Posted on 08/07/2006 3:40:33 PM PDT by neverdem
Throughout the record-breaking heat wave last week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg used his pulpit to underscore the urgency of saving electricity. He repeated his advice like a mantra, urging New Yorkers to set their thermostats at 78 degrees, to keep air-conditioners on only when at home and to avoid using household appliances like washers, dryers and dishwashers during peak periods.
“If we want to keep the power going, we’re all just going to have to conserve,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Wednesday. “I’ve done it in my house. Please — I cannot stress it enough — do it in yours.”
That same afternoon, Consolidated Edison, which supplies power to New York City and most of Westchester County, recorded an all-time record use of 13,141 megawatts.
Hundreds of organizations, from Nasdaq to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, took steps to reduce consumption. The number of residents who cooperated is harder to measure.
Peter A. Bradford, a former chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission, said that appeals like Mr. Bloomberg’s, while laudable, do not result in durable reductions in consumption.
“Advocating efficiency in the long term is not the same thing as the appeal on the day of the crisis to turn down thermostats,” he said. “One requires long-term planning, budgeting and capital investment — efficiency in buildings being perhaps the clearest example. The day-of-crisis stuff is equivalent to what the coach can do once the team is on the field and falling behind. At that point your options are far more limited.”
One obvious reason for the strain on the network is that the number of energy-devouring devices continues to grow. In 1980, 14 percent of households had a microwave oven. By 1987, 66 percent did, and by 2001, the last year for which federal statistics were available, 96 percent had...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Just imagine fifty million large battery packs being discarded annually as well as many more coal-power plants chugging and then think of the electric car....
Of course ethanol is heavily subsidized by taxes and is in no way a good alterantive fuel.
badda-bing...
Yep.
And just to piss 'em off, I keep my thermo at 74, sometimes 72.
Of course, I get pissed off when I get the power bill. But I'm cool about it.
And I'll keep driving my 17 mpg full size SUV.
The only thing I will do different is get a bumper sticker that says....
"This one is my baby, my other SUV is an M1A1."
Me, in the wintertime when the government is telling me to turn down my heater.
Yeah, well, not that I would know.
Remember, more people died at Chappaquiddick than at Three Mile Island.
Shoot... with this title, I thought this was about the Al Gore channel... Current.. . You know, the channel no one watches. So even if he announced to his viewers- TURN THIS OFF, there would be no one there to listen...
The increased percentage of users who have microwave ovens in their homes does not necessarily represent a net increase in home energy consumption. To the extent that microwaving displaces cooking on conventional electric stoves and/or ovens, it almost certainly represents a substantial decrease in consumption, as the microwaves typically require less power while operating, and generally also require much less operating time per meal cooked than a conventional electric range or oven.
Hey I live in Pittsburgh, I suppose I am in the right place. Heat doesnt bother me, humid heat does. I used to live in Colorado(eastern slope) and the weather there suited me just fine.
The amount of energy used by the clocks is very small - a couple of watts at best. This is the type of article that gets people who can't think rationally all heated up.
I think I remember hearing this called the "Dracula effect" or something similar. It's all the electricity being used by 24/7 plugged-in digital clocks, electric toothbrushes, cells/PDAs being charged, TVs, anything with a lighted display, etc.. Small stuff at one level, but is a large drain cumulatively.
Obviously he's thinking fourth dimensionally...
So, if we really pull the plug on the tv, vcr, dvd player, microwave, computers, etc. then we have to set the clocks and channels all over each time. Oh, yes, people are going to do that.
Our power company charges different rates for each thousand kilowatts. Use a thousand and your rate's cheap - bump up to another thousand and you pay more. It's easier than guilt tripping people.
It's lost as heat in the winding of the "wall wart" & internal transformers on gadgets that are plugged in...
Did you know that EVIL CORPORATIONS owned and controlled by people who never worked, but INHERITED their wealth, MAKE PROFITS from ADVERTISING these awful gadgets?
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