Guest Post by Steve Goreham
Originally published in The Washington Times.
Last week I received a “Home Energy Report” flyer from Commonwealth Edison, my electricity provider in northern Illinois. The leaflet compared my energy usage to neighbors over the last two months and declared, “You used 41% MORE electricity than your efficient neighbors.” Should I be concerned about this?
My wife and I use energy, but don’t waste it. For years I’ve driven my family batty, turning off lights in vacated rooms. During the summer, my wife dries laundry in the sunshine, rather than in the dryer. We also have many of the compact fluorescent bulbs. We take these measures to lower our energy bills, not for other motives.
Isn’t it odd that ComEd, a company in the energy business, is encouraging their customers not to use it? Imagine a mailer from Coca-Cola pointing out that you drank 41% MORE soft drinks than your neighbor. Or a letter sent from Apple telling you that you needed to reduce your iPhone and iPad purchases.
A visit to the ComEd website provides some answers. First, the company is required to use part of customer payments to urge Illinois customers to reduce electricity consumption by the Illinois Public Act 95-0481. But second, the website is filled with ideological nonsense. In the Saving Energy section of the website, we find a yellow “Power Bandit” and the statement, “Saving Energy was never so much fun! Beat the Power Bandit and learn lots of ways to save energy, save money and help save the planet!” Does ComEd really believe that we can save the planet by changing light bulbs?
For decades, environmental groups have waged war on energy. They warn that increased energy usage will pollute the Earth, destroy the climate, and rapidly exhaust natural resources. They demand substitution of dilute, intermittent, and expensive wind, solar, and biofuel energy for traditional hydrocarbon or nuclear power, which is an excellent way to reduce energy usage. They tell us that nations which use the most energy do the most environmental damage.
National and state governments have swallowed the “energy usage is bad” ideology hook, line, and sinker. Twenty-nine states have enacted Renewable Portfolio Standards laws, requiring utilities to use an increasing percentage of renewable energy or be fined. Hundreds of federal and state policies subsidize and mandate renewable or reduced energy usage, including light bulb bans, vehicle mileage mandates, wind and solar subsidies, ethanol fuel mandates, and energy efficiency programs. These policies collect additional taxes from citizens and boost the cost of electricity.
But, actual trends and empirical data show that our planet is not in imminent danger. Air and water pollution in the United States is at a fifty-year low. According to Environmental Protection Agency data, airborne levels of six major pollutants declined 57 percent from 1980 to 2009 even though energy usage was up 21 percent and vehicle miles traveled were up 93 percent. International data shows that pollution is lowest in high-income nations that use high levels of energy, such as Canada and Sweden, but highest in developing nations, such as India and Indonesia. The best way reduce pollution in developing nations is to increase per capita incomes, not to restrict energy usage.
Similarly, there is no empirical evidence to show that mankind is destroying Earth’s climate. Mankind’s comparatively tiny emissions of carbon dioxide, a trace gas in our atmosphere, cause only an insignificant part of the greenhouse effect. Global surface temperatures have been flat for more than ten years despite rising atmospheric CO2. Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies report warmer temperatures 1,000 years ago than temperatures of today. A review of history shows that today’s storms, droughts, and floods are neither more frequent nor more severe than past events.
Nor are we rapidly exhausting Earth’s energy resources. We’re at the dawn of a hydrocarbon revolution, triggered by the new techniques of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Mankind now has access to centuries of petroleum and natural gas from shale fields, which can be accessed with cost-effective and environmentally-safe methods.
Yet, the “energy is bad” ideology continues. Grade school students are taught that renewable energy is good and that hydrocarbon energy is bad. The EPA is waging a war on the U.S. coal industry. Demonstrators urge President Obama to stop the Keystone pipeline. And utilities tell us how we can “save the planet.”
By the way, reports state that the 20-room Tennessee house of former Vice President Al Gore devours more than 20 times the national average electricity usage. I wonder what rating Mr. Gore would get in a ComEd “Home Energy Report?”
Steve Goreham is Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of the new book The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism: Mankind and Climate Change Mania.
When we had the ‘electricity crisis’ here, some years back, my family cut our electricity uses drastically. We naturally use less energy anyway, living in a temperate climate, so we were low to begin with. The next year, they encouraged people to conserve by giving them a rebate on the percentage they cut their usage… but of course, it was compared to the year before, where we had cut it to bare bones! So no rebate for us. There just wasn’t any more to cut. No other business is mandated to encourage that their customers use less of their product, it’s insane.
