Electricity Price Increases

[ponytug]

My knowledge of California is limited but I have to wonder why bother to produce more clean power to supply more and more people if there is not going to be enough water????

Per capita, California has steadily used less and less water and energy per capita since the '70s, but yes, air and water are vital resources. LA recycles much of its water.

The more and more power comes from a couple of things; there are more people here, and there are more industrial use of water, e.g. there are more data centers (see above).
For perspective, here is the energy use per capita compared to the US as a whole, and a couple of other states. I would point out that heating and cooling for the SF Bay Area and coastal California is minimal while the Central Valley needs AC much of the year, so it is not exactly apples to apples.

From Figure 52. Statewide Electricity Consumption Per Capita - Next10

For a deep dive, have a look over at the data on eia.gov.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

Some wind farms have diesel generator installations to balance grid loads when the wind isn't blowing

This makes sense. The posts I questioned made it sound like they need a spark, the way that an auto alternator does.

What bugs me is that we are spending all of this effort and money to "modernize" our electrical infrastructure; yet I see no attempt to protect it. Look at what one idget did with a rifle a couple of years ago.

 

[sd455dan]

Swimming pool, air conditioning, UV light on a tortoise, cold beer... summer is a killer.

View attachment 3998986

Amateur.

check out January 2024 ~ 5600 KWH.

We are doing much better this year by cutting the grid use by about 75% but the panel array picture is helping now. Going to add another 17KW of panels to to the 14.4 KW of existing solar before winter hits.

We also have had an 8% rate increase last month.

Before adding solar -using the numbers at the bottom of the bill average KWH daily use we were @ ~ 36 MWH a year consumption.

 

[ultrarunner]

My knowledge of California is limited but I have to wonder why bother to produce more clean power to supply more and more people if there is not going to be enough water????

Water is another issue…

Some call it the fraud of the century and others call it environmentalism at its best.

The Delta Smelt advocates are cause for huge volumes of water flowing to the sea…

Dams with hundreds of millions spent around the state never materialized even after some have cleared/obtained land and built span bridges and then we have existing dams that produce power and AG water being removed…

It all comes down to
Philosophy of those in charge…

 

[California]

My knowledge of California is limited but I have to wonder why bother to produce more clean power to supply more and more people if there is not going to be enough water????

It's simply a case of people migrating here because its notably better than wherever they are leaving. And so far, it works. As for the future, we can expect that ag, the largest user of water, will have to give way to urban water use and everyone will pay a lot more.

There are huge investor groups buying land that has grandfathered unlimited water rights (pre 1910), notably almond orchards. This is becoming more evident as it progresses.

And one example of how things are changing, is that UC-Davis, the ag campus of the state university system, was offered a nearby huge ranch including its water rights but declined to pay the asking price out of taxpayer funds. Now they are paying a lot more for their water from the new investor-owned water rights owner.

 

[Tomtint]

The whole woke "green" energy scam is playing out right before your eyes.. They want to do away with all other energy sources and push everyone to electric.. On an infrastructure that isn't robust enough to handle it and is double the cost to run... Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Jstpssng]

The whole woke "green" energy scam is playing out right before your eyes.. They want to do away with all other energy sources and push everyone to electric.. On an infrastructure that isn't robust enough to handle it and is double the cost to run... Stupid is as stupid does.

It's just a redistribution of wealth.
Don't get me wrong, I believe we need to keep our air clean. Prevailing winds mean that we get all of the crap which the rest of you spew into the air. Yet I also believe that 30 years from now they will be complaining about the detriments of electric the way that they do ice engines now.

 

[rontaki]

It’s a cost of doing business…

What might be low cost in one area isn’t in another…

The 100 year old union foundry which had many well paying jobs left the Bay Area for Texas…

California officials celebrated its leaving and Texas officials celebrated its arrival…

According to the foundry it could not continue to operate given the ever increasing California compliance costs.

Texas, apparently does not have the same regs?

Is this the foundry that was in Berzerkeley near the frontage road? Sometimes I could smell it, it was not that bad. Ah, for when that was a nice city to visit! Berzerkely is too crowded and decrepit these days, for me. It's turning into Manhattan, or seems like its trying to.

 

[ponytug]

Is this the foundry that was in Berzerkeley near the frontage road? Sometimes I could smell it, it was not that bad. Ah, for when that was a nice city to visit! Berzerkely is too crowded and decrepit these days, for me. It's turning into Manhattan, or seems like its trying to.

Yes, it was that foundry. I always enjoyed seeing their products around the area, rather like seeing the Neenah foundry products.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Is this the foundry that was in Berzerkeley near the frontage road? Sometimes I could smell it, it was not that bad. Ah, for when that was a nice city to visit! Berzerkely is too crowded and decrepit these days, for me. It's turning into Manhattan, or seems like its trying to.

AB&I Foundry had its beginning in the months following the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. At that time, the foundry's primary products were decorative light poles and iron and brass statuary.

When World War II started, AB&I changed its focus and began making submarine net weights and other iron products to assist the war effort.

After WWII, AB&I began making cast iron soil pipe to meet the demands of the housing boom of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Cast iron pipe and fittings remain the foundry's main product line, and AB&I has grown into a major nationwide manufacturer.

AB&I Foundry in East Oakland announces permanent closure

The century-old company, which employs 200 workers, many who live in East Oakland, is moving to Texas.

oaklandside.org