Great Idea!
The temperature in Texas has been three digits all week, which gives it the distinction of being higher than the Governor’s IQ.
Here’s how we know that:
Our crumbling infrastructure and electricity deregulation has our Governor offering a solution for people getting heat strokes.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday made this appeal to Texans: Curb your electricity use, if you can – for the grid’s sake.
More specifically, the Republican is asking Texans to power down electronics in the coming days between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., a time of day when demand typically peaks.
So now we’re going to try abstinence-only with electricity, too?
Thanks to Kyle for the heads up.
As Molly once said, and I paraphrase, when they baptized him they didn’t hold him under long enough.
1I was going to compare your governor’s IQ to that of an aspidistra, except it turns out (recent work by one of my plant science colleagues) that plants are actually quite good at sensing danger in the environment and reacting to it. http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd-prof-plants-can-eavesdrop-sense-danger-in-their-environment/
Anyway, if he were not such a nitwit and totally in thrall to the oil bidness, he might have noticed this: mid-afternoon on hot sunny days is the perfect time to be using solar energy. By a happy non-coincidence, the time of maximum demand coincides with the time of maximum energy capture.
Not content with theoretical speculation on this, we installed solar panels, and lo! We can watch the meter running backward on 100 degree days, even with the air conditioner on.
I fear, though, that this is too science-y a thought for your governor.
2The Republicons need to accept their own “science, we don’t need no stinking science” challenge. No more TV, microphones, plane rides, and whatever for them. Let them mount their mules and …. oops … strike that (mustn’t excite the Huckabee contingent). Let them walk across the desert and personally pee in the lemonade at the first oasis.
Time for another bumper sticker moment. “Want to ride backward? Vote Republicon”
3What’s next? Will we be told to not eat because we are hungry?
4Uh, shutting down all the electronics in Texas won’t save as much as turning off the air conditioning in Austin.
5Everyone should just invite themselves to the Governor’s mansion where the aircon will be on full blast and his electronics turned on so you can watch TV or go online.
6I bet Abbott is not going to lead by example. I wonder where he’ll be (and what temperature) at 3:00 today.
Wyatt, I don’t get the comment about Austin. Isn’t Austin in Texas and aren’t air conditioners electronic devices?
7Um, much as I love to throw scorn on GOP governors, this actually isn’t as stupid as it sounds. We signed up to get a rebate from our electricity company in Maryland if we reduce our power below our usual levels from 2-6 PM on days they warn us about ahead of time. Most times I can use a fan instead of AC and skip any kitchen or laundry use during those times.
Reducing load during peak hours on hot days means fewer power plants being built, which is a Good Thing.
Granted, doing without AC when it’s 105° is a challenge, but the level can often be lowered without causing death, and if he mentioned “electronics” without AC, that was dim, but it would be good to avoid recharging stuff during those hours too.
8During the 1980’s, I read an article in Mother Jones. It said that Congress was making a very calculated decision. Scientists were beginning to warn us about Global Warming and Congress, in it’s infinite wisdom [not] came to the conclusion that doing something about it would cost money. So – deny, deny, deny was the word that came down from the upper echelons. And still is.
They figured that GW would take 50+ years to get serious and by then they would be retired or dead so it would be someone else’s problem.
So they accused the scientists of being on the take from, ummm, somebody or other. This from the guys whose offices are bought and paid for by Big Oil. Ain’t projection a wonderful thing?
Well surprise, surprise, even the scientists are astounded at how fast it’s progressing and most of those folks who thought they could safely ignore it are still in office.
Oops.
But deny, deny, deny is STILL the order of the day [yep, Big Oil has a long reach.] So they come up with stupid stop-gap measures to address the ostensibly unrelated little weather anomalies we’re seeing in those tiny little localities that are encountering a few minor problems.
Like the entire state of California.
And all of Texas.
And Alaska where the tundra is melting and entire villages are sliding into sinkholes. But hey, the only people who are being affected are the Inuit and they can just move to the slums in the big cities, right?
But hey, pay no attention to what’s happening around you. Cinch in your belt. Use less energy if you’re a householder. We gotta save it for the Governor’s mansion and the Walmart stores, after all.
9What a wonderful idea! Sarcastic? Who, me?
10Ab-butt and his ilk are rapidly turning Texas into a Third World Country.
11Our local utility has “energy saving days” where they ask you to conserve on hot days. They will call you up and request you conserve and they will credit your bill $1.50 for every kWH you don’t use compared to your normal daily average. Since I have an inverter heat pump, I let it run and turn off the electric water heater for the 6 hours they ask for. The tank is insulated, so the water stays hot. Besides, even if the water cooled all the way down, the ‘recovery rate’ is just an hour once I turn the water heater back on. For the two days in July, they reduced my bill $16.
12I’ll bet his abstinence solution for electricity works about as well as it does for sex!