Just wait. I bought a home in a new development back in the 70’s. We had a surcharge on our property tax bill to pay for the needed improvements in the water treatment system to support our new development. We were also lectured to try to reduce our water usage to prevent future water utility increases. A few years later we were informed that we were going to get a rate increase because the users had used too little water over the last few years! I expect the same is going to happen in the electrical utility world.
“Isn’t it odd that ComEd, a company in the energy business, is encouraging their customers not to use it? ”
It’s a new money for nothing business culture. Invest less, deliver less, make lots more money.
The time will come when you will be lashed in public for your over consumption of electricity. Shame will be cast on “bad” energy users. The error of you way will be found and corrected.
The smart meter will revolutionize socialism across the US.
HA HA !!
I too have my electrical service from Com Ed in northern Illinois.
I am willing to bet that both of my neighbors got the same letter you did, telling them that they used far more electricity than I do !!
I would dare say that without turning off my refrigerator and sitting around in the dark, that I couldn’t use any less electricity than I do now.
And guess what, I don’t not use electricity because I am concerned about “saving the planet”, but because I am a cheap bastard !!
It’s 1984 Big Sister Napolitano.
Electricity is merely one form of energy. My house uses about twice what my neighbors use but that is because I have a geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling. I pay much less than my neighbors likely pay for heat in the winter. Electricity is fairly cheap here though (Great Lakes Region)
We have a co op, if we used less, we would pay more……….
….it takes the same amount of money to run that business
Mike says:
February 27, 2013 at 4:50 pm
“Isn’t it odd that ComEd, a company in the energy business, is encouraging their customers not to use it? ”
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Nope, not at all.
Their grid is already maxed out and instead of spending billions to upgrade, they can spend millions to promte non-usage.
Excel, in our part of the country, was doing the same thing. I wrote to them and pointed out that their “comparative” statistics meant absolutely nothing for such reasons as my two person family is not going to compare with a 5 person family, or maybe a person runs a business out of their home, or there is a person with special needs, et cetera. The comparison had a totalitarianism to it that just disgusted me – pitting neighbor against neighbor. The comparisons were coming monthly, but haven’t seen one since I wrote to them. We need to fight back against the extremists and not let them take over our utilities like they did our schools. Write or email the company. It is not about saving energy, it is about control
My favorite statistic is one by an Australian nuclear scientist who is pushing fast reactor technology, due for widespread commercialization probably around 2020. That type of reactor can burn “nuclear waste” material, which still retains over 98% of its energy. His calculations are that
just the nuclear waste we have today would provide all of the electrical power this country will use
for the next 1000 years. And render that nuclear waste pretty much impotent in the process and
easily and cheaply stored until it reaches background radiation levels.
Energy crisis? What energy crisis? We have an intelligence deficit, not an energy deficit.
And “renewable” energy includes wood and biomass burning, which produces plenty of emissions. “Renewable” is not a synonym for emission-free.
I point out to clueless and bankrupt California,, which is spending a fortune trying to achieve 33% renewable power, that South Carolina, which has 6 reactors and produces 53% emission-free power right this minute, has gotten approval to add three more reactors, and will
achieve 90% (or more) emission-free power when they come online. Smart, California, really smart. Small wonder you’re bankrupt. Fear and ignorance can be costly.
Actually, Joanie, there is another industry required to encourage their customers to use less of their product and it is very telling. It is the tobacco industry. Tobacco is the big “win” that enviro/leftists all love, so they model their strategies after what worked in the tobacco fight. You will often see comments comparing Big Oil to Big Tobacco or equating skeptical scientists with “pro-tobacco” scientists. “Clean energy” is the nicotine gum/patch meant to ween us off our energy “addiction” by giving us limited, unsatisfactory levels of energy until we forget what it was like to have large amounts of energy whenever we wanted.
“It’s a new money for nothing business culture. Invest less, deliver less, make lots more money.”
Indeed. In many areas of business today the goal seems to be to charge more for doing less, and therefore not have to spend any money on increasing production. Greenism has become a very convenient excuse.
Mr. Goreham, you may have bought the MSM hype about horizontal drilling and frAcking of source shale rock for oil and gas. And indeed the resource is large.
