> >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.

Not when you have an increasing number of customers in virtually all
catagories.


> >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.

Well, partially true.  Many California schools are on year round calenders
(something like on three weeks off three weeks or something like that). 
Also, many buildings wont shut down AC even on holidays as the amount of
energy needed to cool them after warming is very high.

> 
> 
> >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?

This is true, if you look at the evidence people are moving to the warmer
climates.  This could also partially explain the increase in loads in
warmer states.  Down here in the last several cases FERC (the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission) has been quite niggardly with regards to
transmission rates of return.  Result, no new transmission facilities get
added and you wind up with congested systems and systems that have to
implement interruptions or rotating outages.

> 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

I haven't read these types of comments, but I haven't visited the SEPP
website recently either.  By the way for those who are interested in SEPP
their website is www.sepp.org

> 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.

$300 dollars.  Now I can tell you for a fact that is an extremely high
bill.  Very high.  Are you sure your not looking at say Bob Hope's bill? 
He is a big user, but on average the typical customer where I live will
pay $60 per month.  And California has very high rates relative to the
rest of the country.

 
> 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.

I know, that is why he would probably make a better Windmill to joust
against than Singer.

> >
> >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.

But the records go back further.  I think there was one, IIRC, 500 years
ago that was worse.

Steve

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