Here in Southern California, the energy demands have caused rolling blackouts.  The other day, my office went dark for a couple of hours, so my office-mates and I went out to lunch.

The power company pleads with corporations and individuals to reduce their power demands during these times so that the conservation of energy can be achieved.  The theory is that if everyone uses less energy, the rolling blackouts can be avoided.  HOGWASH!!

The power demands in California are increasing, not decreasing.  No amount of conservation will alter that trend.

All that is accomplished by conserving energy is to mask the true energy demand that exists in California.  Instead of conserving energy, Californians should use the amount of energy typical of their daily activities.  That will demonstrate the true burden and necessity of creating new power generation facilities.

The reason California has failed to build new power generating faciliteis is because of the strong political influence of crazy environmentalists.  Enviros use every tactic at their disposal to stop the creation or maximization of power generation and transmission in California.  In fact, at a local plant that is more than fifty years old, new technology can be installed that would be half as expensive to run and generate twice as much power – within the exact same facility footprint.  The enviros are opposed to this efficiency upgrade because they would really love to see the power plant go in its entirety.

I told the power company representatives my thoughts and they suggested they would send calls my way when more blackout occur.  I said to them “Fine.  It’s better to deal with an alcoholic that realizes they have a problem than one that is in denial.”