Posted on 01/05/2018 10:52:16 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
The cold blast hitting the U.S. is exposing the absurdity of left-wing energy policies in New England. Natural gas prices are skyrocketing in the region as the gas demand for both heating and electricity exceeds supply.
ISO New England issued a “cold weather watch” for January 5 to alert the wholesale power market to a surge in demand for the weekend, as temperatures are expected to plummet. The grid operator believes it has enough power, but the demand could exceed supply.
Don’t blame the weather for soaring energy prices and possible electricity shortages; blame the left-wing politicians and radical environmentalists for engineering a system certain to fail. Instead of promoting an energy policy focused on reliability with a diverse array of power sources for electricity generation, New England adopted a command-and-control energy policy built on feeling good, not reality.
Left-wing politicians concerned about global warming and an aggressive EPA regulatory agenda combined to reduce use of coal in New England from almost 20 percent in 2000 to about 2 percent in 2016. Natural gas is now the primary source of power, providing about 50 percent of electricity, up from about 15 percent in 2000. Burning natural gas emits about half the carbon dioxide emitted by coal.
The dependence on natural gas is a problem in New England because radical environmental activists are blocking construction of new natural gas pipelines needed to keep up with the increase in demand. Predictably, the law of supply and demand kicked in, resulting in an explosion of natural gas prices with plummeting temperatures.
During the first round of severe winter weather at the end of December, the surge in demand made New England “the world’s priciest” natural gas market, where the energy commodity jumped threefold on the spot market.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
“Putting the theory of customers willing to pay more in order to save the planet to the test”
The theory has been tested long ago and it systematically fails.
BTW, paying more has never “saved the planet” or the environment or the climate or whatsoever, it’s a big lie, it just make us poorer.
Almost as if a changing climate is the normal climate on a planet dominated by water. Funny that.
Driving through piles of snow with eco-conscious Prius or Tesla must be a joy ride for the gangGreen.
Imagine them strandled in the dark and cold and rescued by a yuuge fossil-fuel devouring, CO2 spewing, polar bear killing, climate wrecking 4WD, the irony.
We have a bunch of farm fields taken over by solar panels around here. They are all covered by over a foot of snow and have been for weeks. That’s ok as there are very few productive solar days in January in Vermont. We need to stop subsidizing this idiocy.
I’ve said before, here; that natural gas electric generation has its own risks.
Supply disruption.
With other thermal forms of generation there is ample on site fuel storage that buffer events like polar air masses.
Thank God Trump shut this lunacy down before it froze the entire country. Here in Kentucky it’s -2 and there’s plenty of reasonably price electricity to keep me warm (there 8 coal fired plants within 50 miles of me). Why doesn’t New England just put more gas pipelines in? Their rat legislatures should just mandate solar only heating in Massachusetts and New York.
It’s getting extreme what, exactly?
This storm is not unprecedented.
I was speaking satirically. “Extreme weather” seems to be the touchstone of “climate change” these days.
I guess I am ...
“Chaos of thought and passion, all confused” - Alexander Pope
The sarcasm tag “/s” would have prevented confusion re: your comments. I was hoping you were being sarcastic. Apparently it was even more unclear to others. Never underestimate the ability of a post to be misunderstood, as nothing is every completely obvious to everyone. I have learned this through many years of lurking and watching.
Everything is “extreme” to the liberals to the point where it’s lost its meaning.
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