But you have not looked up either the technically recoverable resource (independent of price). It ranges from 1 to 3% for tight oil, and at most 13% for shale gas. And you have not looked up the type decline curves for individual wells, which for both oil and gas decline rapidly to stripper status in about 3 years. That is because what is first accessed is petroleum trapped in natural cracks and fissures. The permeability if the shale is very, very low.
Your assertion about hundred of years of new petroleum bounty is worse geophysics than any of the nonsense in CAGW. And as AR5 SOD has shown, there continues to be far too much of that.
You are in a position where you should get your facts straight before opening. You may have climate expertise, but you have shown woeful ignorance of petroleum geophysics and engineering. Unfortunately, in that you are not alone.
The best part is… the proponents of reduced energy use and green energy get to fly all over the globe on the ordinary citizen’s dime to evangelize their message.
Let the market set the price (without government interference) and let me decide how much of the darn stuff I want to purchase.
I choose not to drink soda but it riles me that controlists like Bloomberg are using the force of law to dictate to me what quantities I am permitted to purchase and consume.
It seems to me that slavery is fact making a comeback. It’s hardly surprising that the Democrats (who vigorously opposed the abolition) are leading the charge to establish their own new brand of politically correct slavery.
Joanie the question may be who are my neighbors? Or more importantly, who are my designated neighbors?
Mike says:
February 27, 2013 at 4:50 pm
“Isn’t it odd that ComEd, a company in the energy business, is encouraging their customers not to use it? ”
It’s a new money for nothing business culture. Invest less, deliver less, make lots more money.
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Many national governments take in far more money than is spent on programs due to having to pay interest on enormous debt. When the interest payments equal government revenues we will be paying taxes for nothing but past ostentatious lavishness. Apologies to Machiavelli.
What happened to energy independence?
RE: For decades, environmental groups have waged war on energy. They warn that increased energy usage will pollute the Earth, destroy the climate, and rapidly exhaust natural resources.
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What we need is an anti-hypocrisy law. Anyone who works for or is a member of these environmental groups will be disconnected from the grid. Then they will be given information on “green energy” sources that they can pay for and install. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. ;-))
In Western Australia we are told that we should save energy between 4 and 9 pm. So the idea is that we spend our days working for the man and then when we get home we are supposed to live in darkness. This is a direct attack on the very basis of our modern society. If I can’t come home, cook a meal, drink a cold beer and watch repeats on the telly, what the hell am I working for?
OK, I use a lot of electricity. Two homes and a business on one property. But look at my electricity bill.
7,407 kWh in February (coldest month)
$601.28 for electricity use ($0.081/kWh)
But….
$187.45 delivery fee
$46.93 regulatory charges
$50.05 debt retirement charge
$115.68 taxes
total is $963.49 ($0.13/kWh)
Over 35% of my electricity bill is delivery charges, debt retirement and taxes.
They may encourage you to use less electricity but your payments will still go up.
As a long suffering owner of Exelon stock (the parent of ComEd), and its now 40% lower dividend, this doesn’t surprise me. Exelon went “all in” with a CO2-free strategy, being big on “renewables” and nuclear and slow on natural gas. Having one of its major units (ComEd) based in one of the most punishing regulatory landscapes in the country hasn’t helped either.
This kind of nonsense doesn’t do much for the concept of “fiduciary responsibility” with regard to shareholder value.
Another ecological Failure about to happen because of the Greenpeace, WWF and the National Trust extremists. When energy prices go up, in the UK the National Trust (unelected) Will cut down more trees and sell them of for fire wood. To make more money.
If anyone needs photographic proof let me know!
They should compare customer usage to the CEO of the company.
Don’t feed the rats’ is the scripture of these extremists.
What’s funny is that electrical companies put out these PR flyers to encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage and then provide government officials with data showing reduced electrical consumption and subsequent falling revenues, which then is used as justification to increase electricity rates….
Conservation is fine, but it’s up to the individual to decide. If the US government would simply establish the rules and regulations to enable private sector companies to develop, build and run Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs), the world’s need for cheap, clean and “renewable” energy needs would be fixed for…well,… forever…
The Chinese now have 750 nuclear physicists with PhDs frantically working on developing LFTRs. Their first test reactor should go online by 2015~17 and a major roll out of LFTRs could start by 2020~2025….
