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Pennsylvania law tries to cut electricity usage Electricity Police)
crAP ^ | 10/16/08 | Marc Levy

Posted on 10/16/2008 1:54:37 PM PDT by Crazieman

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania has begun a major effort to cut electricity use, requiring the state's 11 utilities to not only stop power usage from rising, but to cut it starting in 2011.

Legislation that Gov. Ed Rendell signed Wednesday requires the utilities to cut annual electricity usage by at least 1 percent by May 31, 2011, based on usage estimates made by state regulators, who can take into account a major anomaly, such as an unusually hot summer or a substantial surge in demand from a new user, such as a factory.

To ensure that utilities take the task seriously, the new law allows up to $20 million in penalties for failure to meet the benchmarks for electricity usage cuts.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: climatechange; corruption; energy; environment; environmentalists; globalwarming; govwatch; watermelons
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To: businessprofessor

The obaMessiah?


21 posted on 10/16/2008 2:17:23 PM PDT by Crazieman (RIP USA. Killed by demonrats and RINOs like McLame. Welcome to the USSA)
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To: Crazieman
The obaMessiah?

Of course HE is the ONE.

22 posted on 10/16/2008 2:22:54 PM PDT by businessprofessor
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To: Truth29

Amen to that and shutting of the water coolers, would save a bundle as well.and their thermostates need not be any higher than 65 in the winter. and no cooler than 80 in the summernd by all means have the BO plan in effect with the tires properly inflated on all goverment cars.. BO said we would need no foreign oil then.. so Pennsylvania should take the lead in this area...


23 posted on 10/16/2008 2:24:11 PM PDT by JoanneSD (illegals represented without taxation.. Americans taxed without representation)
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To: Truth29

Turning off air conditioning in all government buildings would jumpstart the process.

Let the government set the example.


24 posted on 10/16/2008 2:27:23 PM PDT by Brookhaven
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To: Crazieman

To work out of recessions and depressions, MORE energy must be consumed, NOT LESS, and we don’t know where the bottom is yet. Some peak oil policy development advocates accept that over the next 10 years, energy consumption must be reduced by 15% even as we attempt to maximize progess toward alternative energy. The conclusion it that an L shaped recession/depression can extend indefinitely now with no political will to extend our energy consumption on the horizon. Recovery, what recovery? Hydrocarbons must burn, electrons must flow, financial recoveries require energy you know. The Amish sit tight, knowing they might inherit their entire state by default, and practice as never before their good farming habits.


25 posted on 10/16/2008 2:31:45 PM PDT by givemELL
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To: Crazieman
Hey Ed, You corrupt, naive, teamster thug. Maybe you could start with your stupid city displays of conformity, the vaunted "Light Up Nights".

Rendell is the most vile and thoroughly embarrassing representative Pennsylvania has had in my life time.This POS is just another hatched Acorn. This clown could not even be elected as a PGH city council criminal without fraud and stupid, innercity, dimwitted pull the democrat lever morons.

26 posted on 10/16/2008 2:33:45 PM PDT by free from tyranny
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To: Crazieman

At the rate businesses and people are leaving PA, this should be easy for the utilities.


27 posted on 10/16/2008 2:34:17 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: Truth29

Further, they could then auction off all the air conditioners and help reduce their govt debt. Mandate one lamp with a CFL bulb in it, per desk. All ceiling lights would be made into tube fluorescent fixtures.

Thermostats to be set to 64 degrees in the winter, maximum. Wear heavy clothing like the rest of the taxpayers do.

At 5 pm turn off all lights. People staying after that can use their one desk lamp.


28 posted on 10/16/2008 2:36:48 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Crazieman

Brown-out and black-outs soon to follow...


29 posted on 10/16/2008 2:41:14 PM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: RobinOfKingston

(How can utility companies guarantee less usage, short of turning off the power?)

You answered your own question.
The Utility that supplies electricty to your area will simply reduce the output from their facility. Surely you have heard of brownouts?


