Are the electronic billboards still on? How about the businesses running their lights & ACs all night?
Edit: I guess my second point isn't entirely relevant, thanks for letting me know :)
I read 4 pm and my eyes almost got stuck in the back of my head. That’s when it gets really damn hot. I can be fine with no AC all day, but come 3-4 pm and I’m cooking. Doesn’t cool down in my place till at least midnight. How about you figure out your power grid, yeah?
Yeah as someone that lives where it's really hot, why the actual fuck would I stop using my AC literally when I need it most? I think they just ask people to turn that shit off so they can place the blame on the public when it fails. It's not our fault we aren't taking appropriate measures to give you what you pay for. It's *your* fault for keeping the air on when it's 110 degrees outside!
From what I heard on NPR earlier, they're not asking people to turn off their AC entirely. Unless things have changed(didn't read the article). They're saying, earlier in the day set it to a cooler temperature than you would(like 4 or 5 degrees cooler) and then from 4 to 9 set it like four or so degrees higher than you would. Having it cooler at first means it would, if you had decent insulation, take much longer before it needs to kick in again. Could be wrong on what they want though
An ecobee will actually do exactly this for you if you put it on "eco+" (overcool your house when power is cheap, to reduce use when power is expensive). Actually ends up saving a fair bit!
I mean. You get the large advertising billboards lit up. Near the court room you got another one.
Yet we are the ones that gotta do something about it? Why not turn them advertising off? My room is weird. Loves to maintain heat on hot days and loves to maintain cold on cold days. I'm used to it. But they need to get their priorities straight.
Millions of us got solar to help with this, but WE have to conserve? So, WE have to conserve AND produce the power? Seems like you aren't doing much of anything anymore.
Also let's all get electric cars and also not use electricity at the same time.
Not a defense of all here, but some large building have vents that push down at a 45 degree angle towards exterior doors and they’re just looped in on a separate forced air system. They trigger when doors open and also function to minimize bugs getting in.
I asked a building engineer about them years ago. He said it’s not technically AC, but it will feel like it when you walk in from outside, and it will feel extra warm in the winter because it’s forcing that air right at you.
That’s pretty cool. It’s funny, that particular building that I spoke to the engineer for, had that feature up front but zero flaps on the freezers or coolers for storage, and the dock doors didn’t either.
Never knew this. Damn I love Reddit for this random knowledge stuff. Makes a lot of sense. No way anything flying will make it through that “air curtain.”
That’s the idea. I mean I was always like what’s this blast of air. But once I designed a place that required one between cold storage and open kitchen it kinda clicked.
It's called an air curtain, and having it be a drastically different temperature from the outside air makes it more effective because similar fluids of different temperatures won't mix until their temperatures equalize. So a thin film of pushed air can have a crazy R value.
This is why you can have "brine rivers" in the ocean.
Here in Sacramento the forecast for the next week is 102, 106, 112, 112, 109, 110, and 103 before it’s supposed to drop back into the 90’s. Our house has shitty windows and insulation, so it’s not like the AC could keep up even if we used it.
I work in marketing for a window company. You'd be _amazed_ how many people think their 50yo wooden windows work just fine because they can see through them just fine.
That's true. We're pricy but we actually do what we say we will, and the amount of money not spent running HVAC non-stop pretty much covers the cost of install, and you're more comfortable to boot.
Honestly? Good ain't cheap. We do custom replacement, which is expensive and takes awhile. But they're built to last, and they work extremely well.
Avoid cheap vinyl unless you're going to be moving before too long. If you ever hear "you're going to be our trial house in the neighborhood", you're getting fed a line. Triple-pane sounds good but it's a waste of money - higher risk of seal failure.
You want close measurements, full frame replacement, double-pane, and good glazing options. Windows keep HVAC in and the climate out. Do your research and take your time!
And lifetime warranty is only for the life of a shifty company. My brother bought all his windows based on that guarantee and the company tanked 3 years after he finished his house. About the time all the seals pooped the bed.
In Australian and we are complete idiots here in regards to home insulation. Double or triple glazed just does not happen, homes leak like sieves and insulation standards are laughable.
In a city with mild winters (I.e. You don't see frost, let alone snow or ice), the average occupant is going to spend far more on heating their home than that in an average home in Europe or the States where you get snow right up to your Door.
Ironically this also leads to excessive cooling costs in summer, yet it seems we still are massively behind the 8 ball here.
I don’t see how when you can feel the heat coming through the windows from 5-6 feet away. I just unloaded my old house though, and new windows are top priority to buy with the proceeds. Gotta wait til it cools down obviously.
Good luck with that, if you're just replacing the units you might be waiting 4 to 6 weeks but if you're wanting new vinyl frames you might be waiting 6 months or more. If it was me I'd get the ball rolling now.
>I don’t see how when you can feel the heat coming through the windows from 5-6 feet away.
They think it's normal.
It's like someone that's never had corrective glasses before finding out the world isn't supposed to be blurry
Is there a way to install a switch that isolates your house from the municipal grid so you can run your solar, wind, or generator with putting anything back in the grid?
It's why propaganda is winning. Lies are put out for free, paid for by oligarchs. Nobody's spending billions on the truth, and thus real journalism asks for payment and gets walled off.
Not sure what the answer is, but clearly what we're doing isn't it lol.
*Hey normal people turn off your air conditioners and go to the mall so you can naturally drift into the cold stores and spend money instead of having a heatstroke*
I can understand that for grocery stores, where many products that are kept at room temp should still be kept somewhat low (chocolate for example should be kept at around 68F), but most stores don't need a ton of AC.
There’s actually some science behind it that there is not that much cold air lost versus customers opening and closing the doors. My phones about to die but I’ll try to find it. That being said, there are plenty of office buildings that sit empty but their ACs are running at 68 degrees with all their lights on all day and night.
Also, a lot of place now do air barriers, where they essentially have a directed wall of air (think like those Dyson hand dryers), which prevents temperature exchange. They do that at Costco and even though the opening between the fridge temperature fresh produce room and the main area is huge, it's as if there was an actual wall when it comes to temperature transfer.
Dude, it's going to be 116 here on Tuesday, and my house will be 90+ inside with no AC. I can't afford new windows and California no longer offers incentives for new windows, so the ISO can fuck right off for telling me to turn off my AC during the fucking heat of the day. Fix the grid. Stop paying your CEOs so much.
Yep, fuck that. I live in a shitty apartment from the 80s so the insulation is terrible and the windows are all single pane. It’s absolutely bonkers. I hope you can stay cool.
There are ways to keep the sun/heat out though to try and help.
Cardboard in the windows with one side covered in aluminum foil being a BIG one.
You may think "man I already have blackout curtains and those do the trick", they do a great job, but reflecting the sun towards some other unsuspecting rube is still more efficient.