Western governments have wasted $Billions ($Trillions by now?) building/subsidizing expensive, inefficient, intermittent solar/wind faaaaarms. The Chinese are spending $500 million to develop/build LFTRs, which will lead to the cheapest form of electrical production in the world…
Guess who’s going to win the energy war, the West or China??… Hmmmm….
We don’t HAVE an energy problem. We have a Politicians-Are-Complete-Idiots problem….
And so it goes…. until it doesn’t….
I haven’t had a vacation (trip) in over 25 years. The POTUS used more energy on his last vacation than I will in my entire lifetime.
And I am supposed to do WHAT? I say shove it where the sun don’t shine and then: Turn on an incandescent light bulb.
Seems we all get these “higher consumption than your neighbours” screeds. In our case, house occupied all day, home office, work-related gear that doesn’t like heat/humidity etc. Compared to an empty house one side and single person out all day on the other, not surprising. The screed now says “in your area” so that could mean anything. I nearly switched over to a “lower” tariff for the aircon, but that is now timed to switch off when needed most.
I spotted the energy company’s “all electric car” parked 20+ km out of town. Hmmm – a “bridge too far” ? Sure enough, it had to be collected 🙂
Matthew W says:
February 27, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Nope, not at all.
Their grid is already maxed out and instead of spending billions to upgrade, they can spend millions to promte non-usage.
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well they had better put a fence around grid and prevent people from having children, or new immigrants from moving in, or prevent anyone else in the US from moving there.
Maybe if they raise their prices really high no one will be able to afford to live where they supply power. That for sure will save a lot of energy.
If every energy company in the US was to raise prices high enough then pretty soon the only place anyone could afford to live would be Mexico. That would cut energy use and pollution a whole lot more.
I’m surprised the US government hasn’t passed a law preventing companies from burning the plentiful supplies of US coal, thus forcing the US to import oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Much better to get you oil from foreign countries that hate you, rather than pipe it in from your allies and neighbors in Canada. Force the Canadian’s to ship their oil to China at your peril.
Will the last person left in the US with affordable power please turn the light off.
“No other business is mandated to encourage that their customers use less of their product, it’s insane.”
That’s not strctly true.
The tobacco companies (at least here in Australia) are forced to run advertising (on the packets) that actively encourages people to stop buying their product.
Looks like Roy Spencer’s site has just been hacked.
SAMURAI says:
February 27, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Conservation is fine, but it’s up to the individual to decide.
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Ultimately, the only solution that truly conserves power is to prevent people from immigrating and to prevent people from having children. That model has already been tried. In China many years ago. During the Great Leap Backwards. Cambodia followed much the same model. The population did their best to cut power use by dying and the government officials met all their conservation targets in accordance with the regulations. One big happy family.
When a human stops using energy, that human is technically dead.
i remember as a kid how wonderful all the outside christmas lights were on houses. Then the message came out in i forget what year that they were using too much energy (bad). It hasnt been the same since. With the small light bulbs it costs relitivily little now but the damage was done. I think the same propaganda is going on now taking the fun out of life by telling everyone that its bad to use energy.
“For decades, environmental groups have waged war on energy”
Really should read:
For decades, environmental groups have used energy to wage war on energy.
Ferdberple says:
Ultimately, the only solution that truly conserves power is to prevent people from immigrating and to prevent people from having children. That model has already been tried. In China many years ago.
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Yes, China’s one-child policy was a complete disaster. The demographic shift of their population is bizarre and tragic with a large discrepancy between male/female youth population (females were simply aborted in the 10’s of millions…).
The social and economic consequences of this awful and destructive one-child policy will be felt for generations.
According to the mathematicians, the world’s population will peak at 10 billion around 2060 and then decline rather sharply thereafter. We’re already seeing falling populations in some advanced countries such as Japan, whose population dropped 200,000 last year alone….
SAMURAI says:
February 27, 2013 at 7:58 pm
We are all fat alcoholic smokers dying with everything from x but living longer too.
The simple purpose of the letter was to convince you to use less, under whatever pretext, so that they can later complain that power usage is down, but their costs remain the same, thereby justifying a rate increase.
So in the end, you save energy and use less, but end up paying the same total. Hidden inflation.
DJ says : “Hidden inflation.”
Also one of the many drawbacks of adding Ethanol to gasoline.
