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![[Aerial view of Blount County]](DragooonL.gif)
![[Gary Wynn]](DragooonR.gif)
The 6th District has over 12,000 residents and lies south of the Lamar Alexander Pkwy, north of Old Niles Ferry Road, east of Brick Mill Road, Henry Lane, Cedar Church Lane, Maple Lane, Gregory Road, Lambert Road, Meadow Road, Crumbley Road, Marble Hill Road, and Big Springs Road; and west of a twisted, pocketed, sometimes confusing result of adjoining district borders.
According to a recent census, the county as a whole has a population of 122,784 people. The greatest population density lies in the 1st and 5th districts, and as the county grew (pdf pp. 248-255), the population began to spread out parallel the L&N (currently CSX) railroad.
The Labor Force of the county is approximately 51.6% of the total county's population, consisting of 63,437 people. At the time of the sampling our un-employment rate was 10.5%, 6,663 people; leaving an employed Labor Force of only 46.2% of the county's entire population. Adding financial burdens to a population where less than 50% are gainfully employed, can force those that contribute the most to our county's budget to seek residence elsewhere. This is one of the reasons why I am running as a Fiscal Conservative.
To borrow a phrase popularized recently by Mr. Alexander, it is time for Blount County's industrial and commercial base to get all "grown-up." Blount County must seek out and encourage Green Industries to locate here, employing Blount Countians and those nearby, incubating a healthy Commercial growth as well. According to the Blount County Chamber of Commerce's web-site, "The EPA announced in March 2008 that the Ozone standards are changed from 0.84 parts per million to 0.75 parts per million." 30 counties, including Blount County in the state of Tennessee do NOT meet these standards--even more reason for us to seek out Environmentally Sensitive and Green Industries.
Solar Power manufacturers are springing up all over our nation: Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, California, and all the way on our left coast, Memphis houses the manufacturing of one of the highest quality Solar Panels available. The worst thing our County could do is miss out on the new Green industrial revolution spreading throughout our Nation. In addition to being all "grown-up," let's grow smart. New manufacturers that locate here should have access to ALL forms of transportation. Industries with easy access to rail tend to expand at greater rates than those who are stuck in traffic jams.
"That disaster, just days before Christmas in 2008, clogged the Emory and Clinch Rivers, covered about 300 acres of land with up to six feet of sludge, pushed one house off its foundation, and damaged or destroyed more than 40 other homes while uprooting railroad tracks, killing wildlife, washing out roads, downing trees and rupturing gas and water lines."
The TVA creates over 60% of their electrical power from coal. A modern day Coal Fired Power Plant produces about 2,460 (kW*hr) per ton of coal. An average coal car on rail carries about 100 tons of coal. Although the equations are complicated, the rate most East TN power companies charge our county averages out to ~ $0.0775 / (kW*hr).
Blount County pays over $2.8 MILLION / year in electricity costs alone. $2.7 MILLION / year (96%) is used in our schools. Reversing the math yields: 35.8 MILLION (kW*hr) / year; 14,559 tons of coal / year; and 146 rail coal cars / year for the county's properties. There are at present 13 Elementary Schools, 4 Middle Schools, 2 High Schools, and 1 Alternative School (20 total) maintained by Blount County. The rooftop area per school averages out to over 100,000 ft^2. A conservative estimate would give us about 2 million square feet of school rooftop area in the county.
Photo Voltaics have now gone below the $3.00/Watt mark, making them viable for many new construction projects. Based on current construction techniques, entire systems can be installed on new or existing buildings for ~ $4.50 to $5.00/Watt. The average panel produces about 30 Watts/m^2, or 2.8 W/ft^2.
If every school rooftop in Blount County were covered with Photo Voltaic Solar Panels, the school system alone would be producing over 5.6 Million Watts! Based on an average 12 hour day of sunlight, the Blount County School system grid could be producing 24.5 Million (kW*hr) / year.
$28 Million upgrade costs are at first glance horrifying, yet as we've witnessed in Kingston and now in the Gulf of Mexico, the cost of energy is now outweighing the price of energy. Photo-Voltaic Technology alone cannot make our County economically and environmentally independent; we must also incorporate conservation techniques as well.
Motion sensors in rooms that detect non-activity and douse the lights, can help conserve lighting costs. Solar Water heating in schools and municipal buildings help conserve heating costs; and high efficient LED lighting consumes less than 12% the energy of fluorescent lamps, and pay for themselves in less than a year.
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On a cold night at 1:00AM on December 22nd, 2008; the folks just 20 miles west of us did NOT get a telephone call from the TVA telling them that 5.4 million cubic yards of arsenic, copper, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and thallium in a six foot high wall was coming to take away their homes and destroy their land.
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