New Jersey is ground ZERO (on the East Coast) for stupidity, over taxation and other crushing individual policies and unconstitutional laws. As a lifelong citizen of Pennsylvania (via Philadelphia) which sits just across the Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges from South Jersey, I have had a front row seat for 45 yrs to the insane over regulation and usury taxation New Jerseyan's tolerate from their corrupt politicians. This is just the icing on the cake! Until and unless the electorate figures out a way to remove these arrogant sycophants from public office prepare for more of the same. It's why so many have and will continue to flee to other states including Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina and Florida.
Mark, I'm afraid majority of New Jerseyans are complicit in the madness. They elect those politicians because they want to live at someone else's expense. Even a 300% rise in electric bills seems insufficient to change their minds.
"Hopefully, the political movement that championed this madness will be swept out of power and consigned to the crowded bin of failed ideas that never should have gained traction in the first place".
As Einstein once said "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Half the US still think wind and solar are what the country needs, even with rising electricity prices wherever they're installed. Canada re-elected the Liberals to "elbow up" against Orange Man Bad and their economy is going in the same direction as Germany. Europe doesn't seem to learn from their mistakes. Maybe it's because they haven't hit rock-bottom yet?
I hope you're right about sweeping out of power these idiots, but I worry the voters are not seeing the true causes.
Having just been in RI which could be ground zero for Stupid Human Tricks of all sorts, not just energy, this sentence of yours hit home.
"Hopefully, the political movement that championed this madness will be swept out of power and consigned to the crowded bin of failed ideas that never should have gained traction in the first place."
The problem is that none of this has anything to do with logic, especially when it comes to engineering design, costs, and proper assessment of tradeoffs. It is a belief system that, somewhere along the way, became adopted by reasonably smart, well heeled, but clique conscious folks who suffer from misperceptions about their importance wrt social (emphasis) design. Anything and everything that has been written by Ruy Teixeira (Liberal Patriot and elsewhere) is useful in this regard. Partisan agendas, elite polarization, political donors have mashed into the mess. It will take a long while to get it all into that crowded bin.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
Spending on the grid vs VRE is more than just $1 for $1 upfront in CAPEX, the maintenance for the additional grid infrastructure applies as well, indefinitely. That’s power distribution with its tower and line maintenance, endless vegetation clearance, fuel delivery and pipeline maintenance, on and on. It can’t ever be closed down and take off the books in such a dual grid system, regardless of a reduced usage rate.
The average person is oblivious to the enormously complex and elegant systems that provide him reliable, affordable electricity (or water, sewage service, food, gasoline, etc.).
Yet another example of the need for "enterprise/systems thinking" and "enterprise/systems engineering." I know people with such education, experience, and expertise exist: where are they and their voices?
Part of the problem, I am convinced, is that we used to manufacture physical things in this country at scale - with an energy grid built for reliable baseload power, with an industrial policy to match...and therefore we had a LOT more people who understood the reality (physics) of baseload energy.
Over the past 25 years, with the manufacturing shift to China / SE Asia, not only have the folks who understood manufacturing (and industrial and energy policy) lost their voice, the folks from Silicon Valley (who live in a magical climate moderated by the north to south pacific currents...) have gained an outsized voice due the IT boom. So you have people living in (quite literally) a different world, with regards to both the environment and politics, with much louder voices than the folks who require energy for their very survival.
Meanwhile, we have two generations in this country (going on three) who have been fed feel good narratives about sustainability and clean energy - they simply don't know the difference because everyone around them is thinking the same. And the carbon intensity has simply been outsourced to Asia.
It's no wonder people are fleeing California. I recently moved to LA from the east coast - everything is 40% more expensive - I can buy California grown produce in North Carolina for significantly less (and we have fewer people in the entire state of NC than LA County, so they should have economies of scale + lower logistics costs...). The political class here is nuts. If things keep going on current trajectory, a political reversal in this state (like Reagan in the 80's) would not surprise me at all.
A lot of people in the US are so unaware of the consequences of their beliefs and surrounded by like minded people, as you note, that they are advocating and working for some really bad ideas. After the 2020 riots when crime spiked across the country, more liberal minded people were dumbfounded about the spike. They wouldn't consider that their own beliefs may be to blame. Usually after there's enough evidence against a belief, rationale people see the light. I'm not sure what it will take to make some people change their minds! On another note, you moved from NC to CA??????
Everyday on LinkedIn and elsewhere we can read endless lies from renewables advocates.
My favorite is how wind and solar are clearly the bestest cheapest form of electricity production EVER but the evil Trump is killing it by removing the subsidies without which it dies.
Most of these people lack the intellectual capacity to even see the contradiction in their words.
New Jersey is ground ZERO (on the East Coast) for stupidity, over taxation and other crushing individual policies and unconstitutional laws. As a lifelong citizen of Pennsylvania (via Philadelphia) which sits just across the Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges from South Jersey, I have had a front row seat for 45 yrs to the insane over regulation and usury taxation New Jerseyan's tolerate from their corrupt politicians. This is just the icing on the cake! Until and unless the electorate figures out a way to remove these arrogant sycophants from public office prepare for more of the same. It's why so many have and will continue to flee to other states including Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina and Florida.
Mark, I'm afraid majority of New Jerseyans are complicit in the madness. They elect those politicians because they want to live at someone else's expense. Even a 300% rise in electric bills seems insufficient to change their minds.
Speaking of solar, the spreadsheet dwellers are at it again.
