Reality Sucks -- January 16, 2022

Oh, oh! Electricity is trending toward $300 / MW in NE ISO, the highest I've seen, I think, ever, and demand in the region is not running all that high. Link here. It almost appears natural gas, "got behind" and now  operators are scrambling to find natural gas, oil, and Canadian hydroelectricity to meet the demand. The big problem: no wind, or at least not the wind that wind farms can use.If there's a big storm, the windmills could be shut down to protect them. Renewable energy is providing only 6% of fuel mix, and of that 6%, wind it providing 25%. 0.06 x 0.25 = 1.5% of the entire fuel mix.

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The Optics Don't Match The Rhetoric

Mainstream news says hospitals are unable to cope with the surge of Covid cases. Apparently cases are surging, and the White House press secretary says the nation won't meet 85% - 90% vaccinated which was the White House goal.

And then I'm watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing a playoff game in their home stadium in Tampa. If Florida is not the most under-vaccinated state, everyone is doing what they can to push that narrative, and yet, here we are, the stadium is packed and no one -- not the refs, not those on the the sidelines, not the reporter, not the fans -- no one is wearing a mask. 

Oh, here we go. The post-game interview with Tom Brady and the interviewer and the interviewee, both unmasked, are standing six feet apart, or so it appears. Could be five feet.