[russotto]

Originally posted by tw
George Jr is pushing for more energy consumption because lights went out in CA again.

George Jr. is using the CA problem as a convenient and transparent excuse to back down from a campaign promise about treating CO2 as a pollutant. There's no real causal relationship. Personally, since I'm opposed to most proposed environmental measures, I happen to agree with this.

Recently I talked with a corporate employee of Southern Cal Gas. She too had the "we need more energy" mentality. But then she learned things about her industry she did not know. Here we are one of the world's largest producers of natural gas - and now we even have to import natural gas! Once we were an exporters of oil. Then when we became the world's third largest producer AND still imported 50% or our needs, then we had the energy crisis. IOW we don't have a shortage of energy. We have a shortage of efficiency.

No shortage of efficiency. Simply a surfeit of uses for energy -- it's damn useful.

When Allentown PA becomes a suburb of NYC, then we have a problem - not just with the kid. When someone is too hot in a 75 degree room during the summer, then he has a problem. When it is 60 degree out at night and air conditioners are running, then we have a problem. We are not penguins. We are humans who once found 80 degree summer nights normal and confortable.

We may have found them normal, but probably never comfortable. We slept in caves, which tend to be cooler. Lots of humans migrated out of places with 80 degree summers.

Old prices will rise drastically this summer; hopefully returning to normal price levels of between $1.70 and $2.00 per gallon.

Normal? It takes a cartel and taxes to keep them even as high as they are. And the cartel has a problem -- cutting production raises prices, but hurts the economies of their customers, who naturally buy less oil as a result, causing prices to fall. If they cut production even further they may find themselves in a positive feedback loop where no one wins.

Meanwhile, serious problems have arisen everywhere in the nation almost exactly as in late fifties and 60s US.

Everywhere? Seems to me it's only in California and those places forced by Federal rules to provide power to California.

Not much of a problem there. However that same problem exist in moderate and high growth regions of the country.

Sure. Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone. Follow that credo, and you end up with problems. California hasn't build significant generating capacity in 20 years; they are now reaping what they have sown.

However even worse is the ability to get energy into those regions. Long Island may build an underwater transmission line under the sound. But most regions do not have sufficient transmission facilities to deal with 'contingencies'.

Long Island has a problem, mainly because it's an island. California has no such excuse; if transmission capacities are strained, it's because there's not enough indigenous generation capacity.

None of this is mentioned by Geroge Jr since he gets his bribes from energy producers (who did Cheney work for?) - not the middle men. The current CA blackouts are not due to generation shortages. They are traceable to MBA mentalities who now play money games with their suppliers - who stall paying the bills playing games of cash flow. When will George Jr attack the real reason that the CA blackout - accountant money games? Those are the people who legally bribe him - notice the silence. Instead he blames enviromentalism for a problem created by too much inefficient usage.

ROTFL. Make up your mind; is it inefficient usage or MBAs?
The current CA blackouts have many causes, not the least of which is a rule prohibiting distribution companies from making long-term contracts with energy suppliers. This means they have to buy on the spot market, which is MUCH more expensive. And since the prices they charge are still regulated (except in San Diego), that means they are selling electricity for less than they are paying for it. This quickly leads to insolvency, MBAs or no MBAs. Suppliers are understandably reluctant to provide electricity to insolvent companies, on the grounds that they might not get paid.