also a good argument from the utilities that they still need to supply energy during the night (although battery storage will answer that in the future) as well as the cost of being serviced by the grid. The grid needs to be maintained. Perhaps the utilities should be investing more in storage and grid upgrades and less in generation projects. Either way, the old generation models are slowly dying - like nuclear.— January 21, 2018 6:39 p.m.
Sempra hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2008
Don, please post a photo of you in your pussy hat!— January 21, 2018 1:48 p.m.
Sempra hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2008
I installed solar panels in 2015 and own the system. My electric bill used to run about $130 a month to $200 a month in the summer. Now I have no electric bill, and usually have a small credit on the “true-up date” (SDG&E ratepayers that have solar only pay their bill once a year, if they owe anything). One of the reasons I have no power bill is because I also receive a $200 credit because I drive an electric car. If not for that credit, I would probably pay about $150 for the year. Yes, the house and car are powered on solar. You almost forget how to use a gas pump when you never have to stop for gas. There have been other investments in conservation; every light in the home, including garage lights and outdoor lights are LED. Insulation was added in the attic, attic fans to release heat in the summer, and double-pane windows. I replaced all the major appliances to high efficiency models, including a variable-speed HVAC system and Energy Star rated refrigerator. There was a noticeable drop in energy usage when I replaced all the lights with LED as well as they don’t burn out as nearly as frequently as halogen or incandescent. This doesn’t mean you can just leave all the lights on. I conserve shutting off lights, use motion sensors and timers to control many lights. No electric bill can be achieved. Of course I do have a natural gas bill for the water heaters, stove-tops and central air. It’s an enjoyable feeling to not write a check to SDG&E for power.— January 21, 2018 1:47 p.m.
Forbes eyed SD for Amazon and got it wrong
Are you referring to Pradeep Khosla? Jacobs founded Linkabit which was later sold to MA/COM, which was later acquired by SAIC. There was never a formal UCSD relationship. One only needs to look at all the litigation Qualcomm consistently finds itself engaged in. It's a cutthroat business where misappropriating intellectual property is always the centerpiece. The moxie to essentially steal and then defend the theft with huge legal war chests is how Jacobs built Qualcomm. Broadcom will acquire them and the Jacobs clan will be unseated from the C-suite and Board. It's about time.— January 19, 2018 8:30 p.m.
Forbes eyed SD for Amazon and got it wrong
Swell, for Christs sake. Please research the Qualcomm background again. The technology was developed at Linkabit. The Qualcomm founders were alumni of MIT and Cornell. Qualcomm’s flagship product was OmniTracs, tracking long-haul truck cargo. The cellphone was invented by Del Mar resident and scientist Martin Cooper at Bell Labs in 1973. Jacobs was still a professor at UCSD in 1972. HE DID NOT INVENT THE CELL PHONE. He learned how to license the nascent chip technology. The early designs for CDMA (the technology that made Jacobs rich) was actually discovered by Russian scientist Leonid Kupriyanovich in 1935. Jacobs was a professor at UCSD, calling him an "inventor" is like calling a possum "pretty." He just made improvements on inventions that were discovered when he was about 2 years old. UCSD didn't have an iota of participation in the Linkabit venture. The only connection would be recruiting engineers from USCD, and of course India where Jacobs could exploit cheap labor.— January 18, 2018 8:01 p.m.
Forbes eyed SD for Amazon and got it wrong
I never thought San Diego had a chance. If Broadcom wins its takeover of Qualcomm, I believe San Diego will only have one Fortune 500 company left; Sempra. San Diego is still a Navy town, with the remaining “largest employers” being the city and county governments, education and healthcare providers. San Diego, the city, cannot help much in incentives because the pension time-bomb is still ticking. I’m glad Amazon didn’t include San Diego because it would have made our traffic and housing costs even worse. San Diego doesn’t meet many of Bezo’s wish list. International Airport? In name only. Highly skilled workforce? Why does Qualcomm have to load up on 2,000 new Indian and other foreign H-1B’s every year? So, no large talent pool. Public transportation? The “trolley” is a social engineering experiment in San Diego, it is not in the league of BART, CTA, MTA, or MARTA. “Affordable housing” and “San Diego” in the same sentence is a joke. As Don said, why would Bezos want another west coast hub? Atlanta and its excellent airport can make short trips to Washington D.C., Boston, New York, Chicago, Dallas and of course all the non-stop international connections. Some point out that Bezos owns a large home in D.C. where he owns the Washington Post. But that is not a factor. Bezos also owns homes in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, ranches in Texas and other states; Bezos is the 25th largest landowner in the U.S.— January 18, 2018 6:52 p.m.
Forbes eyed SD for Amazon and got it wrong
My bet for Amazon HQ2 is Atlanta. Good public transportation, huge airport, Georgia Tech, lots of tech people to poach from other large corporations, low housing costs (compared to most of the other cities).— January 18, 2018 5 p.m.