Sloved the energy shortage problem

[ddl]

I came up with a solution to the energy shortage problem that we face and the solution is a simple one. Since California will never solve their problems with all the enviro-wacko's that live there, Remove from Cal. all forms of energy and let the people who believe that humans are the lowest form of life, move to Cal. and live in the dark. Once we have all the "nuts" in the dark, we can solve our problems and ensure conservation also takes place. Some people have even suggested putting up as chain link fence to get the wackos in Cal. to keep them from infecting the rest of Country. Of course we will need a program to relocate the enlighted people from Cal. to a state where their presence is appriecated. (Boy I which this site had a Spell checker).

Any Comments about the energy solution!!

Dan L

 

[M. Sullivan]

Amazing how the media trashed the plan. Bottom line we need more capacity...no way around it. One station ran a story on windmills in Denmark or somewhere, and briefly mentioned how they have the highest electrical costs in Europe. What a bunch of lunatics. My guess is people will get wise when costs stay high and the lights go off. Another story glowingly showed how conservation is working: A bunch of poeple wandering down dark hallways in an office building....wait till one trips and sues. If these idiots (environazis and media) are allowed to direct energy policy we'll all be back to living in caves.

Also shocked to hear California's governor bashing the plan....."we need a solution now".... These guys should be locked-up. Not sure if in an asylum, or prison for their neglect.

 

[cowboydoc]

It's really getting out of hand now. Iowa who last year said they had enough energy to supply 5x the demand that we had right now is having blackouts!! In the middle and upper part of Iowa supposedly now Alliance Energy cannot keep up with the demand. This despite the fact that growth in Iowa was below where they predicted for the last ten years and all energy companies assured us there would never be a power shortage in Iowa. Seems really funny that they screw us in the winter for natural gas, no real shortage there either, power, gasoline, etc. It's getting pretty scary that you have corporations once again controlling the country. The last time we had profiteering of this kind it sent the country into inflation and we all know about the great depression, not to mention the recession and high interest rates of the Carter era.
I'm really beginning to regret my vote for Bush. I thought that he would go in and do the right things. Basically he's given corporate america a carte blanche ticket to screw the people. My sister-in-law is an accountant for Texaco and some other oil company that merged and she said they are bringing in profits of an average of 6,000,000 per day. Plus another interesting fact is that one of my patients that is a well driller told me is that it costs on the average 50 cents a barrel, that's barrel and not a gallon, to get fuel to the pump. The rest is profit and taxes. Pretty sad state of affairs. I'm not a proponent of big government at all but I think in the case of fuel and energy there needs to be government control. We have no choice in the matter as to whether or not to purchase energy and oil. The way things are going now Bush is worse than Clinton was, I hate to say.

 

[RJohnson]

Denmark has national laws that a certain percentage of electricity must be generated from wind energy. Otherwise the country has no natural gas or coal and they would be a total importer of electricity. Even though their costs are higher the revenues stay in the country.
Wind energy is becoming a much more readily affordable method of generating electricity. California is well known for its wind towers but do you know that they are retiring more wind energy generating capacity that they are installing. The older towers are too small and were not as efficient.
Some of the new generators are capable of producing 2 megawatts of electricity.
The company that I work for is making the wind towers for many new wind energy generating farms being erected now.
Texas has passed a law that 3% of the generating capacity must be converted to "green energy" by 2005. Surprisingly Texas is the number 2 state in the union for wind energy potential (California is 11th).
So I think you will be seeing more wind towers in the future, I think the technology is catching up to be more cost effective.
You might look at this site if it interests you.
http://www.awea.org/

Randy

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
No offense but besides saying that we needed to use less energy and make more power plants what did Bush do? He set up some 10 year task forces that do nothing to help the problem now. There was no mention of alternate sources of energy, no mention on coal or nuclear plants, nothing. He did nothing to help the gas situation as well. It is not a simple case of supply and demand, it is collusion and they know it and they are just letting it happen.