When vested interests take control
"Hopefully, the political movement that championed this madness will be swept out of power and consigned to the crowded bin of failed ideas that never should have gained traction in the first place".
As Einstein once said "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Half the US still think wind and solar are what the country needs, even with rising electricity prices wherever they're installed. Canada re-elected the Liberals to "elbow up" against Orange Man Bad and their economy is going in the same direction as Germany. Europe doesn't seem to learn from their mistakes. Maybe it's because they haven't hit rock-bottom yet?
I hope you're right about sweeping out of power these idiots, but I worry the voters are not seeing the true causes.
Dear Doomberg people: folks in our shop have looked at the Iberian Situation extensively. If any Doom readers (few, I expect, but still) need an outside opinion as to the veracity of what you relay they can go here, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/iberian-peninsula-blackout-causes-consequences-and-challenges-ahead.
Having just been in RI which could be ground zero for Stupid Human Tricks of all sorts, not just energy, this sentence of yours hit home.
"Hopefully, the political movement that championed this madness will be swept out of power and consigned to the crowded bin of failed ideas that never should have gained traction in the first place."
The problem is that none of this has anything to do with logic, especially when it comes to engineering design, costs, and proper assessment of tradeoffs. It is a belief system that, somewhere along the way, became adopted by reasonably smart, well heeled, but clique conscious folks who suffer from misperceptions about their importance wrt social (emphasis) design. Anything and everything that has been written by Ruy Teixeira (Liberal Patriot and elsewhere) is useful in this regard. Partisan agendas, elite polarization, political donors have mashed into the mess. It will take a long while to get it all into that crowded bin.
I blame New Jerseyans for their problems. They're getting what they voted for, good and hard.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
Spending on the grid vs VRE is more than just $1 for $1 upfront in CAPEX, the maintenance for the additional grid infrastructure applies as well, indefinitely. That’s power distribution with its tower and line maintenance, endless vegetation clearance, fuel delivery and pipeline maintenance, on and on. It can’t ever be closed down and take off the books in such a dual grid system, regardless of a reduced usage rate.
The average person is oblivious to the enormously complex and elegant systems that provide him reliable, affordable electricity (or water, sewage service, food, gasoline, etc.).
Yet another example of the need for "enterprise/systems thinking" and "enterprise/systems engineering." I know people with such education, experience, and expertise exist: where are they and their voices?
“Like this piece and the sun will shine at a synchronous 60Hz”
Krugman writes “Intermittency is still an issue, one that utilities to some extent deal with by using gas turbines to fill the gaps.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/paulkrugman/p/the-crazy-comes-for-clean-energy?r=78bby&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I guess “dealing with it to some extent” is good enough. And you won’t be surprised that he blames rising electricity prices on AI.
The narrative is set. We’re all in on renewables. What don’t you people understand!?
You have to build 100% backup for wind/solar. So much for cost savings...
Is there some good free piece I can share with my congressman? This cannot be forwarded as it is paid yes?
Part of the problem, I am convinced, is that we used to manufacture physical things in this country at scale - with an energy grid built for reliable baseload power, with an industrial policy to match...and therefore we had a LOT more people who understood the reality (physics) of baseload energy.
Over the past 25 years, with the manufacturing shift to China / SE Asia, not only have the folks who understood manufacturing (and industrial and energy policy) lost their voice, the folks from Silicon Valley (who live in a magical climate moderated by the north to south pacific currents...) have gained an outsized voice due the IT boom. So you have people living in (quite literally) a different world, with regards to both the environment and politics, with much louder voices than the folks who require energy for their very survival.
Meanwhile, we have two generations in this country (going on three) who have been fed feel good narratives about sustainability and clean energy - they simply don't know the difference because everyone around them is thinking the same. And the carbon intensity has simply been outsourced to Asia.
It's no wonder people are fleeing California. I recently moved to LA from the east coast - everything is 40% more expensive - I can buy California grown produce in North Carolina for significantly less (and we have fewer people in the entire state of NC than LA County, so they should have economies of scale + lower logistics costs...). The political class here is nuts. If things keep going on current trajectory, a political reversal in this state (like Reagan in the 80's) would not surprise me at all.
A lot of people in the US are so unaware of the consequences of their beliefs and surrounded by like minded people, as you note, that they are advocating and working for some really bad ideas. After the 2020 riots when crime spiked across the country, more liberal minded people were dumbfounded about the spike. They wouldn't consider that their own beliefs may be to blame. Usually after there's enough evidence against a belief, rationale people see the light. I'm not sure what it will take to make some people change their minds! On another note, you moved from NC to CA??????
I guess that the pols are just following the "science" and everything will be fine tomorrow or the next day.
Everyday on LinkedIn and elsewhere we can read endless lies from renewables advocates.
My favorite is how wind and solar are clearly the bestest cheapest form of electricity production EVER but the evil Trump is killing it by removing the subsidies without which it dies.
Most of these people lack the intellectual capacity to even see the contradiction in their words.
We have 1.8GW of solar installed in Alberta, a province that gets an 18% solar capacity factor from AESO due to high latitude and other factors.
So that is actually 325mw of generation (edit for bath math 🙄)
The best province for solar in canada.
Useless garbage eating up land.
Something's gotta give.
As a resident and native of California, I shudder to think what that fated moment will look like.
It's all a matter of perspective until the lights go out.
I guess your beer will get warm.
Here in Alberta we get to -40
An entirely different magnitude of problem.
Yup