Get used to this as no one wants to use the word bankrupt.
I see that Steve from Rockwood is from Ontario. We have already seen a hike in Ontario due to reduced consumption. But then we see a hike twice a year anyway. It will be fun to see how Ontario deals with the increased usage in the summer (from airconditioners) without coal burning plants. Since I am not in Ontario at present, my usage is low and I am paying $50 a month. If I turned my main breaker and had no usage they would charge me $60 a month for delivery. Politicians are complete idiots and they force electricity companies to be so also.
So far, both companies and governments have made money on more consumption(profit and taxes).
With less consumption they both loose money(profit and taxes).
In order to stay in business the companies have to increase prices and the government have to increase taxes.
For the consumer this means “less for more” and a war against living closer to the polar regions where the climate is colder. If they follow this path it means that businesses(kapital) and then next people sooner or later no longer can afford to be positioned or live In Nothern Europe/America/Asia.
And this demographic movement toward the equator will be anthropogenic driven for shure?
The letter from the electric company is the result of a government rule. Similar letters are showing up in other places. I get them every month or so. Same government push. Electricity is not the only product that the seller has to advertise against the use of. Water suppliers here in Massachusetts are limited by State rules to how much water they can take from nature each day, on average. Our district, and I suspect most suppliers, are required to supply water to everyone that wants it. There is a lot of open space for building houses and apartments. The withdrawal limit does not increase with the population.
““For decades, environmental groups have waged war on energy”
Really should read:
For decades, environmental groups have used energy to wage war on energy.”
I think it’s really an ideologic attack on today’s Western world political/democratic/economic system with more or less kapitalism, consumer and growth society?
Because this gives better and longer life’s to the voters than Leftist ideologies can?
Why did the communism in Erope fail and fall so hard? Because it was ment to give the people better, richer and longer life’s than the capitalist pigs countries? And when the people living under communism saw with their own eyes that the opposite happend I think everybody lost faith in it? So communism and socialism can’t compete with the economic growth from ideological systems with more or less kapitalism. China today is a political communist and economical kapitalist system.
How do you breake today’s Western kapitalism?
By taking away its cheap energy it’s based on.
I don’t understand how Americans can vote for a Man that promises less for more, poverty and miserable life’s?
What are they going to do when everyone starts plugging their electric cars in to charge overnight so that they can drive a whole 40 miles?
Speaking of energy conservation, I just bought a brand new gas guzzling SUV. My first new vehicle in decades. I’m putting a cute little green leaf icon on the back bumper with the following: “Powdered by natural organic fuel which releases plant flood to create a greener environment “. Being a chemist I can assure you that gasoline is comprised of organic molecules of natural origin.
Rud Istvan, your comment seems to contradict some other information on the subject:
http://www.masterresource.org/?s=oil+gas+reserves+traditional+technically+recoverable
If Al Gore does own an gulfstream II, he is burning more in three hours than my car, my wifes car and my house use all year, all forms of energy, I dont think that I am going to feel guilty driving an f-150 to work by myself!
I happen to work for one of those companies that encourages people to save energy. Mainly to save money, so they can buy our projects which will help them save more energy. The electrical grid in America is in such bad shape that the power companies cannot build plants quick enough to provide peak capacity with any safety margin. I think maximizing shareholder profits for utility companies had the disastrous consequence of delayed investment in upgrading the grid. Whether a planned or unplanned crisis, the result is the same, it’s cheaper to lower the baseline demand than raise the baseline capacity.
Same ads here in Queensland.
i keep imagining a GM ad on TV. We’ve built the new 2013 Holden Commodore. It is a really great car. Quiet, spacious, economical with really great handling – but please don’t buy one. Make your old car last a bit longer.
Robert Heinlein did call this time ” the crazy years” in his future history timeline. He was a hopeless optimist.
There is nothing new in energy companies encouraging their customers to use less of their product.
British Gas led the way in the 1970’s (before Global Warming was invented), with their GEM (Gas Energy Management) Awards to Industrial and commercial customers. Their sales staff actively encouraged energy conservation and the efficient use of fuel by their customers.
The rationale being that an efficient user was less likely to defect to a competing fuel/energy.
