Climate Change -- conspiracy theory or is it time we all drive a Prius?

Quote: odiousgambit

I have also noticed that you are back to leaving out links again. If this is from a journalist, he may be dramatizing a study, cherry picking.

I often do when I’m on my IPad and not my laptop. The quote if you google it will lead you to Climate.gov, the NOAA website.

Quote: odiousgambit

... We don't want to pay huge prices for this, and it's the poor who will pay the most. Oh, I forgot, "let them eat cake" ... our green energy heroes are good for that one

Granted, but I don't buy the idea that next time around, it will actually be easier on the same people. In fact, the opposite.

Quote: rxwine

Granted, but I don't buy the idea that next time around, it will actually be easier on the same people. In fact, the opposite.

Average Price of Electricity to Residential Customers by by State for Western Electricity Coordinating Council: April 2022 (Cents per Kilowatthour)
25.15 California
14.77 U.S. average
13.89 Nevada
13.83 Colorado
13.74 New Mexico
13.13 Arizona
11.22 Oregon
11.06 Wyoming
11.00 Montana
10.66 Utah
10.12 Washington
9.86 Idaho
Well California consumes the electricity generated in other states. The poor people can just move there.

Consumers in SOCAL are paying as high as 65 cents per kWh from 5pm to 8pm for four summer months. Renewables don't generate a lot of electricity during those hours and the magic of giant batteries is still years away. During a heat wave when other states are also affected the threat of rolling blackouts like in the summer of 2020 is very real issue.

Everything can be fixed with money at the expense of the poor.

Quote: Pacomartin

Average Price of Electricity to Residential Customers by by State for Western Electricity Coordinating Council: April 2022 (Cents per Kilowatthour)
25.15 California
14.77 U.S. average
13.89 Nevada
13.83 Colorado
13.74 New Mexico
13.13 Arizona
11.22 Oregon
11.06 Wyoming
11.00 Montana
10.66 Utah
10.12 Washington
9.86 Idaho
Well California consumes the electricity generated in other states. The poor people can just move there.

Consumers in SOCAL are paying as high as 65 cents per kWh from 5pm to 8pm for four summer months. Renewables don't generate a lot of electricity during those hours and the magic of giant batteries is still years away. During a heat wave when other states are also affected the threat of rolling blackouts like in the summer of 2020 is very real issue.

Everything can be fixed with money at the expense of the poor.

Seems to be a typical trend to keep finding reasons to delay.

Quote: rxwine

Seems to be a typical trend to keep finding reasons to delay.

People love the idea of "stopping climate change" until the bill comes and they realize "the rich" are not going to pay for it all.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station commissioned
Unit 1: January 1, 1968
Unit 2: August 8, 1983
Unit 3: April 1, 1984

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant in Calfironai commissioned
Unit 1: May 7, 1985
Unit 2: March 13, 1986

Nuclear GWh	California	Wind and Sun GWh
18,911	1985	688
28,000	1986	1,285
32,995	1987	1,901
35,481	1988	2,139
33,803	1989	2,610
36,586	1990	3,099
37,167	1991	3,388
38,622	1992	3,407
36,579	1993	3,724
38,828	1994	4,091
36,186	1995	3,975
39,753	1996	3,987
37,267	1997	3,549
41,715	1998	3,615
40,419	1999	4,271
43,533	2000	4,464
33,294	2001	4,079
34,353	2002	4,396
35,594	2003	4,075
30,241	2004	4,999
36,155	2005	4,744
32,036	2006	5,518
35,698	2007	6,238
32,482	2008	6,457
31,509	2009	7,107
32,214	2010	7,141
36,666	2011	8,713
18,491	2012	11,127
17,860	2013	16,429
17,027	2014	23,853
18,525	2015	27,701
18,931	2016	33,439
17,925	2017	37,190
18,268	2018	41,343

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County Unit 2 was shut down in early January 2012 for routine maintenance, and Unit 3 was shut down in late January 2012 for a radioactive leak. They never operated again. You can see the change in the table above.

California has done a remarakable job of using Wind and Sun to generate the power lost by SONGS, and will no doubt do the same thing in three years when Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is closed.