13Luckily I live in NC inside 12+ acres of forest….I don’t use ANY AC on triple digit days as the forest keep us down to double digits. But if the rePUKEians would get off their lazy asses and put solar in place and encourage more trees you heat problems would decrease. But the idea of rePUKEians DOING anything is silly!
Six or 8 years ago I found out that City of Austin had a program for electric water heaters where they put a power cutout on it that saved a month’s electricity over the space of a summer by shutting it off 4 hours a day for 4 months. I started hollering and managed to get one, though at first they were only available in multifamily dwellings (read: apartments). I can also use it to shut it off for vacations. I’ve discovered that if I leave it off for three days, I can still get a warm (not hot) shower out of it. I live alone, so my hot water use is very low. I wish I could set the power cutoff times to be when I was home only.
14Gov. Greg Abbott should turn his brilliant idea to power down during the heat of the afternoon into a full state government program. He can use my name for it:
Siesta
15@ Rick . . . you gave me my first chuckle of the day. Thanks!
16It’s called “Cycle Saver Water Heater Timers.” It looks like City of Austin is only offering them to “multifamily” homes. I live in a townhome, so I managed to get one. Perhaps anyone can get them now.
I won’t post the website as it is ridiculously long. Go to the PowerSaver link on the C of A website and search for “Cycle Saver Water Heater Timers” and it should pop right up.
17@ SusanF . . . at this site http://tinyurl.com/ you can copy and paste very long url’s and convert to a smaller url to use instead . . . (urling along, along, along . . . my heads spinning) Anywho, check it out.
18I’ll turn off my AC on hot summer afternoons when I see Abbott sitting in the heat too.
Until then, he can promote distributed solar power (ie rooftop panel use by individuals) and roll back DST.
19iowa Rural Electric Co-op offered them energy saving’s devices to any of their customers who wanted one. For electric water heaters only.
Seems to me the most conscientious people will oblige the request and others will take advantage of extra electricity. Just like any other program. When farmers get paid to not grow crops,someone steps in and fills the void to keep commodity prices down.
20Gosh, aren’t republicans the ones that will never forgive Jimmy Carter for suggesting that we conserve energy?
21My a/c’s thermostat will get turned down when A-butt (or one of his T-publican minions) pries it out of my (very) cold, dead hand.
22@Maggie
Oh Maggie, A-butt and his ilk can’t turn Texas into a poor, barely functioning third world nation. pRick accomplished that conversion years ago.
23Put solar panels on all state buildings. Construction jobs go up. State saves enough money in the long run to fund Planned Parenthood. Grid gets relief. Solar gets more popular. Economy improves. C’mon, Greg, this is basic Econ 101. This is not a theory. Look at the Elizondo Building Bexar County owns.
24My guess is that they think the old and the sick (who need air conditioning in triple-digit tempertures) tend to vote for Democrats…
(/snark)
25We deliberately did not use AC when we moved back to Texas (including South Texas)–this was before any but the serious environmentalists were doing anything. We’d read the original research in science journals and started trying for a smaller footprint back then.
However…we’re much older and we need some help when the temperatures get too high. I am not guilty about the AC we use now; if the right steps had been taken by individuals and government back when we took them, there’d be ample renewably-generated power now and less global warming. Abbott can shove his bright idea right into the eternal blackness of his soul.
26Is this the same Texas Governor Greg Abbott who has a private well at his house, so he can circumvent the City of Austin’s mandatory lawn watering restrictions?
Nah, must be a different Texas Governor Greg Abbott…
27In defense of WalMart they have been very verbally proactive in installing both solar and wind energy generation capability at their facilities and stores. This link is PR puffery but informative nonetheless.
http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/environmental-sustainability
This is the other side of the coin:
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20141120/does-walmart-have-dirty-energy-secret
Gotta stay fair and balanced 🙂
28Yes to solar applications. Yes to conservation and efficiency. Yes to negawatts (you know, a watt not used). And ERCOT is the organization that told all of us to conserve electricity. Abbott was just saying what he was told to say and I’m glad of it.
My husband got woozy and fell down a couple days ago and ended up in ER and hospital for 24 hours. You know what the problem was? Dehydration. Drink lots of water. Use fans. Put up sun shade screens and more attic insulation and double pane windows. Much aS I hate to say it, if we all got up real early (I draw the line at real early, but if I did…) and did our work while it’s relatively cool, we could save a pile of money. I’m not taking my cues from Abbott. We need to do right because it’s right, not because he said so. Who wants him to get credit for us doing the right thing? I don’t. Rant rant.
29We have used solar hot water for 34 years, mostly solar electric for 8 years. In Texas, people run the hot water out of the pipes to get the cold. Try collecting the cold water you run out before a shower and use it to flush a toilet.
By the way I have tasked my granddaughter to come up with a simple, cheap invention that heats that column of water so it isn’t wasted. I know that there are the gas solutions, but most people don’t have them or won’t get them.
In the state where electricity costs the most (Hawaii) we often only pay the basic cost each month.(Paying this “cost” is a crock when we are giving energy to the utility that doesn’t have to build more power plants because: solar. )
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