US sees widespread record power use amid heat wave

[lovuian]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-07-17T204250Z_01_N17317178_RTRUKOC_0_US-UTILITIES-DEMAND-HEATWAVE.xml&src=rss

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Blistering temperatures from New York to Sacramento on Monday will boost power demand to record highs and strain electric resources across the United States as people try to escape the sweltering heat, according to utilities and power grid operators.

Several grid operators, including the nation's largest, the mid-Atlantic PJM, have called for consumers to conserve electricity or for utilities to hold off from any maintenance as the situation was expected to linger for several days.

Generators were expected to have sufficient supplies to avoid blackouts, the North American Electric Reliability Council said in its forecast for the summer issued in May.

But extreme weather conditions "present a significant reliability risk" to parts of the country, like Connecticut and Southern California, which have not added new generation in the past few years,

more...
We are breaking records...

[HockeyMom]

1. Got my thermostat set to 78 degrees

and the A/C has hardly shut off at all. Damn, don't want to know what the electric bill will be next month. My outside thermometer read 104 in the sun at 5 PM.

[misternormal]

2. The use will just give the ...

... energy companies another excuse to go to their respective commissions and petition to raise the rates again...

Seems like when one tried to conserve, they raise the rates again so that they do not loose money.

[EST]

5. Yeah, isn't it nuts?

They (REA) have the rates structured such that if I use half the amount that I usually do, the total cast to me is almost the same and, under some circumstances, I actually pay more for less usage.

[MadMaddie]

3. But....But....* is going to handle the global warming....issue...

like he has handled everything else......:puke:

[EST]

4. Through the strategic use of small fans,

I have managed to cool the entire house (frame with brick exterior, fairly well insulated by 1970's standands) with one small-9000 btu equivalent-110 volt-window air conditioner, installed in one of the basement windows. The remaining basement windows I have blocked with insulated, metal clad panels.
This is approximately 3200 square feet, including a full basement, not totally finished.

If the doors are fanned too much, or things otherwise get out of hand, I have a 12000 window unit installed in a pretty well sealed two car garage that I can fire up and another small fan that blows through the screen door between the dining room and the garage. It is not needed very much.

Amazingly, this works really well, although a little crude, and doesn't cost a fortune to operate, even in the 100+ degree heat.