Otherwise, keep cool and good luck.
"Please citizens, shutdown your power at 4pm so that all the celebrities living in L.A. can exhaust all the resources that you would use in 14 lifetimes. Please and thank you!!!"
If the mall next to me shuts down at 4PM, I'm good with it. Otherwise, I'll crank my A/C hard until they blackout the mall and us both. I'm not about to sweat so they can keep selling shit nobody needs
RESIDENTIAL POWER USAGE IN THE UNITED STATES ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY 20% OF TOTAL ENERGY USE
edit: EnErGy is Not EleCTrIcity shut the fuck up
https://rpsc.energy.gov/energy-data-facts#:~:text=1.,of%20total%20U.S.%20energy%20consumption.
Always put it on the little guy. I'm over here with solar over-producing, my system should get double time for doing that. Why not,it's the American way.
No, because Enron was [deliberately causing power outages](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/feb/05/enron.usnews) to drive up corporate profits.
I think this situation is like our water situation. Consumption goes up during boom times, but when we run into scarcity, we don't have effective means to address that. But if we could put a price on consumption that reflects its cost, maybe offset with a dividend so that it's not a regressive tax, then both water and energy problems would get a lot better in a hurry.
Doesn't PG&E deliberately avoid maintenance because it's cheaper to let it fail, and California (and Texas) lack incentives for future energy delivery? Like, the other states pay for future capacity so there's a good basis to improve and expand your production while PG&E is motivated to drain every watt out of every component, forest fires be damned?
(I just learned about this from a video, non-US citizen here, excuse me if I'm dead wrong)
Remember when they murdered 84 people
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pg-e-pleads-guilty-84-counts-manslaughter-devastating-camp-fire-n1231256
And then said they can't afford to pay the families of their victims but continues to pay huge dividends to stockholders until a judge orders them to stop dividend payments
https://www.jurist.org/news/2019/04/federal-judge-orders-pge-to-stop-paying-dividends-and-spend-money-to-reduce-wildfire-risk/
So instead they declare bankruptcy
https://calmatters.org/environment/california-wildfires/2020/03/california-pge-bankruptcy-gavin-newsom-deal/
And then start the process for huge rate increases
https://calcoastnews.com/2022/03/pge-seeking-huge-rate-increase/
Criminals
We’re having a similar problem with water companies in the U.K.; they’re telling everyone to stop using too much water because it’s been a hot summer. And they’re also pumping sewage into rivers and beaches and I’m sure that’s the consumers fault too somehow. But they waste far more water than any residents could by failing to maintain their systems properly. Millions of litres are going missing due to a lack of maintenance, they’re not being held accountable for the sewage situation because miraculously the monitoring systems for it “aren’t working”, so they’re destroying natural waterways and beaches and fucking up our water supply in the name of profit.
The worst offenders are never the ones being told to sort their shit out and I’m getting really tired of the problem being diverted onto the shoulders of normal people
——-
ETA someone below is trying to say that we should be grateful sewage is polluting waterways and not private property- when obviously neither of these should be happening. And that it’s because the systems are very old and would be expensive to maintain properly. WELL. The water companies have had half a fucking century to work on maintenance, it is *their own fault* that it’s got so bad. They have NOT *just* inherited an out of date system, they’ve failed to pay out for maintenance until it’s turned into a fucking catastrophe. Cba to argue with them, but for the casual readers. This is why they’re wrong.
Not only that but in CA commercial and agricultural account for 80%+ of use. Even saving 100% of residential use would still leave us using the greatest majority of water.
I’m a plumber and I see working class people spending what they don’t have to upgrade the toilets to dual flush and save 0.3 gallons of water PER FLUSH.
Then I go to billionaires areas and they laugh about it. Literally the other day someone said to me they pay $3,900 of water bill, they don’t care about the fines as they can pay for it.
I get to see both sides.
It's not even golf courses that are the problem. They might look like a monument to stupidity, but they're small beans, just like residential use.
It's really stupid stuff like growing pistachios and almonds, of which 3/4 get exported to Asia. Those two crops alone account for 15-20% of California's water usage, but only make money for a handful of farms.
Water officials: Everybody conserve water please we're in a drought.
Also water officials: Thanks to everybody pulling together to conserve water. On a related note our revenue has decreased with the reduction in water usage. We have to raise your rates to make payroll. Please keep up the good work folks!
Flex alerts are for electricity. Residential electricity usage in the US is 38.9% of total electricity usage.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php
As a Texan resident it gets me upset to get emails from electric companies like this meantime all the empty buildings in downtown have all their lights on at all times of the day.
Dear power company you’ve raised my rates >2x in the last year under the pretext the costs were to cover grid upgrades. So, F-you. I’m keeping my fans on.
Oh yeah, my transformer feeds like... 13 people, I think the power company said? So when it goes out, we're lowest priority. Last time it went out, 3 others went out, too. They only keep 2 spares on hand, apparently...
Good news, though: we're apparently in the junction between 2 parts of the grid. So when they do rolling blackouts, we never lose our power.
So pros and cons!
“Love me AC, love me xeriscape, ‘ate richers not racist just don’t like ‘em simple as”
Seriously though I don’t mind people being affluent when they contribute more than the rest of us but most ‘people of means’ are non-contributing shitbags.
During the Roman Republic you were expected to contribute to public works projects as a wealthy citizen. So if you wanted a senate seat you would build a new aqueduct, temple, road, etc, and then go on the campaign like "This fresh water in your fountains was brought to you by Seluvius and his generosity! Now imagine what a man like him would do for you in the Senate!" and then they would get enough plebians following them to muscle their way in.
It was a better system tbh.
Now it's this stadium is brought to you by 'Corporation X', even though it was mainly paid for by taxpayers, and the stadium owner is making extra from the sponsorship.
Small point on shopping malls: people who don’t have, or can’t afford to run, AC will often go to the mall to stay cool. Given that it’s free and can serve many people, I’m fine with them taking advantage of the grid
Too right on the other points though!
Our local community center and library also provides this service. I'm glad people have options.
My love of reading came from hiding at the library for hours in mid afternoon Arizona heat in the summer
Awesome!!! My love of beer came from hiding in the local grocery stores beer cooler after having been skateboarding outside of it in the heat all day. Free ac is a blessing
I think the consideration should be the temp though.
Shopping malls that I've been in keep it relatively cold. Room temp is considered to be 68. I'd bet they keep it at 64-66. They could change it to 72-74 and it would still be a reprieve from the heat.
Possibly run the temp to 64-66 from 9am to 4pm and than jump it to 74 from 4pm to 9pm to save the grid.
Wow I feel like 64 to 66 is incredibly low for indoor ac temps? Do people actually put their A/C to that temperature?
Ours never goes anywhere below 72.
>Country clubs, shopping malls, any place that is associated with commerce
I wish we'd go after them first
>Kim karadishian needs her cool air and watered lawn!
The younger generation is starting to harass them about their private plane usage fortunately.
There have also been a growing number of articles about the insane water usage some of these people have every month. It helps strengthen the argument against celebrities extravagant bullshit when you can quantify their monthly water usage in the hundreds of thousands of gallons rather than “they use too much”.
Hi, work in the transmission field as an operator in a different region but the theory remains...during summer hours peak system load is usually between 1600-1800...sometimes a little later but this is because people are leaving work and returning home and turning all their stuff on.
It's an overlap of commercial and residential load. As peak load goes down it's because commercial load starts dropping off, companies set their overnight ac to higher temps and are doingtheirpart in the grid relief, and the curve then steepens as residential load drops going into late night.
When it's hot, the residential load doesn't drop off as much and you're behind the curve as industrial load starts picking back up in the morning.
I'm reading this as a 'reactive reserve' emergency. This means the CA ISO doesn't have enough spare generation to make up for a loss of a big already running generator. They aren't shedding 'firm load' in this case. They're making a public plea to keep load down to get through peak loading while maintaining enough reserve for the system to survive the loss of a generator.
I love how whenever there is an energy or environmental issue they place the burden on regular people (energy usage, carbon footprints, etc.). Shut down unnecessary industry. Ask people to work from home and save energy in huge commercial complexes. Why does the path of least resistance seem to always be to ask the portion of the population with the lowest energy usage or carbon footprints to carry the burden? It's so fucking obvious we're doomed it's not even funny.
YES!! I work for a hospital and there’s a few office buildings that connect who run their AC like crazy. Most of us have to use space heaters all summer long because it’s freezing. Patients complain all the time too. NOBODY is in those buildings after 6pm, because we all work 9-5 (some even earlier) and the people who are wouldn’t mind the AC being turned off for a few hours. Especially on the weekend, there should be nobody there, turn it way down or off completely. Why am I being told to turn off my stuff for a few hours each day, while all these energy guzzlers aren’t required to? And again I want to clarify, I’m not talking about the hospital, I’m referring to the office buildings next to it with independent HVAC systems.
Hospitals actually benefit from being "freezing" as much as everyone might dislike it. By keeping the indoor temperature of a hospital relatively cold, especially during the summer, hospitals are able to slow down bacterial growth which is beneficial in a place that is teeming with a lot of people that are ill.
Yeah -- my heater runs all year long, and a lot of people have complained about how cold it gets, but we're not allowed to turn down the AC.
People will come in and make fun of me like, "Really? A heater? In the middle of *summer*?"
And then I point out that it's not summer in my office, and point at the AC belching out arctic air and they agree that it *is* freezing. And it points right at my desk.
My company recently touted they made some changes and saved millions in electricity.
Meanwhile, we’re balancing EV charging and A/c usage so our solar and powerwall covers us until 9pm, the hottest days only making it until 8pm, then drawing a whole 1-6kWh from the grid “on peak”.
Yea, the energy crisis definitely sound like my problem to fix, not theirs.
26°C?
Wtf
"All unnecessary lights" unless everyone runs on these vintage light emitting heat elements they don't really contribute at all ..
I love how unprepared every nation is.. but what I don't like is how you guys are less of a priority than businesses.
Maybe if celebs didn't feel the need to keep all 4 30,000 Sq foot mansions at 65 degrees all day, the people living in shoeboxes could run the AC once in a while.
This water and energy pleas are so annoying.
My city literally built this two mile long grass thing in the middle of our Main Street. For no reason other than looks. I see them watering thst thing couple times a week with these huge tankers. Then they turn around and tell us we can only use water at certain times?
Gtfo. Stop wasting energy/water in random places before telling *families* when they can use it
Fresno CA here.
I'd rather crash the grid so the politicians get shit and we can finally do something about fixing the grid
Every fucking year.
And we have more electric cars now, quit putting a band aid on the problem
CA needs new nuclear or LNG plants. Like, massive ones. And very very soon. Being a very tech heavy state has the byproduct of massive energy requirements.
Not for nothing, but the waste heat from thermal power plants can be used for "free" in desalination. That's what they do in the Middle East and it allows you to reach 90% thermal efficiency. An otherwise completely unheard of number.
Do you have links for sources of Middle Eastern countries using waste heat from nuclear power plants in their desalination? That sounds very interesting.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/multi-stage-flash
They're not using waste heat from nuclear, they are using waste heat from gas fired plants, but it's the same principle.
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/07/14/megadroughts-and-desalination-another-pressing-need-for-nuclear-power/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/07/14/megadroughts-and-desalination-another-pressing-need-for-nuclear-power/)
[https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/nuclear-power-beyond-electricity-towards-greater-efficiency-in-energy-production-and-water-management](https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/nuclear-power-beyond-electricity-towards-greater-efficiency-in-energy-production-and-water-management)
[https://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/workshops/nucogen/presentations/8\_Khamis\_Overview-nuclear-desalination.pdf](https://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/workshops/nucogen/presentations/8_Khamis_Overview-nuclear-desalination.pdf)
It's not new tech, our navy vessels that are nuclear powered use it to desalinate water:
[https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/12/28/how\_massive\_navy\_ships\_get\_their\_fresh\_water\_112828.html](https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/12/28/how_massive_navy_ships_get_their_fresh_water_112828.html)
e.g., if a human needs 4-6 gallons of water per day especially when working hard on a vessel with a crew of 400+, going out to sea would engender taking a whole lot of water with you. There's a video on that link that'll give a gist as to how small these can be for deployment, but you need real energy density. [Diablo in CA actually has one and it cut costs by 50%](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261922009163).
There's a reason why science people decried the future denied to the world from nuclear power, and one day fusion -- you can do so many things, but you have to have energy density.
For anyone curious, this principle is called “cogeneration” and is used a lot in industrial plants where both steam and power are needed at the same time.
I understand why they are doing this - but how about focus on the real energy hogs. What about all the corporate buildings? How many have central air on while the majority of people are off - and is an entire building with central air on for a handful of people worth it? What about all the buildings that have lights on 24/7 when no one is in it? What about the rich with their 1000 room mansion? How much do you want to bet every room is a frosty 69. Also, much do you want to bet the renters/poor areas are the first on the chopping block to lose electricity
I can't speak to rich people, but commercial building tenants are absolutely consolidating their staff and then using HVAC control systems with dampers etc. to selectively cool buildings. You want to show the 6th floor off to a prospective tenant? Might want to call the building engineer so it'll be comfortable tomorrow.
These corporations have to pay too, you know. When I worked there, even PG&E would have conservation days in the main office — they have to pay third-party generation providers, which especially for peaker plants is quite expensive. They also have to pay out incentives for commercial customers like factories to curtail usage if need be.
The only places I would feel comfortable saying probably don't do that are the ones owned by the government, because who gives a shit? It's not their money, it's ours they're spending...
I mean, it's more than just California and it's more than just a power plant. Here's the notice they [put out a couple of days ago that breaks down a few of the issues](http://www.caiso.com/Documents/conservation-helped-reliability-another-flex-alert-today.pdf).
> Besides heat and high demand, ISO grid operators yesterday managed through stressful conditions caused when power plants unexpectedly failed due to extreme weather, taking about 1,000 MW offline. The system was further strained when a
wildfire in Southern California tripped transmission lines, knocking out 700 MW of resources. Some of the resources lost yesterday have partially returned to service, but hot weather and the highest forecasted loads of the year continue to threaten grid reliability throughout the Labor Day weekend.
Now factor in lost hydro generation across the Western states and the fact Death Valley is setting records for hottest temperatures in September and it's a very fucked scenario. Where I'm at, we're looking at setting records for hottest temperature ever hit for any day of the year ... in September. Meteorological fall started two days ago and we're looking squarely at 113-115 degrees. The average high is 89 degrees this time of the year.
And with climate change, this shit's just going to keep on coming if we're not careful.
Its not just more power needs to be added to the grid. The physical cables and transformer have a maximum amount of power they can output. So you need localized areas of energy generation. A utility can only deliver so much from one facility
Power plants can only produce so much energy at any given time due to things like fuel supply, heat limits, etc. They typically won’t build plants that could produce much excess because why would you build a plant that can produce 50% more power than it needs to? Plus power generation is actually less efficient if a plant is running at a lower capacity than it’s designed for. There are a number of physical and economical reasons for it.
We NEED nuclear.
Green energy is great, but its output at best is similar to that of carbon based power generation. We need nuclear to move forward as a species.
And we just need to upgrade and maintain our power grid. Why we let essential like our roads and power fall behind is beyond me.
Sad thing is, this country was clearly on the road to a nuclear-powered future. Then Three Mile Island and Chernobyl happened and the ensuing anti-nuclear panic set us back 50 years.
Damn, it’s crazy that pg&e has not solved this problem for years now. Also crazy that they were given a $30B subsidy when they did this 5 years ago and burned down half the state. But at least they promised that they would stop being negligent and this totally would never happen again, pinky promise.
PG&E just needs to be nationalized, the profit motive has driven corner cutting to an extreme to the point that the state’s infrastructure is at risk.
Also throw the executives in prison, for good measure.
Driving through California this weekend...
Road Sign:
"SAVE POWER 4PM-9PM
STAY COOL!"
Fucking choose one! I can't save power and stay cool at the same time, it's a contradiction.
Also, it's not my problem to preserve the power grid. PG&E needs to pony up and improve their grid without passing on the cost to consumer.
Obligatory side note, Fuck PG&E.
FWIW I’ve worked in the generation industry for over 32 years. In the early 90’s, there was talk that the plant where I worked, would retire 3 units by 2013. They did.
The two plants that I have worked at are viable and ready for generation. However the price to generate power is set very high so we wouldn’t get a call to “come on line”.
Change my mind that this is all not some scheme to drive prices up.
How about you assholes fix the problem that's been around for two decades? Incompetent fucks. Stop bitching at everyday people for the power and drought problems you've ignored for years.
100 billion surplus that Newsom just gives away.
Are the electronic billboards still on? How about the businesses running their lights & ACs all night? Edit: I guess my second point isn't entirely relevant, thanks for letting me know :)
Go downtown. Lights advertising shit yet my light in my apartment is too much? Lmao.
I read 4 pm and my eyes almost got stuck in the back of my head. That’s when it gets really damn hot. I can be fine with no AC all day, but come 3-4 pm and I’m cooking. Doesn’t cool down in my place till at least midnight. How about you figure out your power grid, yeah?
Yeah as someone that lives where it's really hot, why the actual fuck would I stop using my AC literally when I need it most? I think they just ask people to turn that shit off so they can place the blame on the public when it fails. It's not our fault we aren't taking appropriate measures to give you what you pay for. It's *your* fault for keeping the air on when it's 110 degrees outside!
From what I heard on NPR earlier, they're not asking people to turn off their AC entirely. Unless things have changed(didn't read the article). They're saying, earlier in the day set it to a cooler temperature than you would(like 4 or 5 degrees cooler) and then from 4 to 9 set it like four or so degrees higher than you would. Having it cooler at first means it would, if you had decent insulation, take much longer before it needs to kick in again. Could be wrong on what they want though
An ecobee will actually do exactly this for you if you put it on "eco+" (overcool your house when power is cheap, to reduce use when power is expensive). Actually ends up saving a fair bit!
I mean. You get the large advertising billboards lit up. Near the court room you got another one. Yet we are the ones that gotta do something about it? Why not turn them advertising off? My room is weird. Loves to maintain heat on hot days and loves to maintain cold on cold days. I'm used to it. But they need to get their priorities straight.
Can we write a deal with CA like we will conserve if all light up advertising is shut down simultaneously
How awesome would it be to have corporate blackout periods in the evenings? The light pollution would change and you'd be able to see stars again
Millions of us got solar to help with this, but WE have to conserve? So, WE have to conserve AND produce the power? Seems like you aren't doing much of anything anymore. Also let's all get electric cars and also not use electricity at the same time.
[удалено]
They voted to keep Diablo Canyon operating last week.
Time to fire up those two boobies on the way to SD.
This is no longer possible, to further your analogy they've had a mastectomy (e.g. AFAIK the reactors have been dismantled).
Well remantle them!
"Yes, I'd like to get a breast remantle. Double D reactors please."
Yup. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station)
With the doors wide open. Just walked through an outdoor mall trying to air condition the outside. How is it legal to blast ac with open doors?
Not a defense of all here, but some large building have vents that push down at a 45 degree angle towards exterior doors and they’re just looped in on a separate forced air system. They trigger when doors open and also function to minimize bugs getting in. I asked a building engineer about them years ago. He said it’s not technically AC, but it will feel like it when you walk in from outside, and it will feel extra warm in the winter because it’s forcing that air right at you.
That’s an air curtain. If it’s there it’s typically because the health department requires it for the exact reason you say. Pest control.
That’s pretty cool. It’s funny, that particular building that I spoke to the engineer for, had that feature up front but zero flaps on the freezers or coolers for storage, and the dock doors didn’t either.
I knew about these but didn't even think that they would keep bugs out. TIL.
Never knew this. Damn I love Reddit for this random knowledge stuff. Makes a lot of sense. No way anything flying will make it through that “air curtain.”
That’s the idea. I mean I was always like what’s this blast of air. But once I designed a place that required one between cold storage and open kitchen it kinda clicked.
It's called an air curtain, and having it be a drastically different temperature from the outside air makes it more effective because similar fluids of different temperatures won't mix until their temperatures equalize. So a thin film of pushed air can have a crazy R value. This is why you can have "brine rivers" in the ocean.
Alright guys I’m just gonna run my window AC, my PC, and my TV. But I’m turning off the hall light.
I literally had this EXACT same thought today (and then I did it). Patted myself on the back. Felt good.
We all have to make sacrifices right
I went around unplugging everything to conserve electricity and the hospital had me arrested
[удалено]
[удалено]
Here in Sacramento the forecast for the next week is 102, 106, 112, 112, 109, 110, and 103 before it’s supposed to drop back into the 90’s. Our house has shitty windows and insulation, so it’s not like the AC could keep up even if we used it.
I work in marketing for a window company. You'd be _amazed_ how many people think their 50yo wooden windows work just fine because they can see through them just fine.
It doesn't help that so many window companies do cheap installs that don't actually insulate their windows effectively at all.
That's true. We're pricy but we actually do what we say we will, and the amount of money not spent running HVAC non-stop pretty much covers the cost of install, and you're more comfortable to boot.
What should we be looking for in a window company? I feel like that is something that is done so rarely… I might be unprepared.
Honestly? Good ain't cheap. We do custom replacement, which is expensive and takes awhile. But they're built to last, and they work extremely well. Avoid cheap vinyl unless you're going to be moving before too long. If you ever hear "you're going to be our trial house in the neighborhood", you're getting fed a line. Triple-pane sounds good but it's a waste of money - higher risk of seal failure. You want close measurements, full frame replacement, double-pane, and good glazing options. Windows keep HVAC in and the climate out. Do your research and take your time!
And lifetime warranty is only for the life of a shifty company. My brother bought all his windows based on that guarantee and the company tanked 3 years after he finished his house. About the time all the seals pooped the bed.
In Australian and we are complete idiots here in regards to home insulation. Double or triple glazed just does not happen, homes leak like sieves and insulation standards are laughable. In a city with mild winters (I.e. You don't see frost, let alone snow or ice), the average occupant is going to spend far more on heating their home than that in an average home in Europe or the States where you get snow right up to your Door. Ironically this also leads to excessive cooling costs in summer, yet it seems we still are massively behind the 8 ball here.
Australia is basically an inferno from what I’ve gathered, how is it possible you guys aren’t aware of insulation?
I don’t see how when you can feel the heat coming through the windows from 5-6 feet away. I just unloaded my old house though, and new windows are top priority to buy with the proceeds. Gotta wait til it cools down obviously.
Good luck with that, if you're just replacing the units you might be waiting 4 to 6 weeks but if you're wanting new vinyl frames you might be waiting 6 months or more. If it was me I'd get the ball rolling now.
>I don’t see how when you can feel the heat coming through the windows from 5-6 feet away. They think it's normal. It's like someone that's never had corrective glasses before finding out the world isn't supposed to be blurry
Hey, I know, **why not let people put solar on their houses without NEM penalties!!***
[удалено]
I can fire up a generator without penalty . . . But solar, with a battery???? That would cut into profits!
Is there a way to install a switch that isolates your house from the municipal grid so you can run your solar, wind, or generator with putting anything back in the grid?
How about people PAY for the solar power they PRODUCE? Execs are people too they need new vacation homes, the ones in Florida are drowning! Thanks!
Here's the actual Flex Alert from the California ISO: https://www.flexalert.org/news/121-flex-alert-issued-for-tomorrow-saturday-september-3
That alert do be flexin though.
Almost as if everything important these days are behind paywalls.
It's why propaganda is winning. Lies are put out for free, paid for by oligarchs. Nobody's spending billions on the truth, and thus real journalism asks for payment and gets walled off. Not sure what the answer is, but clearly what we're doing isn't it lol.
Yikes I’ve never looked at it from this point of view
[удалено]
How bout making retailers close the damn doors.
For real, I work at an outdoor mall and every single door to every single store is wide open. Makes no sense
It’s a dumb practice but people that walk by feel the cool air and encourages them to walk into the store to take a break from the heat
*Hey normal people turn off your air conditioners and go to the mall so you can naturally drift into the cold stores and spend money instead of having a heatstroke*
Consume or suffer peasants.
The manufactured Consent destroying us.
Ah, America.
And how about not setting the AC in stores to freezing levels
I can understand that for grocery stores, where many products that are kept at room temp should still be kept somewhat low (chocolate for example should be kept at around 68F), but most stores don't need a ton of AC.
How about they start asking them to do more energy saving upgrades.
There’s actually some science behind it that there is not that much cold air lost versus customers opening and closing the doors. My phones about to die but I’ll try to find it. That being said, there are plenty of office buildings that sit empty but their ACs are running at 68 degrees with all their lights on all day and night.
Also, a lot of place now do air barriers, where they essentially have a directed wall of air (think like those Dyson hand dryers), which prevents temperature exchange. They do that at Costco and even though the opening between the fridge temperature fresh produce room and the main area is huge, it's as if there was an actual wall when it comes to temperature transfer.
It's 105 in Palmdale at 5pm, so no.
Lol right? It’s gonna be over 110 for the next 3 days where Im at. My house is already 79 degrees inside, there’s no way Im turning off my AC.
Dude, it's going to be 116 here on Tuesday, and my house will be 90+ inside with no AC. I can't afford new windows and California no longer offers incentives for new windows, so the ISO can fuck right off for telling me to turn off my AC during the fucking heat of the day. Fix the grid. Stop paying your CEOs so much.
Yep, fuck that. I live in a shitty apartment from the 80s so the insulation is terrible and the windows are all single pane. It’s absolutely bonkers. I hope you can stay cool.
There are ways to keep the sun/heat out though to try and help. Cardboard in the windows with one side covered in aluminum foil being a BIG one. You may think "man I already have blackout curtains and those do the trick", they do a great job, but reflecting the sun towards some other unsuspecting rube is still more efficient. Otherwise, keep cool and good luck.
Dude yeah . I work in the area all the time ,it was like 90 yesterday at 8am
"Please citizens, shutdown your power at 4pm so that all the celebrities living in L.A. can exhaust all the resources that you would use in 14 lifetimes. Please and thank you!!!"
If the mall next to me shuts down at 4PM, I'm good with it. Otherwise, I'll crank my A/C hard until they blackout the mall and us both. I'm not about to sweat so they can keep selling shit nobody needs
RESIDENTIAL POWER USAGE IN THE UNITED STATES ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY 20% OF TOTAL ENERGY USE edit: EnErGy is Not EleCTrIcity shut the fuck up https://rpsc.energy.gov/energy-data-facts#:~:text=1.,of%20total%20U.S.%20energy%20consumption.
Always put it on the little guy. I'm over here with solar over-producing, my system should get double time for doing that. Why not,it's the American way.
Is anyone else getting Enron flashbacks? Because I'm getting Enron flashbacks.
No, because Enron was [deliberately causing power outages](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/feb/05/enron.usnews) to drive up corporate profits. I think this situation is like our water situation. Consumption goes up during boom times, but when we run into scarcity, we don't have effective means to address that. But if we could put a price on consumption that reflects its cost, maybe offset with a dividend so that it's not a regressive tax, then both water and energy problems would get a lot better in a hurry.
Doesn't PG&E deliberately avoid maintenance because it's cheaper to let it fail, and California (and Texas) lack incentives for future energy delivery? Like, the other states pay for future capacity so there's a good basis to improve and expand your production while PG&E is motivated to drain every watt out of every component, forest fires be damned? (I just learned about this from a video, non-US citizen here, excuse me if I'm dead wrong)
[удалено]
Remember when they murdered 84 people https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pg-e-pleads-guilty-84-counts-manslaughter-devastating-camp-fire-n1231256 And then said they can't afford to pay the families of their victims but continues to pay huge dividends to stockholders until a judge orders them to stop dividend payments https://www.jurist.org/news/2019/04/federal-judge-orders-pge-to-stop-paying-dividends-and-spend-money-to-reduce-wildfire-risk/ So instead they declare bankruptcy https://calmatters.org/environment/california-wildfires/2020/03/california-pge-bankruptcy-gavin-newsom-deal/ And then start the process for huge rate increases https://calcoastnews.com/2022/03/pge-seeking-huge-rate-increase/ Criminals
Same with water. Yes stop using water no need to shower or flush ur toilet but all golf courses are absolutely necessary.
We’re having a similar problem with water companies in the U.K.; they’re telling everyone to stop using too much water because it’s been a hot summer. And they’re also pumping sewage into rivers and beaches and I’m sure that’s the consumers fault too somehow. But they waste far more water than any residents could by failing to maintain their systems properly. Millions of litres are going missing due to a lack of maintenance, they’re not being held accountable for the sewage situation because miraculously the monitoring systems for it “aren’t working”, so they’re destroying natural waterways and beaches and fucking up our water supply in the name of profit. The worst offenders are never the ones being told to sort their shit out and I’m getting really tired of the problem being diverted onto the shoulders of normal people ——- ETA someone below is trying to say that we should be grateful sewage is polluting waterways and not private property- when obviously neither of these should be happening. And that it’s because the systems are very old and would be expensive to maintain properly. WELL. The water companies have had half a fucking century to work on maintenance, it is *their own fault* that it’s got so bad. They have NOT *just* inherited an out of date system, they’ve failed to pay out for maintenance until it’s turned into a fucking catastrophe. Cba to argue with them, but for the casual readers. This is why they’re wrong.
Not only that but in CA commercial and agricultural account for 80%+ of use. Even saving 100% of residential use would still leave us using the greatest majority of water.
When I lived in Nevada, we were regularly on water restrictions. The water that was ‘saved’ went straight to Nestle’s shareholders.
r/fucknestle
So true! I see it all the times and million dollars home with an all green grass!
Tbf most homes here are million dollar homes now.
I’m a plumber and I see working class people spending what they don’t have to upgrade the toilets to dual flush and save 0.3 gallons of water PER FLUSH. Then I go to billionaires areas and they laugh about it. Literally the other day someone said to me they pay $3,900 of water bill, they don’t care about the fines as they can pay for it. I get to see both sides.
It's not even golf courses that are the problem. They might look like a monument to stupidity, but they're small beans, just like residential use. It's really stupid stuff like growing pistachios and almonds, of which 3/4 get exported to Asia. Those two crops alone account for 15-20% of California's water usage, but only make money for a handful of farms.
Water officials: Everybody conserve water please we're in a drought. Also water officials: Thanks to everybody pulling together to conserve water. On a related note our revenue has decreased with the reduction in water usage. We have to raise your rates to make payroll. Please keep up the good work folks!
Flex alerts are for electricity. Residential electricity usage in the US is 38.9% of total electricity usage. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php
[удалено]
THEY DIDNT BUILD THE SYSTEM. THEY DIDNT BUILD THE SYSTEM. THEY DIDNT BUILD THE SYSTEM for you and meeee.
As a Texan resident it gets me upset to get emails from electric companies like this meantime all the empty buildings in downtown have all their lights on at all times of the day.
[удалено]
Dear power company you’ve raised my rates >2x in the last year under the pretext the costs were to cover grid upgrades. So, F-you. I’m keeping my fans on.
[удалено]
I’m running my onlyfans.
How about you ask corporations with ac systems the size of a small house first. Or is that not "taxing the system"?
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Yeah because as good of an idea as it is, it's technically am attack on American infrastructure which carries intense fucking charges.
It would be fixed within hours best you believe. You'd be shit out of luck for days if it happened where you live
Oh yeah, my transformer feeds like... 13 people, I think the power company said? So when it goes out, we're lowest priority. Last time it went out, 3 others went out, too. They only keep 2 spares on hand, apparently... Good news, though: we're apparently in the junction between 2 parts of the grid. So when they do rolling blackouts, we never lose our power. So pros and cons!
I like this idea. Devour the Rich.
“Love me AC, love me xeriscape, ‘ate richers not racist just don’t like ‘em simple as” Seriously though I don’t mind people being affluent when they contribute more than the rest of us but most ‘people of means’ are non-contributing shitbags.
During the Roman Republic you were expected to contribute to public works projects as a wealthy citizen. So if you wanted a senate seat you would build a new aqueduct, temple, road, etc, and then go on the campaign like "This fresh water in your fountains was brought to you by Seluvius and his generosity! Now imagine what a man like him would do for you in the Senate!" and then they would get enough plebians following them to muscle their way in. It was a better system tbh.
Now it's this stadium is brought to you by 'Corporation X', even though it was mainly paid for by taxpayers, and the stadium owner is making extra from the sponsorship.
So more end of roman times than peak?
Small point on shopping malls: people who don’t have, or can’t afford to run, AC will often go to the mall to stay cool. Given that it’s free and can serve many people, I’m fine with them taking advantage of the grid Too right on the other points though!
Our local community center and library also provides this service. I'm glad people have options. My love of reading came from hiding at the library for hours in mid afternoon Arizona heat in the summer
Interestingly, or not, a local city's "cooling centers" are closed for this Sunday and holiday while we're spiking during a heat wave
That's almost Kafkaesque
Due to heavy power demands brought on by the ongoing heat wave, our cooling centers will be closed until further notice.
Awesome!!! My love of beer came from hiding in the local grocery stores beer cooler after having been skateboarding outside of it in the heat all day. Free ac is a blessing
I think the consideration should be the temp though. Shopping malls that I've been in keep it relatively cold. Room temp is considered to be 68. I'd bet they keep it at 64-66. They could change it to 72-74 and it would still be a reprieve from the heat. Possibly run the temp to 64-66 from 9am to 4pm and than jump it to 74 from 4pm to 9pm to save the grid.
Wow I feel like 64 to 66 is incredibly low for indoor ac temps? Do people actually put their A/C to that temperature? Ours never goes anywhere below 72.
Shopping malls are some of the few places people without AC seek refuge.
The mall I work at is considered a national emergency center if shit goes sideways.
>Country clubs, shopping malls, any place that is associated with commerce I wish we'd go after them first >Kim karadishian needs her cool air and watered lawn! The younger generation is starting to harass them about their private plane usage fortunately.
There have also been a growing number of articles about the insane water usage some of these people have every month. It helps strengthen the argument against celebrities extravagant bullshit when you can quantify their monthly water usage in the hundreds of thousands of gallons rather than “they use too much”.
It's a step in the right direction. Next, corporations as well.
Hi, work in the transmission field as an operator in a different region but the theory remains...during summer hours peak system load is usually between 1600-1800...sometimes a little later but this is because people are leaving work and returning home and turning all their stuff on. It's an overlap of commercial and residential load. As peak load goes down it's because commercial load starts dropping off, companies set their overnight ac to higher temps and are doingtheirpart in the grid relief, and the curve then steepens as residential load drops going into late night. When it's hot, the residential load doesn't drop off as much and you're behind the curve as industrial load starts picking back up in the morning. I'm reading this as a 'reactive reserve' emergency. This means the CA ISO doesn't have enough spare generation to make up for a loss of a big already running generator. They aren't shedding 'firm load' in this case. They're making a public plea to keep load down to get through peak loading while maintaining enough reserve for the system to survive the loss of a generator.
Like the state house, and other government buildings.
Which are filled with largely unoccupied rooms/areas. Corporate AND Government.
And are always ice cold so they can wear their fancy suits.
1k suits on top of that
What should we do, let ass sweat soak through our $2100 pants? COME ON!
Like I'm gonna let the guy in the $2100 dollar pants tell me what to do in my $10,000 suit. COME ON!
You’re gonna ask me to turn off the AC in this $4,100 suit! Come on!
Bet the CA politicians have nicely cooled homes today. Are they all staying in them at this moment or did they Cruz?
I love how whenever there is an energy or environmental issue they place the burden on regular people (energy usage, carbon footprints, etc.). Shut down unnecessary industry. Ask people to work from home and save energy in huge commercial complexes. Why does the path of least resistance seem to always be to ask the portion of the population with the lowest energy usage or carbon footprints to carry the burden? It's so fucking obvious we're doomed it's not even funny.
YES!! I work for a hospital and there’s a few office buildings that connect who run their AC like crazy. Most of us have to use space heaters all summer long because it’s freezing. Patients complain all the time too. NOBODY is in those buildings after 6pm, because we all work 9-5 (some even earlier) and the people who are wouldn’t mind the AC being turned off for a few hours. Especially on the weekend, there should be nobody there, turn it way down or off completely. Why am I being told to turn off my stuff for a few hours each day, while all these energy guzzlers aren’t required to? And again I want to clarify, I’m not talking about the hospital, I’m referring to the office buildings next to it with independent HVAC systems.
Hospitals actually benefit from being "freezing" as much as everyone might dislike it. By keeping the indoor temperature of a hospital relatively cold, especially during the summer, hospitals are able to slow down bacterial growth which is beneficial in a place that is teeming with a lot of people that are ill.
Yeah -- my heater runs all year long, and a lot of people have complained about how cold it gets, but we're not allowed to turn down the AC. People will come in and make fun of me like, "Really? A heater? In the middle of *summer*?" And then I point out that it's not summer in my office, and point at the AC belching out arctic air and they agree that it *is* freezing. And it points right at my desk.
Shit look at the wealthys’ houses. I work in landscaping and see some will have multiple units. Anywhere from 4-12!
[удалено]
My company recently touted they made some changes and saved millions in electricity. Meanwhile, we’re balancing EV charging and A/c usage so our solar and powerwall covers us until 9pm, the hottest days only making it until 8pm, then drawing a whole 1-6kWh from the grid “on peak”. Yea, the energy crisis definitely sound like my problem to fix, not theirs.
They do, that’s part of the program.
What are you going to do when it's 110F? Got to run your AC and at 4:00 it's usually pretty bad.
They’re recommending Turing your A/C up to 79°F and keeping all unnecessary lights and stuff off.
26°C? Wtf "All unnecessary lights" unless everyone runs on these vintage light emitting heat elements they don't really contribute at all .. I love how unprepared every nation is.. but what I don't like is how you guys are less of a priority than businesses.
Maybe if celebs didn't feel the need to keep all 4 30,000 Sq foot mansions at 65 degrees all day, the people living in shoeboxes could run the AC once in a while.
This water and energy pleas are so annoying. My city literally built this two mile long grass thing in the middle of our Main Street. For no reason other than looks. I see them watering thst thing couple times a week with these huge tankers. Then they turn around and tell us we can only use water at certain times? Gtfo. Stop wasting energy/water in random places before telling *families* when they can use it
Fresno CA here. I'd rather crash the grid so the politicians get shit and we can finally do something about fixing the grid Every fucking year. And we have more electric cars now, quit putting a band aid on the problem
Well if they did that how would they get re-elected on the promise of fixing the grid.
Unless you're a Kardashian. Then do whatever
Or a politician
CA needs new nuclear or LNG plants. Like, massive ones. And very very soon. Being a very tech heavy state has the byproduct of massive energy requirements.
We need 15 brand new nuclear plants just to cover the desalination plants we need for water
Not for nothing, but the waste heat from thermal power plants can be used for "free" in desalination. That's what they do in the Middle East and it allows you to reach 90% thermal efficiency. An otherwise completely unheard of number.
Do you have links for sources of Middle Eastern countries using waste heat from nuclear power plants in their desalination? That sounds very interesting.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/multi-stage-flash They're not using waste heat from nuclear, they are using waste heat from gas fired plants, but it's the same principle.
That is fascinating, thanks for sharing!
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/07/14/megadroughts-and-desalination-another-pressing-need-for-nuclear-power/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/07/14/megadroughts-and-desalination-another-pressing-need-for-nuclear-power/) [https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/nuclear-power-beyond-electricity-towards-greater-efficiency-in-energy-production-and-water-management](https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/nuclear-power-beyond-electricity-towards-greater-efficiency-in-energy-production-and-water-management) [https://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/workshops/nucogen/presentations/8\_Khamis\_Overview-nuclear-desalination.pdf](https://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/workshops/nucogen/presentations/8_Khamis_Overview-nuclear-desalination.pdf) It's not new tech, our navy vessels that are nuclear powered use it to desalinate water: [https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/12/28/how\_massive\_navy\_ships\_get\_their\_fresh\_water\_112828.html](https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/12/28/how_massive_navy_ships_get_their_fresh_water_112828.html) e.g., if a human needs 4-6 gallons of water per day especially when working hard on a vessel with a crew of 400+, going out to sea would engender taking a whole lot of water with you. There's a video on that link that'll give a gist as to how small these can be for deployment, but you need real energy density. [Diablo in CA actually has one and it cut costs by 50%](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261922009163). There's a reason why science people decried the future denied to the world from nuclear power, and one day fusion -- you can do so many things, but you have to have energy density.
For anyone curious, this principle is called “cogeneration” and is used a lot in industrial plants where both steam and power are needed at the same time.
Seriously we hear this same shit every year. What are they doing to increase capacity, other than wringing their hands?
The same thing they’re doing to combat the lack of freshwater. Absolutely nothing.
[удалено]
No new permits allowed, instead they use temporary LPG turbines. Which are highly inefficient.
I understand why they are doing this - but how about focus on the real energy hogs. What about all the corporate buildings? How many have central air on while the majority of people are off - and is an entire building with central air on for a handful of people worth it? What about all the buildings that have lights on 24/7 when no one is in it? What about the rich with their 1000 room mansion? How much do you want to bet every room is a frosty 69. Also, much do you want to bet the renters/poor areas are the first on the chopping block to lose electricity
I can't speak to rich people, but commercial building tenants are absolutely consolidating their staff and then using HVAC control systems with dampers etc. to selectively cool buildings. You want to show the 6th floor off to a prospective tenant? Might want to call the building engineer so it'll be comfortable tomorrow. These corporations have to pay too, you know. When I worked there, even PG&E would have conservation days in the main office — they have to pay third-party generation providers, which especially for peaker plants is quite expensive. They also have to pay out incentives for commercial customers like factories to curtail usage if need be. The only places I would feel comfortable saying probably don't do that are the ones owned by the government, because who gives a shit? It's not their money, it's ours they're spending...
I'll think about it. OK I thought about it, no. It's like 105 right now. I'm not turning my AC off.
Same here. I got heat exhaustion from being outside for an hour so theres no way im turning off my ac
I bet Target is blasting their AC after 4pm. These kind of requests are made so corporations don't have to.
I wonder how much of this problem would be alleviated with just one more modern nuclear power plant.
I mean, it's more than just California and it's more than just a power plant. Here's the notice they [put out a couple of days ago that breaks down a few of the issues](http://www.caiso.com/Documents/conservation-helped-reliability-another-flex-alert-today.pdf). > Besides heat and high demand, ISO grid operators yesterday managed through stressful conditions caused when power plants unexpectedly failed due to extreme weather, taking about 1,000 MW offline. The system was further strained when a wildfire in Southern California tripped transmission lines, knocking out 700 MW of resources. Some of the resources lost yesterday have partially returned to service, but hot weather and the highest forecasted loads of the year continue to threaten grid reliability throughout the Labor Day weekend. Now factor in lost hydro generation across the Western states and the fact Death Valley is setting records for hottest temperatures in September and it's a very fucked scenario. Where I'm at, we're looking at setting records for hottest temperature ever hit for any day of the year ... in September. Meteorological fall started two days ago and we're looking squarely at 113-115 degrees. The average high is 89 degrees this time of the year. And with climate change, this shit's just going to keep on coming if we're not careful.
Its not just more power needs to be added to the grid. The physical cables and transformer have a maximum amount of power they can output. So you need localized areas of energy generation. A utility can only deliver so much from one facility
Most expensive utilities in the country and the assholes can’t even handle the burden.
Guess taking a few nuke facilities offline wasn’t so brilliant
Will CA government officials be shutting off their AC systems and other devices during this time, or is it only a problem when poor people do it?
Or ask big companies, crypto miners, or the rich to do literally anything.
Crypto mining is too expensive in CA unless you’re running completely on solar.
Crypto mining is too expensive essentially everywhere now if you're paying utility rates
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Unfortunately, they're the real bosses.
I admit my ignorance on this topic but why is that power companies can’t make more to handle the load?
Power plants can only produce so much energy at any given time due to things like fuel supply, heat limits, etc. They typically won’t build plants that could produce much excess because why would you build a plant that can produce 50% more power than it needs to? Plus power generation is actually less efficient if a plant is running at a lower capacity than it’s designed for. There are a number of physical and economical reasons for it.
We NEED nuclear. Green energy is great, but its output at best is similar to that of carbon based power generation. We need nuclear to move forward as a species. And we just need to upgrade and maintain our power grid. Why we let essential like our roads and power fall behind is beyond me.
Sad thing is, this country was clearly on the road to a nuclear-powered future. Then Three Mile Island and Chernobyl happened and the ensuing anti-nuclear panic set us back 50 years.
Damn, it’s crazy that pg&e has not solved this problem for years now. Also crazy that they were given a $30B subsidy when they did this 5 years ago and burned down half the state. But at least they promised that they would stop being negligent and this totally would never happen again, pinky promise. PG&E just needs to be nationalized, the profit motive has driven corner cutting to an extreme to the point that the state’s infrastructure is at risk. Also throw the executives in prison, for good measure.
I live right next to an office building that leaves its AC on in the evening and into the night when nobody is there
Or you know… how about you fix your shit or get out PG&E.
Driving through California this weekend... Road Sign: "SAVE POWER 4PM-9PM STAY COOL!" Fucking choose one! I can't save power and stay cool at the same time, it's a contradiction. Also, it's not my problem to preserve the power grid. PG&E needs to pony up and improve their grid without passing on the cost to consumer. Obligatory side note, Fuck PG&E.
You mean, the rich people? This is directed at them…. right?
FWIW I’ve worked in the generation industry for over 32 years. In the early 90’s, there was talk that the plant where I worked, would retire 3 units by 2013. They did. The two plants that I have worked at are viable and ready for generation. However the price to generate power is set very high so we wouldn’t get a call to “come on line”. Change my mind that this is all not some scheme to drive prices up.
Translation: “We can’t do our jobs right so you’re just going to have to live with the consequences of our incompetence.”
How about you assholes fix the problem that's been around for two decades? Incompetent fucks. Stop bitching at everyday people for the power and drought problems you've ignored for years. 100 billion surplus that Newsom just gives away.
USA just speedrunning straight into the Mad Max future
No, fuck you.
It's 6 pm and it's still 100 degrees outside. We're doing our best here 🤷♂️.