 

[ejb]

It is amazing to me that democrats want to blame Bush for this energy crisis...he has been in office for less than 6 months, blackouts started at least 6 months before he was ever in office, gas/oil prices have been climbing for well over 1 year, democratically run California has not added enough capacity over the past 10 years to meet their own demand and now you have idiots like Gray Davis in CA blaming George Bush for his energy problems...if Gov. Davis wants to blame someone, perhaps he should look in the mirror first.

George Bush is trying to solve the problem in the long run, not in a week. There is no short-term solution. Unlike the previous administration that had ABSOLUTELY NO ENERGY POLICY worth a damn for the 8 years in office, W is making an attempt at some real reforms to help the long term problem.

 

[cowboydoc]

EJB,
What specific policies is he making? I realize that CA has it's own problems but Iowa? You know big business is going to make as much money as they can in the short run and really could care less about the long run. That has been the mainstay of amercian business for a long time. I realize that there is no short term solution to this and yes it is caused by the previous admin. to some extent as well. But like it or not this is Bush's problem right now. It took less than four days for nuclear power plants to be taken offline by an act of congress awhile back. It would take no less time to get them back online. The regulations facing coal power is astronomical, even though the burning of coal powered plants have reduced emissions by over 400%. We have not even tapped the huge potential of solar, wind, etc. There is absolutely no policy whatsoever on alternate energy. Right now energy is the number 1 priority in this country. We are facing a huge inflationary cycle if something is not done to keep energy in check. Like it or not something has to be done right now. Big oil companies are making record profits hand over fist right now. That is coming at the expense of the american public and collusion. In economics there is the rule of three's and we are there with big oil. I am a staunch republican and really thought Bush would come in and clean house. To date nothing has been done to even dent the problem.

 

[skent]

Just asking a question here, and I'm asking because I don't REALLY know. OK? So don't anybody take this wrong. A few weeks ago, Rush Linbaugh was commenting on the wind generating fields in CA and a caller mentioned that some of the facilities had to be shut down because a type of bird was being killed (in numbers to cause uproar) by the blades, and still others were off line because gearbox repairs and maintenance were costing more than projected. They went on to talk about the many fields that had been built and were sitting by generating nothing.

Any idea about the real poop?

Steve

 

[M. Sullivan]

cowboy,
Agree. Nothing much. I totally agree with what you have said. I was (not clearly) focusing on the fact that the media didn't seem to think there was a supply problem, and that there were a slew of other options being ignored. I for one am interested in any form that is truly viable and cost effective. Just see these others as pie in the sky at present. Remeber seeing a story in the past year where wind was not feasible...something like 30000 acres to power L.A.?? I am not however interested in subsidizing some left wing feel good project that will have no effect. Apologies to the wind power guy, and thanks for the link for more info.. I will check it out.

Would have to think a State Atty. General somewhere would get to the bottom of the price fixing, which is certainly happening. Bush clearly will not, also disappointed in him....looks like Al Snore in '04. The one thing he could do is an executive order to eliminate all the fuel blends that supposedly constrain refiners. Heck, make the whole country use the 'best', would have to be cheaper than current pump prices. Won't hold my breath, if he did the industry would just offer some other excuse and prices would stay. Can't believe he will sit back and let the economy tank......

 

[ejb]

Big oil is making big profits after many many years of loosing money hand over fist. My brother is a captain of an oil service boat in the gulf of Mexico, its the first time in years any of these companies are making money...like it or not, it is a cyclical business, price goes up, prices go down. No industry is going to stay in business if it looses money year after year after year and is not allowed to make a profit. Why do people think they are "entitled" to cheap energy?

Consumers are not clamoring for any policy for "alternative energy:/ Consumers want their god-given right to cheap gas and oil so that they can waste as much as they want and not have to pay for it. You don't need a "policy" to have alternative energy...go out any buy a windmill or some solar panels...you quickly realize that the reason not many people use these technologies, is because they are not cost-effective right now. I hope they will be, I'd love to live off the grid myself, but wind/solar are just not viable solutions right now. Consumers don't want more expensive energy, they want less expensive energy.

You only need to look at the number of mega-SUV's communting into cities where 95% of the cars have one occupant and probably 99% of the time none of those people will ever need to use the 4WD that they paid for. This is not a problem of the current administrations making. America is reaping what it sowed for the past 8 or more years.