As impressive as that is, it creates intense pressure from 5pm to 8pm for four months of the year when Wind and Sun don't deliver. Nuclear runs all the time. Under current state law no investment in nuclear (not even small modular reactors) is worthwhile because nuclear will be illegal as a power source after 2045. In addition it will be illegal to import nuclear generated electricity. Palo Verde is the largest nuclear plant in the United States and it is located 100 miles from California border in the Arizona desert. It's construction was funded roughly 30% by Southern California institutions. Palo Verde is getting a license extension to around 2069, but after 2045 Californians cannot legally use electricity from Palo Verde.

Quote: rxwine

Seems to be a typical trend to keep finding reasons to delay.

The public website was changed after 14-15 August 2020 to show the net electricity being generated as always, but in additionally it now show the net without renewables. The rolling blackouts occured between 6:30pm and 7:00pm. The normal practice of buying electricity generated in other states didn't work in summer of 2020 because the heat wave reached multiple states. Massive price increases were put into effect for these critical summer hours (I have seen as much as 65 cents per kWh.

https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2021-01/caiso-cpuc-cec-issue-final-report-causes-august-2020-rotating-outages#:~:text=On%20August%2014%20and%2015,leading%20to%20the%20August%20outages.

Instead of delaying looking for the miracle of solar power with massive batteries, California should reclassify nuclear as a renewable (the law allows them to change their renewables portfolio). Nuclear does not generate carbon dioxide emissions.

Quote: Pacomartin

Average Price of Electricity to Residential Customers by by State for Western Electricity Coordinating Council: April 2022 (Cents per Kilowatthour)
25.15 California
14.77 U.S. average
13.89 Nevada
13.83 Colorado
13.74 New Mexico
13.13 Arizona
11.22 Oregon
11.06 Wyoming
11.00 Montana
10.66 Utah
10.12 Washington
9.86 Idaho
Well California consumes the electricity generated in other states. The poor people can just move there.

Consumers in SOCAL are paying as high as 65 cents per kWh from 5pm to 8pm for four summer months. Renewables don't generate a lot of electricity during those hours and the magic of giant batteries is still years away. During a heat wave when other states are also affected the threat of rolling blackouts like in the summer of 2020 is very real issue.

Everything can be fixed with money at the expense of the poor.

Is that indicating that California is the only state that pays above average?

Quote: DRich

Is that indicating that California is the only state that pays above average?

I camped in Northern California
RV park I stayed at said no electric portable heaters
I'm supposed to use propane for heat
I honored it
But
Not sure how they inforce as no individual meters at the site

Quote: DRich

Is that indicating that California is the only state that pays above average?

It is the only state in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council which consists of 2 Canadian Provinces, Baja Mexico, 11 complete Western states, and 3 partial Western States. The WECC, with the exception of California, pays some of the lowest residential electricity rates in the country despite only having 3 nuclear power plants at present.

Although there are national statistics, there really is not a national grid. Comparing California to Hawaii, Alaska or Maine is not really meangingful from an engineering perspective. They can't buy and sell electricity from each other because there are no long range DC transmissions lines like there are in China or Brazil.

These states are above average and most are in the Northeast

Cents per kWh
41.57 Hawaii
22.75 Alaska
25.15 California

27.10 Connecticut
25.36 Maine
24.25 Massachusetts
23.16 New Hampshire
21.05 New York
20.26 Rhode Island
20.23 Vermont
17.65 Michigan
17.04 New Jersey
15.37 Wisconsin
15.06 Illinois
14.93 Pennsylvania
14.77 U.S. Total

Hawaii and Alaska are geographically isolated which pushes the price of electricity up as they use more petroleum than other states. California is not geographically isolated but pursues one of the most idealistic energy policies in the country.

Republicans are not opposed to remewables, but they just want them to make business sense. Oklahoma is a Republican state that agressively pursues renewables for electricity generation. Oklahoma has a lot of wind, so wind is heavily used to generate electricity.

Quote: Pacomartin

Instead of delaying looking for the miracle of solar power with massive batteries, California should reclassify nuclear as a renewable (the law allows them to change their renewables portfolio). Nuclear does not generate carbon dioxide emissions.

Between the accidents and storage concerns, public resistance to more nuclear plants doesn't seem unusual at all. That's changing.

Also, not always mentioned is the effect of "thermal" heating of reservoirs. aka, pollution effects.