It was Su
Wow, you yanks live in an idiocracy, big brother has got you guys by the short and curlies and you have not noticed it yet. How does the power company know that you use more power? and if you pay for it what the hell are they snooping about at? You have lost freedom, its gone. Smart meters, more like dumb ass meters to me. Try and not have one and they will cut off your power, ha, how free do you feel now? Leaders of the free world? no longer I fear, sad times.
Please excuse my bluntness, but this is the kind of thing that makes me want to punch a leftist in the face (disclaimer: “want to” does not mean I intend to).
LEAVE THE CHILDREN OUT OF IT.
I find it morally repugnant that the left seem to have no problem indoctrinating innocent and naive children into their causes. I was recently checking out the high school curriculum here and was only mildly surprised that all of their political education is telling them they are “liberals”. Really subtle way to buy future votes, right?
So we already have a generation that seems to think playing video games is an occupation. Now we’re raising them to believe every wacko leftist mantra, too. Next thing you know, kids will actually take people like al-Gore and 0bama seriously, as if they had anything useful to contribute to society… oh wait…
A clever way to redistribute income upward, few have recognised the revolutionary potential of environmentalism and have fallen for thisi ‘water melon’ non-sense, Environmentalism is fundamentally opposed to ‘socialism’ in its old fashioned European sense of a system of law and governmnet that helps in the redistribution of income (incl.assets) to make for a more equal society (from the economic perspective) . Environmentalism protects what the wealthy like most:, places with no or few people, innovations that earn money for investors and CEOs, and provides top quality in food, clothing etc.(with high profit margins)…the rest of us can get lost or much better, be persuaded to becoem more ‘efficient’ to support hsi system. And many have fallen for it!
Sonja Christiansen
It’s all BS until the government starts turning off the streetlights and handing out IR goggles for night-time use. Why exactly do we have streetlights everywhere again? Talk about a waste of power!
You blaspheme!!
I have replaced all light bulbs with Compact flourescent, and my appliances are fairly new with best achievable energy ratings. Yet still my consumption marches ever upwards. What’s going on?
Looking for answers, I notice that we have 2 desktop pc’s and 2 laptops. We have electric toothbrushes and mobile phones which are constantly being recharged. We have acquired 2 tropical fish tanks (my wife’s idea!) in the last year and a half. When we upgraded to fibre broadband, we were given a separate modem and router, both of which are plugged into the mains.
It seems technology is taking over, and it’s consuming my electricity. And there’s little I can do about it except go back 10 years.
Rud Istvan says:
February 27, 2013 at 5:24 pm
“…you have shown woeful ignorance of petroleum geophysics and engineering. Unfortunately, in that you are not alone.”
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Greetings from the middle of Texas and the center of the tight shale universe!
Alas kind Rud I do believe it is you that is ignorant of the truth and a swallower of the kool-aid from the anti-fracking propagandists.
As a Petroleum Engineer for the last 35 years and one who worked on the first 18 or so Barnett Shale wells (the first development of a tight shale) in Texas in the ’80’s I can assure you that the horizontal drilling and massive frac jobs are not by any way, shape, or form going away without the total collapse of the price of oil (gas is already way to low) and/or the continued meddling of governments.
You sir should stick to what you know and leave the engineering and geology to those of us who do know what we are doing. Don’t believe the poppy cock spit out by the Agenda 21 crowd any more than you should believe in hockey sticks and tree rings.
Consider this new report:
http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/health-a-healing/do-energy-saving-lightbulbs-give-you-skin-cancer?utm_campaign=_BRL1rvB8xC0dt0&DHN
Interesting that saving energy can now be tied to increased risks of skin cancer.
I laugh when I get the energy usage analysis for my house from my supplier in Illinois because one glaring error is that it doesn’t address the square footage of the houses for comparison. It’s a complete waste of time.
The accuaracy of the comparison to neighbors letter is extremely puzzling. I’m said to be 60% over my efficient neighbors and 40% over the average. Yet we are known as the house where nobobdy is home just because we keep lights turned off in unused rooms, have reasonably efficient appliances, use auto-off outdoor lights, and the house is one of the newer houses with even newer air conditioning in this neighborhood. Either there are a lot of small apartments 3 blocks away that are used for comparison even though ComEd’s letter implies they are not or ComEd is “managing” the results some other way.
I know a guy that works for ComEd in that department. He’s personally observed that there isn’t enough renewable energy to meet demand and considers the solution to that problem to be to limit usage to what renewables (wind here in the Midwest) produce and then do without. For public relations v. environmentalists, maybe it pays to have a few fanatics on your team. But the activism is an aberration for a utility. How about some publicity for that?
