People blocking charging stations.

That was mentioned in another thread, and it shocks me again in this one. To conserve energy, Californians are asked to run their A/C at 70 degrees during the day. Not 72. or 74. The energy problem doesn't sound like much of a problem if the powers that be are advising 70 degrees during the day.

Yes, the worst time is 4pm to 9pm, but with all the headlines California is making about power problems, it's still surprising 70 degrees is still advised at any time.


Exactly. In Asia we ran our air conditioning at 26°C. We had fans running on the side. It was plenty comfortable. Fans make a big difference when used with A/C.
 
I cannot agree that demand is not a problem. It is a key problem. You said as much in your first sentence.
Looking at only supply is looking at half the problem, at best.
Demand can't possibly be the problem. If it were, California wouldn't have been waving in endless millions of migrants over the years to put more strain on its various resources. :unsure:
 
That was mentioned in another thread, and it shocks me again in this one. To conserve energy, Californians are asked to run their A/C at 70 degrees during the day. Not 72. or 74. The energy problem doesn't sound like much of a problem if the powers that be are advising 70 degrees during the day.

Yes, the worst time is 4pm to 9pm, but with all the headlines California is making about power problems, it's still surprising 70 degrees is still advised at any time.
The idea is to cool the house when the grid is less stressed and then back off. From 4 to 9 PM, minimize use across the board when the grid is under highest demand. Personally, I do not cool to 70. 74 is more than fine. And Los Gatos is the hottest part of Silicon Valley. 102* right now...

Interestingly, our Tesla Model 3 has a big "conserve energy charging recommendation" message with dates when you first use it.
 
Not to bad. On par with what's available here.
Our local electric utility just doubled their kWh from $0.05 to $0.10. I guess we had it REAL good and even at the 2x rate, it's probably not something to complain about too much.
 
Mind your pace boy. Chop chop!
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I agree with you on the above.
However singling out EVs for electricity issues would be similar to singling out a car payment as the cause of financial issues in your above example and ignoring other spending habits.
I think we can agree that there are many, many different users that need electricity, not just EV owners. And CA has had this problem since the year 2000, way before EVs. Now EVs do contribute just as any other electrical load would. By how much? It’s hard to tell.

My main point was to not focus on one group of users or another, where the underlying issues is with production and regulation. That should be the main focus of discussion if CA wants to improve their power grid. Not blaming users for this problem.

Of course, it’s a crisis and everyone should do their best to conserve.
And I also agree that as more and more EVs are adopted, this problem will be even worse, there is no denying that.
I didn’t single out EV charging as the problem.

“Part of the problem” was how I characterized it in every post.
 
So you’ve never heard of a dehumidifier or desalinization unit? Those both simply produce water. One from air, and one from saltwater.
One has to have a humid climate for the former. Which doesn’t exist in many parts of California.

One has to have a great deal of electricity, excess electricity, for the latter. Which doesn’t exist in California.
 
One has to have a humid climate for the former. Which doesn’t exist in many parts of California.

One has to have a great deal of electricity, excess electricity, for the latter. Which doesn’t exist in California.
I’m aware of both, Astro. But KrisZ said “you can’t just simply produce water”, but yes, you can. My point was, solutions ARE available but thanks to politics they’re harming peoples’ lives instead.

Choking off access to cheap energy in the name of climate activism isn’t a solution for any problem.
 
I’m aware of both, Astro. But KrisZ said “you can’t just simply produce water”, but yes, you can. My point was, solutions ARE available but thanks to politics they’re harming peoples’ lives instead.

Choking off access to cheap energy in the name of climate activism isn’t a solution for any problem.
Then, we are in complete agreement.
 
I’m aware of both, Astro. But KrisZ said “you can’t just simply produce water”, but yes, you can. My point was, solutions ARE available but thanks to politics they’re harming peoples’ lives instead.

Choking off access to cheap energy in the name of climate activism isn’t a solution for any problem.

We do not produce water, we extract it from nature, just like crude oil, coal, iron etc. so that’s what I meant and it was in the context of another poster comparing electricity shortage to water shortage during a drought.
One needs to have a source of water to extract it from and energy to do so, as @Astro14 rightly pointed out and if there is a drought there is less water to be extracted, unless one lives by an ocean and has plenty of spare electricity.

We do produce electricity though, and it is the basis of our society. And I agree with you 100% that is it not a technological problem, but one created by a certain ideology.

So that was my poor attempt and pointing out how water shortage is not on the same level as electricity shortage.

@OVERKILL touched upon this in one of his posts in this thread. We had no problems with creating more electricity supply during past growth spurs and the technology was far less efficient at that. Yet now, supply is an issue and in a state with some of the highest energy costs in this country.

Where is all that money going?
 
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Yep, that's the problem with this country and why it's going down the tubes. "Selective policing".
Well, blaming the Police for bad behavior when they have people in need to help doesn't make much sense either.
Don't get me wrong, if people were held responsible for this stuff it would change, but do we have to have more and more Police for everything?
If you or I are being robbed or whatever and my beat Officer was busy writing a ticket for parking in front of a Tesla Supercharger because of some jackass being stupid, the real victim is you or I.

Having said this, I would like it to stop.
 
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