: Response

: When all else failed, & failed it did since no electricity
: was available, we filled a 50 gallon drum 1/2 with water
: & with clothes on got in it, & upon emerging the
: natural evaporation of the water particles in the clothing
: cooled our bodies to the point we wanted a sweator.

As a resident of the Central Valley of California, I know too well what we're facing this summer. Temps over 100 and no power! I am fortunate to live in an area served by a municipal utility district, so we won't get hit with these first rate increases, but, by agreement, we must participate in rolling blackouts, which have hit the area three times this year already. The old and infirm will surely suffer, and some may well die over this. I also am taking conservation measures. I've been replacing bulbs and fixtures, and just bought a swamp cooler. I plan to add a small generator, just enough to run the refrigerator, the swamp cooler, and maybe a couple of lights, and this computer, or the tv. I will ultimately (G-d willing) add some solar panels and batteries and an inverter to take the place of the generator. But this stuff is expensive. Which brings up several points.

This is so unneccesary! If the laws of economics apply to solar equipment, then steps should have been taken long ago to increase demand for, and therefore production of, solar panels and equipment. This increase in volume would have brought the price down, and there would be more in use. As much as the sun shines here, it's absurd not to take advantage of it. They now have shingles with built in solar cells. But it costs around 20,000 dollars to roof your house this way. In the summer, your meter will run backwards, even with your a/c on. But we received no incentive whatsoever to buy these systems.

And, while there's plenty of blame to go around now, there's no excaping the fact that we are facing a crisis that only has one short-term solution: upgrade the natural gas infrastructure, and build more plants IMMEDIATELY! But methinks they are too busy fiddling while Rome burns, and are way too worried about their political futures (or the lack thereof) to lead. And the idea of the State owning and running the power grid is stunning. Can you say "third-world country." Just picture the electrical equivilent of a Cal-Trans crew maintaining the grid!

Where this country has really missed the boat on energy is by becoming so dependent on foreign countries for our needs. Plenty of blame for Big Oil and their pet politicos here, but the greenies have also encouraged it. Especially the "Lexus and Beemer" greenies. The combined insistence on buying more and more oil and gas from overseas has kept prices artificially low for years. How is that bad you say? Well, I contend that cheap and plentiful oil is the number one reason we haven't gotten our next generation of energy infrastructure to market. This will, of course, be hydrogen-based, and it would be here already if we had focused on our own resources first before exploiting someone else's. If this had been done, two things would have happenned. First, our massive natural gas reserves would have been properly exploited, with new compressor stations and pipelines being constructed as needed. We have enough known reserves to run this country for 200 years, and with proper, domestic-based market forces at work, it would have become our "transition fuel" to take us to the era of hydrogen. Instead, our natural gas is under-exploited, with the infrastructure crumbling. The line that blew up in New Mexico last summer, killing campers, carried 10% of California's supply. It hasn't been replaced. Which is one reason why my gas bill went from 80 bucks to 235! This is absurd!

The second thing that would have happenned would have been the rising of oil and gasoline prices. They would have hit 3 to 5 bucks a gallon 15 years ago, and we would probably be buzzing around in fuel-cell powered cars already. And we would have remained energy-independent, able to determine our own destiny, and to play the role we were meant to play, that of a light and inspiration for the world.

The message to the politicos is this: if you're not going to help us achieve these things, get the hell out of the way, or we'll throw you out of the way! And the message to the greenies is this: while our history is full of abuses, it's also full of amazing innovations, and the US still leads the world in patents applied for. We've gotten a lot better, and a lot smarter. No one wants filthy water and air, or decimated forests, or extinct species. But it's not realistic to expect us to live in the stone age, either. Learn to trust just a little bit. The technology is either there or coming quickly that will allow us to maintain the planet, and live modern lives with the comforts and conveniences we ALL enjoy so much, like modern medical care, personal transportation, and electric coffee grinders, just to name a few. We can do this with the right leaders. I just pray we have the time.