Posted on 01/08/2008 6:33:45 AM PST by jdm
There is an imbalance between supply and demand in energy, and some California bureaucrats are standing around wondering what to do about it.
One says: “Run commercials asking people to conserve!” This is met with general approval.
Another says: “Make homeowners install thermostats that we bureaucrats can remotely control!” More general approval.
A third says: “Raise . . . prices?”
A roomful of angry people turns on him. “Raise prices — as a way of balancing supply and demand?!?!?! What an idiot!”
That’s California in a nutshell.
It appears that proposal number two — letting bureaucrats control homeowners’ thermostats — is indeed a potential reality. Earlier today I linked an article in the American Thinker written by Joseph Somsel warning of this possibility. Our friend Bradley J. Fikes saw my post, and spent the day checking out Somsel’s allegations and writing a Big Media piece on it. Bradley’s piece begins:
California utilities would control the temperature of new homes and commercial buildings in emergencies with a radio-controlled thermostat, under a proposed state update to building energy efficiency standards.
Customers could not override the thermostats during “emergency events,” according to the proposal, part of a 236-page revision to building standards. The document is scheduled to be considered by the California Energy Commission, a state agency, on Jan. 30.
The description does not provide any exception for health or safety concerns. It also does not define what are “emergency events.”
Sweet. Big Media is good for focusing attention on outrages like this. Once people get the idea that California bureaucrats really want to control our thermostats, it will very possibly be all over talk radio. If I’m right about that, the plan will die a quick death from there.
Congratulations to Joseph and Bradley on their excellent work. I hope it bears fruit.
I get in enough fights with my wife over the thermostat. I don’t need to fight with bureaucrats too.
Huckabee would support that. And if he claims otherwise, then he’s a damn liar. Because you know he will. This is EXACTLY the kind of nanny-state totalitarianism that is right up his bible-socialist alley.
Yep.
Yes. This is a Huckabee thread. Good work.
-I wonder why this isn't a good idea now in places like Commiefornia that insist on creating a power shortge??
Nanny state ping
After reading the therms and KWH on your PG&E bill, they would send out an inspector to "help" you. Expect fines and perhaps jail time.
I'm not kidding. They think of fines as a revenue source.
There is not the technology for some of the items in the regs.
These politicians are insane.
My husband is convinced that what they are trying to do is squeeze out the individual home builder, in favor of developers who can spread the cost of these idiot regs over the cost of many buildings.
Can we isolate CA, let them have their own socialist economy, and let them trade with us as if a foreign entity?
Flee while you can to less crazy parts of the country. If you stay and pay taxes, you are facilitating the loons.
I'm sure that these bureaucrats will do a lot of studies first and get input from experts like ASHRAE before they grab your thermostats.
Huh? No, I don't think so either ... 
The technology currently exists. Many power companies offer an “energy saver” switch which can remotely turn off your air conditioner’s compressor during peak demand times and stop your air conditioner from cooling your house. Home owners are offered small rebates on their electric bills in exchange for this shut down. I had such a switch already installed when I purchased my current home. The rebates were paltry and it actually caused my air conditioner to work harder as when the compressor was allowed back in operation the house was hot and humid and caused the compressor to work even more. I removed this switch when I installed a new high efficiency air conditioner.
Huckabee would support that. And if he claims otherwise, then he’s a damn liar. Because you know he will. This is EXACTLY the kind of nanny-state totalitarianism that is right up his bible-socialist alley.
Yeah, but would Barbra? You just gotta know that big old house she has on the coast uses a lot of power to kick those million ton air conditioners on that she and her buds must have.
Two words: Faraday cage
That kind of thing happens all the time, already.
I did a 500sq. ft. addition to my house a few years back, and one of the criteria to get the Building Inspector to sign off was that my new bathroom had to have a fluorescent fixture. So, I went to Home Depot and picked up the cheesiest bathroom-lookin fluorescent piece of junk I could find, brought it home and installed it.
The inspector came, looked over everything, saw that fixture, checked off the box, and signed us off.
As he was pulling away from the curb, I was back in the bathroom installing a new, three-lamp incadescent fixture that matched the rest of the decor. Then I went back to Home depot and got a refund on the fluorescent thing.
If this thermostat garbage ever gets into the code books, expect similar scenarios involving them, too. Buyers of new homes will make "Replace the thermostat" the first job they do BEFORE unpacking the boxes.
-PJ
This subject is an example of why Huckabee is not a conservative. So it’s relevant. So I accept your praise for my “good work”.
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