Subject: Re: And now, the top ten reasons cited to "Celebrate the Heat". . .


>Geez, the last summer in S. Cali was one of the coolest in the last 20
>years at least in terms of energy usage.

Are you sure it was not due to energy efficiency, folks moving up the coast
to Washington and BC? The previous 19 were records except for two or three.


>As for your comment about the load shape for utilities...uhhh most
>utilities are now summer peaking, have been for a long time...like 20-30
>years.  I believe the only State in the U.S. that has a winter peaking
>system(s) is Alaska.

Agreed. I watch and read the news.

>
>It isn't due to heat, this shift from winter to summer peaking it is due
>to air conditioning being more widely installed.  Winter peaking was
>mainly in what month(s)?  C'mon guess.  December/January.  You know why?
>Christmas lights.  Heating a home with natural gas is usually much
>cheaper.

Yes and if the temperature was a bit cooler then the air conditioning would
not be working as long. Increased affluence is one partial explanation for
the high peaks in useage. You have to remember also that the summer months
are holidays when people are not in schools, away from factories, etc. So
the summer peaks are indications of useage that is high due to cooling
indoor climates more than the case for the winter time. Alaska being the
single exception.


>Also, you should check your facts a bit more.  Your sloppy linking of Fred
>Singer and Western Fuels could be a bit premature.  Singer is affiliated
>with SEPP, the Science and Environmental Policy Project.  I am not sure if
>he is one of the guys who argues about the "fertilizing" effects of CO2.

I was not linking him to Western Fuels. Fred Singer advocates that everyone
wants a warmer climate, otherwise why would they move to the sun belt? These
are his exact words, and he talks extensively on the 'fertilizing effect'
and he is not even a plant physiologist. His comments are really not very
convincing. They have no basis in fact. To confuse people wanting to live in
the sun belt with people who want lots of cool indoor climates is extremely
strange logic. Gosh that is all I hear and read about: heat waves, heat
waves, and desperate people trying to pay for the air conditioning bills
which are as high as $300 US per month.

Yeh you poor people come to BC. It rarely gets above 40 Celsius here, and if
you want to go to Arizona for the winter it is only a short drive of about 3
days (leisurely days). Just do like the folks on the farm back in
Flatscatewan do, they turn down the thermostat to about 10 Celsius, that
saves the power bill in the winter or rent it out.

>You'd be better off with maybe a skeptic like Robert Balling or Patrick
>Michaels, but you know...checking your facts on this would be a good idea.

They have too many shares in oil companies. The research org that Balling
works for is funded by the local coal utilities.
>
>It is my understanding that the last El Nino was a bad one, but not the
>worst.  Also, the link between greenhouse gases and the ENSO is tenuous at
>best.

This last El Nino was the worst on record, perhaps greatest during the last
300 years.
>
>Dang John, did Jim's post on Gloom-n-Doom go right by you?

I have read the funniest stuff by enviros. One of the funniests is Ed Abbey.
I like the Shining Mountain as well, Grey Owl and I also thought that
Hardley Knowit (Farley Mowatt for those who don't know) is very funny. I
liked that funny movie about his wolf research that was filmed at Atlin BC.

Hey we still have lots of ice left here. It won't last long in Glacier
Montanna, another twenty years - if not sooner - it will all be gone there.
No more small glaciers in the US below Canada. The same will happen in the
European Alps. That means more heat absorbed by dark granitic, basalt, and
slate, and other sedimentary 'black bodies'.

Chao,

John
>
>
>
>[snipped John's comments to economize on space]
>
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