Posted on 07/24/2006 6:00:45 AM PDT by randita
When the heat is on, a power grid sweats
Worried regulators plead for conservation as state faces Stage 1 emergency today
- Erin Allday and Simone Sebastian, Chronicle Staff Writers Monday, July 24, 2006
Californians did an impressive job conserving energy Sunday, but power regulators are forecasting record energy demands as everyone heads back to work today, making conservation absolutely critical.
"While we got through today just fine, we're very concerned about Monday. Everybody goes back to work and cranks on the computer, the coffee machine, the fax machine," said Gregg Fishman, a spokesman for the California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit corporation that manages the state's power grid.
"A lot of the office buildings that closed over the weekend have heated up, so the air conditioning load on a hot Monday is often incredible," Fishman said.
The state almost certainly will hit a Stage 1 power emergency today and could face rolling blackouts, a Stage 3 emergency, in the afternoon, when usage levels typically peak, Fishman said.
An estimated 436,000 customers in the greater Bay Area lost power at some point Saturday or Sunday in heat-related power failures, PG&E spokesman David Eisenhower said. By 8 p.m. Sunday, service had been restored to 73 percent of those customers, leaving about 124,000 without power. Eisenhower said Bay Area crews were responding to 2,400 separate blackouts, most in the South Bay and inland East Bay.
Conditions are expected to be ideal -- heat, humidity and little to no wind -- for creating smog. So the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared the season's ninth Spare the Air day, when commuters are urged to carpool or take mass transit.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Ping
Here we go again and it's only July.
How this can continue to be a problem in California year after year is a true testimonial to the quality of its elected representation.
Going to be some big problems today....Drudge's link killed the caiso site!
Where is FEMA? lol
Never mind his 'talk' about global warming!
If he really believed what he says he would instruct the buyers to refrain from buying any electricity from such generating plants.
But no!
He is a hypocrite!
California - third world infrastructure, first world taxes.
Fortunately, I'm in one of the few areas of the state that are independent of the grid (Imperial Irrigation District, which covers the eastern portion of the Coachella Valley)...they have their problems, but I do believe we locals can eat popcorn when Edison goes down.
What exactly are we supposed to do to conserve? Here at home we don't even HAVE a/c and I am not turning off one fan, sorry. If we don't run major appliances, I think that's about it for us. Not turning off the 'puters either.
Barbra Streisand says to hang out your clothes to dry and eat cold tuna sandwiches--LOL.
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