Most of the concepts associated with “green” energy such as efficiency, natural lighting designs and alternative sources existed long before the concept of green. The green movement hijacks them to give them a false sense of importance and urgency and restrict alternatives not endorsed in the ideology. There is no one in my urban area of the Midwest that would consider putting up a giant white cross on their business property to advertise their religion, but I do know of a young veterinarian that dreams of putting up a turbine at her new clinic to profess her obssession. Fine, as long as it’s her money and I get to go somewhere besides the holy roller for my GM grain-free sermons.
Let me sum it up this way. When things are wrong, the people behind it talk in a creepy way. They can’t help it. It’s almost a confessional urge. Steve’s pamphlet was creepy talk: intrusive, impertinent and largely meaningless. Something is very wrong.
“He’s personally observed that there isn’t enough renewable energy to meet demand and considers the solution to that problem to be to limit usage to what renewables (wind here in the Midwest) produce and then do without.”
The actual solution, of course, will be for everyone who can to buy a generator, like other third world nations with unreliable power. Which will mean more fuel burned and a lot more pollution.
Well put neighbor.
The madness may not have spread to Elk Grove Village yet, or maybe I’m one of the lesser users putting the shame on others 🙂
We should insist that environmentalists practice what they preach. Those who preach about energy waste, should be the first ones to be knocked totally off the grid.
Greg Holmes says:
Wow, you yanks live in an idiocracy, big brother has got you guys by the short and curlies and you have not noticed it yet.
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I agree Greg. Big Brother is getting way out of hand in the US.
There are some brave Americans refusing to allow power companies to install the “smart” meters, with some even being arrested for obstruction, while others are merely being charged higher rates to have meters read by power company workers.
I’m all for new technological efficiencies, providing the technology isn’t abused by the government.
The best answer is to let individuals decide whether they want the lower electrical rates/less freedom with “smart” meters, or higher electrical rates/more freedom.
Those types of decisions will be increasing exponentially as we approach the next technological singularity.
These days I’m often reminded of that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times…”
Things are about to get very interesting indeed.
I suspect much of ComEd’s motivation results from capacity issues. It’s expensive and difficult to build more generating capacity. Summer loads seem to set records every year and rolling brown-outs are a problem. It’s cheaper to bang the efficiency drum, especially when customers are complaining about rising bills and are likely to cooperate.
Rud Istvan says:
February 27, 2013 at 5:24 pm
Your assertion about hundred of years of new petroleum bounty is worse geophysics than any of the nonsense in CAGW. …..you have shown woeful ignorance of petroleum geophysics
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Actually Rud, geophysics has little to do with it. I’m a petroleum geophysicist who fortunately retired before the engineers figured out how to make us obsolete.
Every week friends tell me about a new shale or tight formation being sucessfully produced. And we are just starting to figure it out.
Don’t be fooled by low recovery rates. Those will move higher, and the oil and gas in place in these things is huge. For every conventional field found so far on earth there is a source rock with 100 times the hydrocarbon that made its way into that field.
Mike says:
February 27, 2013 at 4:50 pm
“Isn’t it odd that ComEd, a company in the energy business, is encouraging their customers not to use it? ”
It should be no surprise. Companies like ComEd are regulated, i.e. they are guaranteed a return on their money. Thus, if quantity sold goes down, guess what happens? Rates go up to ensure ComEd’s profit margins. They have the same number of employees to pay at the same rates and the same bondholders to satisfy as before. The state, which mandated the “conservation” efforts will, of course, approve the needed rate increases and will also, possibly, mandate additional fees to be used to help those thrown into fuel poverty by all the above. It’s all in a “good” cause too.
As technology progresses there will come a time sooner than most think when most anyone who wants to will be able to go off grid and supply all their own energy. What will happen to all that infrastructure? Just a SWAG but maybe they know it is coming and don’t want to spend any more on infrastructure? Maybe just trying to milk the most money they can out of existing is more likely.
I, and my family, have been as conserving as we can in a normal house (2800 sq ft) for 17+ years. I’ve kept track of my usage. 11 meters cubed water, 350 KwH electric, 8 gigajules gas is the average. Not bad. I’ve saved a bunch of money (tax free money) as that is the green that will get most peoples attention.
