California might be blazing a trail with getting a large number of electric vehicles on the road, but the only trail California is currently blazing is the wildfire/PG&E fiasco that could once again plunge millions of Californians into the dark in the next wave of blackouts, expected today, the likes of which could sour investor confidence in purchasing a vehicle that relies on sketchy power sources.
It’s windy in dry California, and apparently that’s enough to trigger another preemptive blackout for PG&E customers. For starters, PG&E will cut power to 179,000 residents on Wednesday.
But it’s not just PG&E. Other utilities, too, such as Edison International and Sempra, are also expected to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of Californians who are in an area that is notoriously dry, with winds expected to combine with those dry conditions to create too much of a fire risk.Meanwhile, Governor Newsom has asked for an investigation into the high price of gasoline in his state of California. As lieutenant governor, Newsom supported higher gasoline taxes and the public went along with him, voting to raise taxes on gasoline.
***********************************
Water, Coal, and Fracking
Golf courses are not mentioned. We've discussed this before.
I'm not sure what the golf course connection is. But the oilprice article doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteCooling water for a condenser is usually pass through. It's just going around a heat exchanger. It's not getting consumed or crapped up. You an inlet pipe from the river (or ocean) and then an outlet pipe. The only impact on the water is a rise in temperature.
On the other hand, water put down a well does get crapped up with salt and oil residue and the like. Which is why you can't just dump it back in the river.
Just ask your submariner son about the MSW for the main condenser. He'll explain it.
Early on in the blog when there was a concern about water, it was pointed out that US golf courses in the aggregate use a whole more water than fracking will ever use.
DeleteI can't speak for the Permian but in the Bakken, there's so much available water, it's a non-issue.
That's why I did not spend any more time on the oilprice.com article on coal, etc. It seemed ridiculous on so many levels.