Reader JC_In_PA sends me an article about electricity, suggesting that it’s worthy of a 10,000-word rant. An excerpt:
In our modern age, the electric grid is the mother of all networks. Without electricity, advanced forms of transportation and communications virtually grind to a halt and nearly all digital and electronic devices are rendered practically useless. When the grid goes down, we lose conveniences like air conditioning, lighting, and other amenities that we often take for granted.
Several days ago, Spain, Portugal, and parts of France and Belgium lost power for an extended period of time, demonstrating just how devastating a total grid collapse can be to our modern way of life.
During this colossal blackout, the largest that Europe has ever experienced, more than 50 million people were left without electricity. Traffic signals did not work, creating utter chaos on the roadways. Subway systems couldn’t function, leaving people stranded far from home. Stores and businesses closed, as payments were limited to cash only. Mobile phone service was spotty, at best. Even some hospitals and medical facilities, which generally have backup generators, were left without power.
As of now, it seems that the sudden, system-wide grid collapse was caused by a malfunction at two solar power plants in southwest Spain.
And further down the page:
Now, you may be thinking that enormous, system-wide blackouts could never occur in the United States, the most prosperous nation in human history. That is not only naïve, but dangerous.
As the American Energy Alliance notes, “power outages have increased by 93 percent across the United States over the last 5 years — a time when solar and wind power have increased by 60 percent. Texas, who leads the nation in wind generation, and California, who leads the nation in solar generation, have had the largest number of power outages in the nation over those 5 years.”
Unbeknownst to many Americans, the federal government, in cahoots with state and local governments, has pushed electricity grid operators to build more solar and wind power facilities instead of dependable natural gas plants while prematurely shuttering perfectly operable coal power plants. As is almost always the case, government subsidies, loan guarantees, and tax breaks have created a skewed market in which utility companies are incentivized to build more solar and wind power plants instead of dependable and affordable coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants.
Due to this short-sighted money grab, the long-term reliability of the U.S. grid is being put in peril.
Well, I’d add my two cents to this little diatribe, but Loyal Readers will recall that I have spoken about this issue several times, to wit: February 2021, June 2021, January 2023, November 2023, and January 2024. (I have no idea what happened to 2022 — a mild winter, maybe — but there it is.)
Adding all that up comes to somewhat less than 10,000 words, to be sure, but I’m pretty sure that collectively, the “rant” part has been well addressed, e.g.:
We need to stop being fearful about our energy needs, toot sweet, and if the existing electricity providers are being hampered, the reasons for said hampering need to be eliminated before we start having Third World problems of rolling blackouts and “load shedding”.
And by “eliminating” I mean this:
well no shit. You have to have the intellectual ability of a rock or be utterly evil to deny that wind and solar power are not dependable forms of energy production. These forms of power generation are nothing more than feel good measures that are bound to fail.
Gas, coal and nuclear power production is controlled by humans. want more power, put more fuel on the fire to turn the steam turbines. People cannot control the wind to turn windmills or control the sun to get more power from solar panels.
Thank you, Kim!
I used to think of the eco-whackos—at least the non-violent kind—as typical leftist idiots who did not know any better. Of course, the typical childless cat lady drone is exactly that. But the organizations pushing this stuff DO know better. Frankly there are not that many really dumb people organizing this stuff, they know the Global Cooling Climate Warming Change bullshit is bullshit.
They’re using it to scare the childless cat ladies into advocating for it because they know it will mean the downfall of western civilization.
And while I was ecstatic when Trump was elected, it is apparent now that the courts are going to prevent him from governing unless and until he pulls a Jefferson and tells the courts to FRO, he does not recognize their authority. We will continue down the road to becoming Venezuela Norte. There was a slight pause in the fighting while the battle lines were redrawn, but the enemy is at it again. And winning. And RINOS are continuing to be RINOS.
I’m just as afraid now as I was under the Xiden regime that the pitchforks and torches, and yes, your AK-47, will still be required if we are not to become Venezuela Norte. Are there enough of us with the will to do this?
I’m fervently praying Trump finally has his fill of the courts and gets on with business. I’m too old to man the fucking ramparts. But I, too, am upping my range time. Got to stay proficient!
JC
“ I’m just as afraid now as I was under the Xiden regime that the pitchforks and torches, and yes, your AK-47, will still be required if we are not to become Venezuela Norte. Are there enough of us with the will to do this?”
Depends… there are sadly many many many people like minded to us that are even afraid or unwilling to speak up because while life is someone difficult now they still have it good enough. They don’t realize we are the frog in the pot being slowly boiled to death and our freedoms removed more and more as time goes on
People will say “oh it wasn’t that bad to just let the police search this” or “eh I didn’t need that gun I have other guns “ or “we’ll just play nice and not say mean stuff for now so we don’t offend others”
And most recently – “I’ll just put on a mask so I can go about my business and not get into trouble with the stasi and gestapo”.
The time will come when free people will be tested. It may be sooner than later. Let’s hope like hell the like minded people on the fence decide that the future of being free is worth jr.
I’ll be the first to admit. I enjoy texting and emailing and talking on my apple phone. It’s great.
I hate mugginess and heat so air conditioning is nice no doubt.
Being able to turn on a computer or Amazon firestick on my tv and read this website or listen to music or watch videos is fun.
All the above being said – even though I am fat and sometimes could do more
– I have extra food
– I have a generator
– I have an outdoor propane grill
I’m smart enough to know that if the power went out I would cook refrigerated and frozen stuff first so I don’t waste too much fuel on the generator keeping them cold. Then onto canned shit.
I have space heaters and an oil furnace that the generator can run in winter to keep warm and a room ac for a place to keep cool if it’s hot during an outage of power.
My point is, I could and would put my phone down and be able to function
So many idiots only know how to have everyone else (taxpayers) or the govt (funded by taxpayers) do everything for them.
Electric cars will be a nightmare in a grid down scenario so I stick with my gas powered Japanese designed toyota.
And while I order from scam a zon once In a while, same day delivery always existed, it’s called you get your ass into your vehicle and drive to the store and pick the shit you need to today.
So many losers, freeloaders and just plain stupid people have no idea where electricity comes from (which doesn’t surprise me as many don’t realize where welfare comes from either).
Many dumbasses will go crazy during a grid down event because they can’t do basic shit.
But all these same fools want more and more electric shit.
The hurricane that raped Georgia before it went to North Carolina to mess up that state convinced me I needed a generator. I existed with 2 inverters keeping the refrigerator and freezer going for 8 days alternating days off the F-350 diesel and the 22 year old Ranger. I shipped the wife to New Hampshire to the daughter after 2 days. I contacted my nephew on day 1 of no power and told him to add me to his list of people who needed a generator but it had to be a Kohler. He is an electrician that specializes in generators. My Satellite dish install/maintenance days let me know a Kohler genset is better than a Generac. I now have a LP gas Kohler generator that will constant run 9 days off my 500 gal LP tank and twice that with managed power consumption. I have lost power twice since then where the power blinked and the genset kicked in.