The thing is: I don't see any discussion groups where we are making some of the connections that should perhaps be made, so I'll take a shot:
1. Is this drought global warming related? If so, does burning more fossil fuel to satisfy the shortfall in hydroelectric power actually in some way make the problem worse? 2. If there will be a power pricing and availability problem this summer, how will that problem interact with the ongoing price-increase issue with fuel? If Diesel generators will be fired up to cover power shortfalls, at what price will this occur? 3. Are we headed toward a severe power crisis as we had two or three years ago, or something more mild? 4. There is still a lot of hand-wringing and worrying and what-not over the drought and the forest fire problem, but very little movement (that I can see) to culling forest fuel (wood) and using it to generate moderate amounts of energy (if it has to be culled in some areas anyway). I don't understand how we cannot put 2+2 together, and see that if wood is a problem where it is too much fuel lying around, and we also have insufficient fuel to make power, then why not combine addressing the two problems? Who gives a damn that it would not solve more than a modest part of the problem? It might be progress. Heaven forfend. http://www.forbes.com/home/newswire/2004/05/14/rtr1372387.html Record drought dims hydropower outlook in US Northwest Reuters, 05.14.04, 3:51 PM ET By Leonard Anderson SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electric utilities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest face another tough summer as a record drought slashes available supplies of hydroelectricity, the main power source in the region. Northwest investor-owned utilities like Idacorp Inc. , parent of Idaho's biggest utility Idaho Power, and Avista Corp. in Spokane, Washington, must turn to generation fueled by more expensive coal and natural gas to make up hydro shortfalls. The Northwest, which depends on hydropower for 65 percent of its electricity supply, is in the fifth year of a drought, the driest five-year stretch since hydro record-keeping began in 1929, according to the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal power marketing agency based in Portland, Oregon. California, which relied on summer imports of Northwest hydro to keep the lights on during its power crisis in 2000-2001, may be able to draw some supplies from the region this summer, said BPA spokesman Ed Mosey. "We don't expect that we won't be able to help out for some peaking power in an emergency. But California also will have to get more supplies of fossil-fueled generation and that will drive up power prices for the entire West," Mosey said. [etc.] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
