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Tag Archives: environment

Knowledge

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Donn Dears

“Ignorance is knowing what’s not true.” Will Rogers, an American classic, was one of several who offered this comment as a way to remind people to keep an open mind. Today we could use Will Rogers, with his iconic American Continue reading Knowledge→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged CO2, energy, environment, global warming, Sea Level Rise

Have We Lost Our Way?

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Donn Dears

The United States has had the lowest cost, most reliable electricity in the world. Why would we undo what has worked to our benefit for nearly a century? That is a question worth asking, as we forge ahead imposing policies Continue reading Have We Lost Our Way?→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged China, CO2, electricity, energy, environment, solar, wind

Why Wind Energy is a Bad Idea

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Donn Dears

In a casual conversation, I was asked why wind energy is a bad idea. Once again, I realized that a one or two-word answer could not convey a readily understandable and accurate picture of wind energy. This article will try Continue reading Why Wind Energy is a Bad Idea→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged AWEA, electricity, energy, environment, wind

Coming to Grips With the Sun

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Donn Dears

It’s not well understood how the Sun affects the Earth. We count the number of sun spots, measure the sun’s irradiance and the size of solar storms. We do know that the size of solar storms has been linked to Continue reading Coming to Grips With the Sun→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged Carrington, energy, environment, global warming, Maunder Minimum, Sun, Sun Spots, Svensmark

Water: Another Scapegoat

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Donn Dears

Once again, the environmental community takes a problem in one area, and uses it to force regulations on the entire country. A recent article in Power Magazine linked GHG emissions and water usage, proposing that the entire country should adopt Continue reading Water: Another Scapegoat→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged CO2, electricity, energy, environment, global warming, Water

Electric Vehicle Update

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Donn Dears

BEV, PHEV and plain HEV sales, in 2013, are shown here. US Sales of Electric Vehicles, Including HEVs   Month Hybrid (HEVs) PHEVs & Extended Range Vehicles Battery (BEVs) Totals January 34,611 2,354 2,022 38,987 February 40,173 2,789 2,616 45,578 Continue reading Electric Vehicle Update→

Posted in Energy, Freedom, Government, Politics | Tagged electricity, energy, environment, EV, Gasoline, PHEV, Tesla, Volt

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Table of Contents

Introduction

When we flip the switch, the lights come on without anyone thinking about it. This has only been true for the last hundred years in metropolitan areas, and for only approximately eighty years in rural areas with the enactment of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936.

In 1935, only 25 percent of rural homes in the United States had electricity, and there are people alive today who grew up without electricity. Today, few people are even aware of the monolithic system that generates, distributes, and controls the electricity that flows with seeming effortlessness across the United States. This system is referred to as the grid, which is actually three grids covering the entire lower forty-eight states.

Over the past one hundred years, there have been only two area-wide blackouts affecting over 30 million people caused by a failure of the transmission system. There have been other blackouts—mostly caused by storms—affecting smaller groups, perhaps as many as several million people. Overall, the grid has worked remarkably well. Reliability can still be improved upon, but this is primarily a question of placing transmission and distribution lines underground to minimize weather-induced outages.

Suddenly, we are faced with a threat to the grid we haven’t seen before. It is a threat that can dramatically increase blackouts and the suffering that accompanies them. Some in leadership positions have viewed climate change as an existential threat to mankind and have implemented actions to eliminate fossil fuels from the generation of electricity. Some have claimed that wind and solar and other renew- ables can replace all the coal-fired, natural gas, and nuclear power plants in the United States. It can be argued that the actions these people are taking are making electricity more costly and less reliable, and placing Americans at risk for little or no reason. They are willing to gamble the safety and lives of Americans, as well as the American economy, on an ideology.

Our nation has suffered through a medical war fighting COVID-19 in which thousands died. As my neighbor said,

“The inability of our country to anticipate the corona- virus pandemic and put in place adequate reserves of all of the things we needed—PPE, ventilators, masks, tests, hospital beds, etc.—speaks loudly and directly to the need for reliable on-demand electricity and the need to plan for it right now.”

Imagine if Americans had to suffer through rolling blackouts while quarantined at home during a future pandemic. How would newly erected emergency hospitals operate without electricity, let alone our existing hospitals without diesel fuel or natural gas to power emergency generators?

This was brought home by an oped in the Washington Post. Quoting from the op-ed:

Residential use is up as workers and school children stay home.

[Demand is down] in locked up restaurants, offices and factories.

Hospitals are a different story: They consume twice as much per square foot as hotels . . . lead schools and office buildings by an even greater margin. And their work couldn’t be more vital as they confront the novel coronavirus.

A grid operator, sequestered in his dispatch center in East Greenbush, New York, said it all, “Keeping the lights on. . . . It’s so critical.”3

There is little doubt there will be another pandemic. The only question is when. We must do what is needed to guarantee adequate and reliable supplies of electricity in preparation for the next pandemic.

President Trump recognized the vital importance of the grid when he issued an executive order on May 1, 2020, to protect the grid from foreign adversaries. He said the grid, “provides the electricity that sup- ports our national defense, vital emergency services, critical infrastruc- ture, economy, and way of life.”

There is also an ideology that threatens the grid. This book will examine how federal regulators, state governments, utility companies, and the operators of the grid themselves are imposing their beliefs about climate change on all Americans and placing the grid in great jeopardy. Unelected bureaucrats and self-imposed intelligentsia are making decisions that place all Americans in danger.

Looming Energy Crisis will show you why we must continue to use fossil fuels and why we must protect the grid from the actions of those who are imposing their personal beliefs on the rest of us. Our objective should be low-cost reliable electricity available for everyone.

Reliability is a national security issue.