The majority of all the costs on my bills are connection fees, upgrade fees, etc. The actual consumption is about half at most. I’d love to go off grid and save more money. Not quite there yet but close. I’ve got my ROI spreadsheet ready to go for any ideas that come up.
Joanie says:
February 27, 2013 at 4:36 pm
“When we had the ‘electricity crisis’ here, some years back, my family cut our electricity uses drastically. We naturally use less energy anyway, living in a temperate climate, so we were low to begin with. The next year, they encouraged people to conserve by giving them a rebate on the percentage they cut their usage… but of course, it was compared to the year before, where we had cut it to bare bones! So no rebate for us. There just wasn’t any more to cut. No other business is mandated to encourage that their customers use less of their product, it’s insane.”
This should also be no surprise. California has used this approach to droughts for much of a century. The first drought years are accompanied by eloquent appeals to voluntarily conserve as much water as possible. This is followed by a rationing limit based on prior year’s use (with an exemption to fill swimming pools of course). Back when I lived in CA, I had a neighbor who took the initial appeals seriously. When the rationing hit, he couldn’t even take a shower anymore. All the drought resistant landscaping (minimal watering requirements, but still needing a little water) he put in at his own expense the prior year had to be allowed to die. Yet the Hollywood stars with massive amounts of water intensive landscaping and swimming pools were hardly affected.
Our local electric company started a similar campaign to get consumers and businesses to save electricity and then applied for a rate increase because of lost revenues!
Admittedly, much of the lost revenues came from buying the mandated green energy at above-market prices. I don’t know if they lost money giving away CFL bulbs or if they were paid to do that. Either way, the government needs to quit interfering with the market.
See also:
California Girds for Electricity Woes
Increased Reliance on Wind, Solar Power Means Power Production Fluctuates
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323699704578328581251122150.html
Would it be too much trouble to ask for a reputable cite please? You see, power distribution and transmission authorities employ engineers who do reliability and ‘traffic’ studies which seek to identify choke points and weak links for the next ‘capital projects’ approval cycle …
(My alternate reply would otherwise be “Poppycock!” but I am really interested in the discussion vs simply ‘shutting it down’. Truly.)
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Actually, there *is* product out there where the *streetlight* wears the IR goggles <grin> … the lights, LED-based (for instant-on capability) remain off until ‘movement’ from a warm-something-or-other is noted.
Of course, it will take some getting used-to I expect. First markets are parking lots, where it’s totally useless and inefficient to ‘light’ a lot that remains vacant from say 8 PM until the dawn hours around 6 AM when the first early-risers begin to arrive!
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The EPA already bans the most efficient diesel “prime-mover” for a small continuous-duty home or cottage-use genny, the “Lister” … although it may be available in the US as a kit of parts …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_A_Lister_and_Company
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PG&E sends out similar letters. I would be concerned about the utility companies in effect having this information in a form that could be seen by others. If your energy usesage is significanly below your neighbors or those with similar size homes, it may mean that you are not home much of time. This is somthing burglers would like to know.
arthur4563 says: February 27, 2013 at 5:08 pm
I point out to clueless and bankrupt California,, which is spending a fortune trying to achieve 33% renewable power, that South Carolina, which has 6 reactors and produces 53% emission-free power right this minute, has gotten approval to add three more reactors, and will
achieve 90% (or more) emission-free power when they come online. Smart, California, really smart. Small wonder you’re bankrupt. Fear and ignorance can be costly.
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California is starting an initiative to close down the 4 currently operating nukes, which will raise rates (most of the cost of nuke power is capital investment as operations are cheap) and require more power purchased from neighboring states. Reference: http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/government/elections/ballot-prop-would-shut-down-california-nukes.html
Yeah, we get that silly letter every month.
Best part is that we live in a mixed full year/summer only community. The house on one side is empty 5 months of the year, and we have several summer cabins on the other side that get used maybe 8 weekends out of the whole year (the joke here is; what do you do in the summer…. Well if it happens on a weekend, we have a picnic). So unless I turn off the lights, heat, refrigeration and sump pumps for 90% of the year I can NEVER match their usage.
Of course the friendly folks at the electric company forgot to mention that my neighbors have a full year house AND a summer cabin/house as compared to my single full time residence. I suspect in reality I use less than they do in total.
Cheers, Kevin.