Posted on 01/16/2008 2:13:20 PM PST by calcowgirl
I admit that I didn’t believe the first reports that the California Energy Commission is seriously considering a law to require homeowners to install a thermostat that can be adjusted by government bureaucrats. It seemed like “black helicopter” hysterics to suggest our government has become so intrusive that it would seek to monitor and control minute decisions like what temperature we set for our own homes.
But seeing is believing. The proposed regulations can be found beginning on page 63 at this link [PDF FILE].
The rationale for this brave new world is that government can promote energy conservation and avert blackouts by electronically entering our homes and adjusting our thermostats for us. But wasn’t that the purpose of Orwell’s vision of Big Brother: to “help” individuals lead “better” and more “secure” lives?
And why stop there? Shouldn’t government promote additional conservation by requiring microchips that will disable our major appliances when it suits officials? Shouldn’t it adjust the water flow and temperature of those miscreants who take showers that are too long or too warm? Shouldn’t it disable bank cards after too many junk food purchases to reduce obesity? And imagine all the lung cancer it could prevent by sniffing for smoke in our homes, or all the crime it could prevent by peeking through cameras in our living rooms. All are well within the reach of current technology – and, judging from the Energy Commission’s agenda, well within the appetite of California’s leftist officials.
In response to initial public outrage, a spokesperson for the Energy Commission assured a reporter that the proposal would probably be modified to allow homeowners to manually override the government thermostat setting. Then why mandate the device at all? Why not allow homeowners to decide for themselves whether their thermostats contain a government microchip and whether they wish to invite officials to control it? The answer should be obvious: the bureaucrats are trying to accomplish in two steps what politically they can’t do in one.
If there is any doubt that this has little to do with electricity and much to do with raw power of quite a different kind, consider this: according to the Energy Commission’s own figures, Californians already rank dead last among the 50 states in our per capita consumption of electricity. Indeed, the average Californian uses about half the electricity as the average American, and less than consumers in Luxembourg, Guam, the Cayman Islands and Aruba. How many more kilowatts do they expect to squeeze from California consumers?
The great and tragic irony is that a generation ago, electricity in California was clean, cheap and abundant. It was an era of hydro-electric dams and nuclear power plants that today are generating electricity for between ½-cent and 3-cents per kilowatt hour, and there was serious discussion about doing away with home electricity meters completely. After all, at 3-cents per kilowatt hour, the average household electricity bill should come to about $18 per month.
But then the California Energy Commission was created in 1974 and it began systematically obstructing the construction of new power plants. And having imposed an artificial electricity shortage by its own overbearing regulations, it now seeks to ration what’s left by setting your thermostat for you.
What can Californians do about it? The Commission will consider these regulations on January 30th. All five members of the energy commission are gubernatorial appointees, and four of the five were appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. They need to be flooded with protests and placed on notice that this is one vote that they can’t cast in obscurity. And the governor needs to know that voters will hold him accountable for the decisions made by his own appointees.
We will watch the vote and report to you HOW the governor’s appointees voted.
yes
Sorry EGDan. I can’t hear you because your violin is out of tune...
Yeah, I had to laugh. My daughter (single) had a gas range and pretty much just boiled water on it. Everything else in the microwave. I tease her, say that I failed as a father by not teaching her how to cook. She takes after her mother.
:-)
The environazis got legislation passed in Kalifornia that made the power companies sell their land holdings and hydroelectric production facilities. Now, the new owners, who have to pay down their new debt, can charge more for the power produced than ever charged before.
Too bad more consumers don’t realize this simple truth.
How much power does a self-cleaning oven use?
800 degrees for 3+ hours to “clean” your oven.
I don’t think they even sell a stove anymore that isn’t “self-cleaning”. I think mine has that feature, but I clean it the old fashioned way. Elbow grease.
You know... GovernMental IncreMentalism in EnvironMentalism!!!
Please add me.
I love Tom. :)
You’re on! :-)
I live in the San Joaquin Valley. It gets hotter than Hades here in the summer. I think only the valley where Palm Springs is (Coachella?) and Death Valley get hotter.
Thanks. :)
BTTT!
In Eastern California we have a 14,000 foot mountain range (the Sierra, highest mountains in U.S. outside Alaska) blocking ocean breezes, so it gets darn hot here - 105 is normal in July and in nearby Death Valley it hits well over 120 degrees each July.
The trend in higher-end thermostats is to have the temperature sensor pointed inward, toward the middle of the wall. I have one like that and external heat sources have little, if any, impact on it. I'm going to guess that the green nazi thermostats will be recessed into the wall and heavily insulated from local user-induced heating. You would have to splice in a clandestine thermostat upstream from the 1984 one, while still supplying power and faux signal down the line. And hope they don't look too closely. The problem is that HVAC service people will be required to certify the installation on each visit. Best to just depart the state.
if you're talking about freestanding ventless propane heaters, those have been illegal in CA for a long time. I used to sell them; couldn't ship to the mothership state.
Where I live in north Eastern Calif., there is no natural gas so we use propane gas stoves. Electricity is too expensive and doesn't cook like gas.
Where I live in north Eastern Calif., there is no natural gas so we use propane gas stoves. Electricity is too expensive and doesn't cook like gas.
Ya got me! ;-)
... Best to just depart the state ...
No doubt!
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