30 posted on 10/16/2008 2:43:44 PM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Vote FOR AMERICA . Vote McCain / Palin)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: 6SJ7
The electricity conservation efforts will be expensive, and utilities can bill rate payers for that cost, up to 2 percent of their revenue from 2006. Utilities must be able to show that savings from the plans will pay their own cost — at least — within 15 years
32 posted on 10/16/2008 2:55:36 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: SECURE AMERICA
Surely you have heard of brownouts?

I don't think that does it. As voltage (what the utility would reduce) goes down, current goes up to do the same work. Eventually electrical appliances fail.

Gubmint everywhere is advocating that we shiver in the cold dark, instead of aggressively pursuing alternatives. There, I have pointed to my own answer. The function of government is to govern. They will take what we are willing to relinquish.

33 posted on 10/16/2008 2:56:36 PM PDT by RobinOfKingston (Democrats, the party of evil. Republicans, the party of stupid.)
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To: Crazieman
A church buddy is the Director of Trasportation for our local community. In 2003 he convinced the city council to invest in converting the traffic lights from incandescent to LED bulbs. The local utility paid for the LED bulbs and installation was the city cost.

the payback was about three years on the installation costs and the savings in electricity worked out to about $4500/month. The council argued on how to spend this "extra" money that was now available.

finally, After much discussion they decided to buy playground equipment and school book!

Change the lightbulbs and we could turn off ALL the coal fired plants!!! But heck why would we want to do that?

/sarc off!

34 posted on 10/16/2008 2:57:50 PM PDT by Young Werther (Julius Caesar (Quae Cum Ita Sunt. Since these things are so.))
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To: givemELL

I’m sure Eddie will find a way to hit the Amish too. The Dems don’t like hard working Christians who shun government hand outs. He’ll tax their diesel powered generator and solar usage and damage to the environment, roads, and probably their “odor pollution” from horse and cow manure. In the psst decade quite a few Amish have been leaving PA each year as well because they can’t afford the exorbitant land prices and prohibitive property taxes.


35 posted on 10/16/2008 3:05:26 PM PDT by amishman (Barack Obama=Jim Jones)
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To: Young Werther

LED traffic lights are awesome, my city is slowly converting to them as the regular ones burn out. Very bright, even in daylight, which I like.


36 posted on 10/16/2008 3:07:21 PM PDT by Crazieman (RIP USA. Killed by demonrats and RINOs like McLame. Welcome to the USSA)
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To: amishman

Tell them to move to Yoder, Kansas.

We like Amish.


37 posted on 10/16/2008 3:08:23 PM PDT by Crazieman (RIP USA. Killed by demonrats and RINOs like McLame. Welcome to the USSA)
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To: Crazieman

I know. They’re moving all over now. Wherever land is cheap and the local government is not too stringent. I love the Amish. They make much better neighbors than leftists, illegals, and the welfare culture.


38 posted on 10/16/2008 3:19:19 PM PDT by amishman (Barack Obama=Jim Jones)
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To: Crazieman

One of the side effects the life of the bulb. Incandescents had to be replaced four times a year. The manhours saved since the LEDs last for 5 years, means the manpower can be used elsewhere to make the streets safer!


39 posted on 10/16/2008 4:00:32 PM PDT by Young Werther (Julius Caesar (Quae Cum Ita Sunt. Since these things are so.))
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To: Crazieman

If they wanted to *slash* energy use, the government should underwrite full scale production of just one product: thin, flexible sheet aerogel insulation.

Aerogel, aka “frozen smoke”, is 99.8% air, and the lightest known solid. Invented in the 1920s, it was both brittle and expensive until recently, when somebody invented a cheaper, flexible kind.

A 3 millimeter thick sheet of aerogel, sewn into a sleeping bag, could leave you hot and sweating in an Antarctic blizzard. Its melting temperature is over 2,000 F. NASA is planning to use it to insulate satellites against the extreme cold and heat of space.

Imagine how it would be insulating your refrigerator or oven? How about your house? It could slash heating bills in winter and cooling bills in summer. Imagine using just a small space heater and body warmth in the dead of winter, or just a window air conditioner for an entire house in summer?

The technology exists, so instead of being oppressive and intrusive, government should do something positive for a change.


40 posted on 10/16/2008 4:02:30 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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