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From this article one would
think that the electricity biz was not a monopoly and that supply and demand
were factors in profit. Not.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 1:05 AM
Subject: Re: [CTRL] Fade to Black
Solar
would help
ThePiedPiper 29May2000
Alamaine
wrote:
>
> From
> http://shns.scripps.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=POWERWOES-05-29-00&cat=AN
>
>
}}>Begin
> NATIONAL HEADLINES
> High-energy nation could pull
the plug on the power grid
> By LISA HOFFMAN
> Scripps Howard News
Service
> May 29, 2000
>
> - You grab a few cubes from the
ice-maker for your iced tea, nuke a frozen
> pizza in the microwave,
toss a load of wash in the dryer, notch up the AC,
> crank the stereo,
scan in a couple of photos to e-mail to relatives, and sit
> back for an
evening cruising the Internet.
>
> Upstairs, the kids are styling
their hair, playing computer games and listening
> to the radio, while
your spouse is in the basement office finishing the
> spreadsheet work
that didn't get done that day on the job.
>
> That seemingly
serene summer scenario is anything but that for those in charge
> of
supplying electricity to the nation.
>
> Energy experts warn that
the onset of the hot season, coupled with the recent
> acceleration in
the wiring of America, is likely to bring months of power
> brownout and
blackout alerts in unprecedented number.
>
> As demand drains
supply, the cost of power for companies and consumers is
> headed for a
dramatic uptick. Peak-time prices hundreds of times higher than
> usual
are forecast this summer in some regions.
>
> Why? Combine a
sizzling economy, an explosion of computer users at home and on
> the
job, and a proliferation of other electronic devices ruled by
>
microprocessors for work and play. The result is a ravenous appetite
for
> reliable electricity that must travel over a lagging transmission
system
> designed for a largely bygone era.
>
> "The system,
designed as a two-lane road, is now being used as an autobahn or
> New
Jersey Turnpike," said James Owen, spokesman for the Edison Electric
>
Institute, an interest group of private electric companies.
>
>
Particularly worried is the burgeoning high-tech industry, as well as
firms
> engaged in Internet commerce or otherwise dependent on e-mail
and similar
> online ways of doing business.
>
> For them, a
blackout, or complete power failure, can be ruinous. From online
> stock
trading outfits to such Internet merchants as eBay and Amazon.com,
every
> minute the power is out can mean millions of dollars
lost.
>
> Brownouts _ caused by intentional cutbacks in electrical
juice _ also can wreak
> havoc on sensitive equipment, including that
used by everything from ATM
> machines to auto mechanics. Surges or
other blips, even those imperceptible to
> an office worker, can knock a
microprocessor for a loop.
>
> The digital world, according to
experts, demands a power supply that is
> essentially 99.9999 percent
steady and reliable. Despite its stresses, the U.S.
> system is
remarkably dependable, but even so, the average residential customer
>
can count on glitches causing a cumulative seven or eight hours without power
a
> year.
>
> That would be catastrophic for new economy
enterprises, where a disruption as
> brief as "one-60th of one second is
enough to make everything go blooey," said
> Karl Stahlkopf, vice
president of the non-profit Electric Power Research
> Institute in Palo
Alto, Calif.
>
> Estimates are that the economy will lose more
than $25 billion a year as a
> result of power disruptions which, until
the digital age, were far from rare
> but hardly so
crippling.
>
> In the past decade alone, the power "load," or
demand, has increased 35 percent
> while the capacity to get that
electricity to users has grown only 18 percent.
> Conservative forecasts
predict another 20 percent boost in demand ahead, but no
> more than a 4
percent hike in transmission capacity. A big part of the problem
> is
that no one wants new power poles or stations near their homes or
>
businesses.
>
> Complicating the situation is the ongoing
deregulation of the power industry.
> "The country is increasingly
sensitive to any type of disruption," said Jamie
> Wimberly, vice
president of the Consumer Energy Council, a watchdog group in
>
Washington.
>
> Already this summer, the Silicon Valley region of
California, broiling now in a
> heat wave, is being warned by Pacific
Gas & Electric to make a concerted
> conservation effort or face
significant power problems and financial penalties.
> Energy experts
expect the same situation to bedevil other parts of the country
> this
summer, particularly in other high-tech hubs.
>
> Some technology
firms are shelling out big bucks to build their own power
> plants to
insulate themselves from disruptions. In Redwood Shores, Calif., for
>
instance, computer hardware and software giant Oracle Corp. has spent
$6
> million to construct its own generators and substation
system.
>
> The Energy Department and conservation groups have
begun to amplify their calls
> for the country to cut back consumption
through more energy-efficient
> appliances and power-stingy
habits.
>
> Some in the industry are demanding more financial
incentives to stimulate
> investment in the nation's power grid, coupled
with fewer restrictions from the
> Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
>
> "We have to build a type of electrical power
infrastructure that will support a
> microprocessor-based society,"
Stahlkopf said. "We have very little choice."
> (Contact Lisa Hoffman at
HoffmanL(at)shns.com or http://www.shns.com.)
>
>
End<{{
>
> A<>E<>R
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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--
Any person can stand adversity,
The
true test is to give a person power.
If you treat a relationship as if
you are the only one in it, eventually
you will be.
Atrocities
happen when the people about you -
start considering you
surplus.
"I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of
others to
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---- Thomas
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My Grandfather told me there are two
kinds of people:
those who do the work and
those who take the
credit.
He told me to be in the first group -
there is less
competition there. -
Indira Gandhi
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