It’s Rather Warm, Isn’t It?

Kids, rolling blackouts are hitting Southern California this afternoon. That’s understandable I suppose, if this were a third world country, but it’s not. We like our low taxes so much that we find this electricity problem to be an acceptable trade-off to paying for power plants or new transmission lines or purchase agreements with other states outside our little grid. Sure, old and/or weakened individuals may perish in the heat when their precious air conditioners are shut off, but what can you do? Our taxes are already too high, right?

Collateral damage? Regrettable but within the range of acceptable losses?

Um, no.

Uninterruptible power supplies are flying off the shelf, laptops too (I suspect it’s the lovely mix of svelte computing power combined with the in-built power supplies). You can turn a crank to charge your phone and your radio. You can plug your house into your Diesel hybrid pickup. Should this consumption be channelled into, oh I don’t know, improved infrastructure? Hell, that’s almost un-American isn’t it?

The batteries are a kludge. The real fix is new wires but we won’t do it because we’re too comfortable. Sweating.

Your pal,

bob