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The Company We Keep

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

For updates on South Mountain's second act, subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.

Vineyard Power

SunPower Features South Mountain & Vineyard for Earth Day

April 25, 2017 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

To honor Earth day this year, SunPower, the manufacturer of the solar panels we install, decided to do a campaign about South Mountain here on the Vineyard. They put a ton of effort into this. They spent time here with us last Fall, did several videos and photo shoots, and wrote extensively about our company and our work. We’re honored by their decision to feature us, and we appreciate their beautiful work. We also appreciate our relationship with SunPower, an American company that makes the best solar panels in the world. If you’d like to see what they’re up to with this, click here.

17_RESI-201_EarthBlog-Social-Images-Facebook-1 CROPPED FOR BLOG

Filed Under: Climate Change, Collaboration, Cooperatives, Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: clean energy, earth day, earth month, Martha's Vineyard, SunPower, Vineyard Power

From Landfill to Power Plant

March 20, 2013 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

Mostly, capped landfills remind me of the mausoleums of a consumer society.  For most of a century we dumped our solid waste onto these Mt Trashmores and mixed up a brew of concentrated toxins which seeped into the surrounding areas and often polluted (and still do) our water.  So we learned to treat our waste as a resource, close the landfills, cap them, and leave them idle.  We’re still very primitive about this, but progress is steady.

There’s not much you can do on a capped landfill because it’s essential that we not disturb the protective rubber liner that is usually only 12-18” below the grass that covers it.

But there are some uses.  Most are relatively passive:  cultivation of hay, green space, wildlife habitat, and biking/walking/running trails.  Some are more active:  golf courses, baseball fields, and soccer fields.

Read More about From Landfill to Power Plant

Filed Under: Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Adam Wilson, Aquinnah, Derrill Bazzy, Jim Newman, Nantucket, Paul Pimentel, Rob Meyers, South Mountain Company, SunPower, Vineyard Power

25 In 2012 . . . And Rising

January 12, 2012 by John Abrams 6 Comments

On the first day of this new year, South Mountain began its 25th year as an employee owned company (and its 38th year in business).  It was on January 1, 1987 that we converted from a sole proprietorship in my ownership to a democratically owned worker co-operative.  As I’ve so often said, it was a hinge point in the history of the company.

When I started South Mountain in 1975 I was 25.  Now there’s a group of us in our sixties who will gradually retire during the coming decades (starting with Mike Drezner at the end of this year) and a collection of new, younger owners poised to lead SMCo in to its 2nd generation, and beyond.  My personal goal:  to still be going strong in 2025, when SMCo turns 50 and I’m 75.

Read More about 25 In 2012 . . . And Rising

Filed Under: Employee Ownership, Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Vineyard Power

Where Will All The Solar Go?

May 6, 2011 by John Abrams 9 Comments

This was published as an op-ed today in the Vineyard Gazette.

Wind turbines get all the negative ink.  Noise, vibration, flicker, interruption of beloved views.  Big troublemakers, aren’t they?

Solar panels, on the other hand, are considered to be quite benign.  The Nantucket Historic District Commission doesn’t like them much, and some people would rather see roofs without them, but by and large they have come to be widely accepted.

But what about when we scale them up with considerably larger installations that can make a meaningful contribution to our energy supply?  Are they really so benign?

Read More about Where Will All The Solar Go?

Filed Under: Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative, Grey Barn, Vineyard Gazette, Vineyard Power

Large Scale PV On MV

April 11, 2011 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

Stanford Ovshinsky, one of the great thinkers of our time, is 88 years old and starting a new business.  “His audacious goal,” according to an article by Laurence Fisher in Strategy + Business Magazine,  “is to drive the unsubsidized cost of solar power below that of coal – to create, in effect, a Moore’s law for energy.”

There’s no reason to doubt he can do it.

Read More about Large Scale PV On MV

Filed Under: Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Cape Light Compact, E.O. Wilson, Grey Barn, Ovshinsky, Strategy + Business, Vineyard Power

Final Decision

May 6, 2010 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

I had to take a break from writing, and haven’t said a word since March 18th – too much on my plate.  Business is challenging at SMCo right now, but all is well, projects are good, everyone’s busy, and we’re all in it together, working hard to keep working.

But the Cape Wind announcement in Boston last Wednesday took my mind off that and inspired me to get back to this.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a lot about Cape Wind.  But the best thing he said was, quite simply, “This is the final decision of the United States of America.”  Final Decision.  Good decision, great decision, unequivocal decision – by the United States of America!  How rare is that?

Read More about Final Decision

Filed Under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard Tagged With: Alex Steffen, Bill McKibben, Cape Wind, Eaarth, Jim Gordon, Ken Salazar, Vineyard Power, Worldchanging

Here Comes the Island Plan

March 18, 2010 by John Abrams 1 Comment

The Island Plan is complete.

For now.

Four years in the making, this long-term plan for the future of Martha’s Vineyard, initiated by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission,  engaged hundreds of people in the collaborative process of its production.  island plan cover smallTo quote from the plan:  “ The purpose of the Island Plan is to chart a course to the kind of future the Vineyard community wants, and to outline a series of actions to help us navigate that course.  The Island Plan is both a blueprint and a call to action.”

I served on the Steering Committee and chaired one of the nine work groups – Livelihood & Commerce (the others are Development & Growth, Natural Environment, the Built Environment, Energy & Waste, Affordable Housing, Transportation, Water Resources, and Social Environment).

I spent more time working on the plan than I wished to and less time than I should have.

Read More about Here Comes the Island Plan

Filed Under: Collaboration, Martha's Vineyard Tagged With: Island Plan, Martha's Vineyard, Martha's Vineyard Commission, Offshore Ale, Vineyard Power

Windtrigue on the Vineyard

December 14, 2009 by John Abrams 7 Comments

While the eyes of the world focus on Copenhagen, here at home on Martha’s Vineyard wind energy has been receiving a mighty dose of attention – more than ever before.  Are we making progress?  Maybe some. You be the judge.

Wind has been in the local news in four distinctly different regards at once:  the release and reaction to the draft Massachusetts Oceans Management Plan, the public coming-out of a new organization called Vineyard Power, the continuing saga of Cape Wind, and the adoption of a new wind by-law in Aquinnah.

Before diving in, some context might be useful.

Read More about Windtrigue on the Vineyard

Filed Under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard, Politics Tagged With: Bill McKibben, Cape Wind, Cuttyhunk, Down to the Wire, Hull, Lester Brown, Let Vineyarders Decide, MA Oceans Management Plan, NREL, Plan B 4.0, Vineyard Power

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