Lights Out In Washington, DC? -- December 15, 2014

CBS Local is reporting:

Authorities say an electrical transformer explosion has caused power outages at several government buildings in Washington.

Officer Araz Alali, a D.C. police spokesman, says the transformer blew at 9:05 a.m. Monday at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. He says the problem was a mechanical failure and no one was injured.

Most power at the State Department was lost and employees were told to work as best they could. Other buildings affected included the Federal Reserve, the General Services Administration, Metro’s Smithsonian subway station, the Labor Department, the U.S. Park Police and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Lights flickered off then on at the White House, but that appeared to be unrelated. A Pepco spokesman said a cable was damaged during construction on private property around the same time.

Yep ... just a coincidence, lights flickering off at the White House -- maybe going to emergency power? Just a coincidence that a cable was cut "around the same time"? But we have it on good faith from Officer Araz Alali, a police spokesman, this was simply a mechanical failure. Happens all the time.

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If renewable energy was not viable vs $140 oil, it's hard to believe that renewable energy will see better days with $50 oil. The Independent is reporting:

The collapsing oil price that is reshaping the global economy could derail the green energy revolution by making renewable power sources prohibitively bad value, experts have warned.

The falling prices could damage the North Sea and fledgling fracking industries and make it harder for the UK to hit its legally binding targets to cut carbon emissions.

But the biggest threat posed by falling oil and gas prices – in the UK and globally – is to the renewable energy industry dominated by wind-, solar- and hydro-power, experts say.

“Renewable energy subsidies have been mostly sold to the public on the basis of the economic benefits. But the economic arguments hinged on the idea that fossil fuel prices would get more expensive, while expensive renewable subsidies would be able to come down over time. That’s looking doubtful now.”

 “More subsidies are likely to be needed [for green power] as the gap between the cost of fossil fuel power and renewable power gets bigger.”

The extra subsidies would be borne by households in the form of higher energy bills.

Tell this to the folks in New England.