Comments on: A Letter to David Kolata at CUB

By: Danny L. McDaniel

Danny L. McDaniel — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:23:02 +0000

In this case it is neither supply or demand since monopoly distorts the principles of the free-market. What you have is rates going up, but just by how much? Without competition prices can not find their natural level. Unless you think government bureaucrats constitute a market.

By: Carl from Chicago

Carl from Chicago — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:36:26 +0000

B-dogg the troll,

There aren’t inexpensive and easy things to do on the demand side. Demand side reduction costs money, and is only a small part of the issue. Your drug war reference is nonsensical.

Our base load plants are falling apart while demand is growing. We have to build new plants else the “market clearing” price of power will be set by the high cost natural gas plants, and everyone’s electric bill will go through the roof.

I suggest you reduce demand by turning off your power and moving out to a pasture somewhere.

By: b-dogg

b-dogg — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:09:11 +0000

*sigh*
more base load is not the answer. the answer is not on the supply side my friends, it is on the demand side. but, if you have been educated in economics at the u of chicago you probably don’t believe that. you probably still believe in the drug war too, after all once we defeat the supply of drugs we will have won! LOL. this country will never defeat the supply of drugs and it does not make sense to continue to build power plants when there are inexpensive and easy things to do on the demand side. you point out that efficiency costs money, and power plants are free?

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:17:20 +0000

Jay Manifold,

Has anyone rated utilities/cities/states according to how constrained they are by political correctness?

Good idea, we can call it the don’t-bother-to-invest-here map.

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:18:08 +0000

Has anyone rated utilities/cities/states according to how constrained they are by political correctness? I’d love to see a map showing which areas of the US will become steadily more uninhabitable in future years as rolling blackouts become common … I predict that they will not only happen in many places but will become accepted as an ordinary part of life or even as a sign of virtue rather than as a crystal-clear indicator of political dysfunction.

By: Obloodyhell

Obloodyhell — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:30:54 +0000

> As far as efficiency, it is a good thing, except that it costs money. Want to install real-time meters – well who is paying for that? There are 1 million + customers in ComEd’s service territory – if these meters costs hundreds of dollars each (plus installation labor) who is going to fund these efficiencies – why the distribution utility, of course, which in turn is paid for by consumers.

I’d also point out the scary aspect possible with this, where the Greens start to use it to DIRECT power usage rather than to penalize it via expense, or to arbitrarily make the expense sufficiently high as to have the same effect. You can see how the arrogant Greens could use it to direct peoples’ power usage to be shut down (or massively reduced) automatically for a time each day, or at night… especially when you have issues with adequate power thanks to solar only operating during the day… etc. Look for rolling, controlled blackouts and brownouts to be a major aspect of life in the wake of an Obama presidency.

I think the attitude of many of these people is very well expressed by an old anti-nuke spokesman named Amory Lovins, who once smugly asserted that “the only physics I ever took was Ex-Lax”, as though that was something to be proud of.