Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?

LA Times ^ | 7-20-23 | SAMMY ROTH

[dynachrome]

What’s more important: Keeping the lights on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or solving the climate crisis?

That is in many ways a terrible qBut absent major breakthroughs in carbon-capture technology, we’ll eventually need to shutter most if not all of those gas plants to avoid disastrous temperature jumps. Scientists say we need to cut carbon pollution nearly in half by 2030.

Could we get started ditching gas sooner — and save some money — by accepting a few more blackouts for the next few years?

It’s a heretical question in power-grid circles. When I posed it to John Moura — director of reliability assessment and performance analysis at the North American Electric Reliability Corp. — he only half-jokingly described it as “a dagger to the heart.”uestion, for reasons I’ll discuss shortly.

[Robert DeLong]

👍

[unixfox]

And just like that, everyone has a generator.

[Tell It Right]

This is very much one reason I installed a bunch of solar and batteries. By the way, part of the math on it working well is also cutting back on wasted electricity without cutting back on lifestyle. (i.e. caulk gaps, add insulation, variable speed heat pump, variable speed air handler, hybrid water heater)

[metmom]

So this is what they have planned for us next, eh?

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

The most important contribution humanity can make to reduce its impact on the earth’s climate would be for all liberals to stop breathing for at least 15 minutes, 4 times daily.

[metmom]

So this is what they have planned for us next, eh?

First they are going to try to starve us out, then freeze or bake us out, and if neither of those is effective enough in killing us off, then the medical establishment takes their turn.

I am so glad I have made my peace with my Maker. Whatever happens to me on this earth pales in comparison to an eternity spent in heaven with Him.

And even if they manage to kill me off, I don’t ever expect to have to deal with them ever again.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

We are on our way!

[DoughtyOne]

I used to think putting together my own six kilowatt power
grid was kind of out there.

Best to be proactive on these nitwits.

[Gay State Conservative]

A few years ago we went to Kenya to see elephants. We stayed at a camp near Amboselli,one of the country's best known parks. There was a sign in our room telling us that there was only hot water and electricity at certain times. Presumably the hot water comes from propane and the electricity from a generator.

It was an inconvenience...but this *was* Africa.Rural Africa.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

I can tell you some stories about this...

[ansel12]

Not only lots of dead but look at the waste of food, vast amounts of food that has to be replaced, and lots of meat, all of the production, transporting, the buying, all of that duplicated to make up for the loss.

[Manic_Episode]

I no longer drink alcohol but if I did a severe blackout would be a merciful kindness over this reality.

[mykroar]

He will eat ze bugs, live in the dark & own nothing.

[bgill]

NO!

[KC_Conspirator]

A yes, lets go back to the stone age for Man Bear Pig.

[Peter ODonnell]

Let’s try it out on election day and turn off the voting machines.

[joma89]

Do you know what leftists used for light before candles.

Electricity.

[brookwood]

Would accepting an occasional punch in the face help to lower the crime rate?

[Sirius Lee]

Occasional blackouts of Washington DC would solve a lot of problems.

Most of the world's problems could be solved if we built a wall around DC a few miles outside the beltway to keep the criminals in, and just turned off the lights permanently.

[17th Miss Regt]

Liberals are very much in favor of a black out or two. They look around their gated, guarded communities, see a black person walking around, and scream to the security guards, “Get that black out!”