This week wrapped up our four-part series on renewable energy in New Mexico.  The goal of the series was to give a broad overview of the happenings and trends surrounding developing energy technologies here in the state.  It’s been an educational experience for all of us here, and we hope the same is true for you, the viewers!  If you missed any of those prior segments, just click on the view past episodes tab in the top left of the newmexicoinfocus.org  web page and you will be linked to those archived videos.

For the last segment, we decided to focus on transmission issues, primarily because it is arguably the most important piece of the puzzle.  After all, we can produce all the solar, wind or nuclear energy on the planet, but if we can’t get it from here to there, what’s the point?  it’s an interesting topic, but also a complicated one.  If you want to read up on the topic, I suggest you head to the website for the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, which was created by the New Mexico legislature two years ago. 

And, if you missed any of this week’s show, not to worry.  Just click play below:

As always, thanks for watching!

Kevin, THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

It is now official… O.K., almost official.  The U.S. House has voted to delay the DTV transition until June 12th.  The only thing holding up the delay is President Obama’s signature, but considering he and his transition team pushed for the delay, I can’t imagine that will be much of a problem.

Here’s a snippet from the NY Times coverage of today’s vote:

In a statement Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said that “the passage of this bipartisan legislation means that millions of Americans will have the time they need to prepare for the conversion.

On Wednesday, Ms. Brundage said the White House would “continue to work with Congress to improve the information and assistance available to American consumers in advance of June 12, especially those in the most vulnerable communities.” The stimulus package before Congress includes $650 million in financing for the transition.

A recent survey by Nielsen research found roughly 6.5 million households are unprepared for the DTV switch.  Today’s vote means they now have four months to try and get prepared. Let’s hope this delay does the trick.

The bill to delay the DTV transition does give stations the ability to make the switch early, if they want to, but KNME’s GM and CEO Polly Anderson says we will continue to broadcast an analog signal for the immediate future.  So that means whether you are watching our digital or analog signal, you are good to go for the time being.  As always, if you need more information about the DTV transition, just head to our DTV page.  

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM