by Pops » Sun 13 Jun 2004, 13:15:06
Several people have mentioned lately that we aren’t facing an electrical shortage; only an oil shortage. Many solutions therefore, involve renewable, coal and nuclear electrical generation to replace gasoline for personal transport (what else?) and probably many industrial processes. Of course in the transition we may very well face electrical shortages without unified action and investment.
Aside from the untold cost and NIMBYism involved in building new generation to power hybrid, hydrogen, electric cars, we haven’t considered the US grid itself. It is largely (I think) privately owned, old and antiquated in many regions; the various regions themselves use different standards to control their areas, and most importantly, deregulation has caused a decline in maintenance and investment in transmission capacity.
Also, I would assume an increase in small distributed generation i.e. grid-tie PV, wind, etc. would place an increased demand on switching, generation control, etc. And of course, there will be increased demand in all areas, although as has been pointed out to me, plugging in the car at nightwhich has traditionally been a low demand time will ameliorate peak demand to a degree. I am not sure if the low demand nightime hours are currently used for maintenance, but that could be a problem if true.
Now that we’ve de-regulated the system that seems to be increasingly a main tool in transitioning to post peak energy, can the “Invisible Hand” be counted on to anticipate these new needs in time and make the incredibly huge investments required for a reliably supply down the road? Or, will the current crop of profit at all cost, corporate welfare cases with friends in high places utilities simply do an Enron-style end-run?
I don’t believe the government should be involved in regulating every aspect of society, however, I'm not so sure we can trust the short-term-profit driven, patchwork system we have now, much of which is foreign owned BTW, to act in the LONG-term interest of society.
Anyone have thoughts about de-regulation and the electric grid?
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)