UTILITIES ARE UNPREPARED FOR PEAK OIL

Repent

I recently spoke to an executive with the local energy company that provides both electricity and natural gas. I asked him what their plan was for dealing with peak oil. His blunt reply was 'peak oil, what's that'. You would kind of think in this day and age that the local power utilities would have some kind of a plan regarding peak oil in place as it starts to unfold, sad that they don't.

After I had told him about it his only concern was that if people began to subsitute (currently cheaper) electricity for normal natural gas consumption, then the ultility would have to ration electricity and the price of both electricity and natural gas would both rise in tandem.

Hardly a coherent energy stragegy for the future. Anyone else here want to share horror stories of their utilities being unprepared for the future??

misterno

I work for a utility company. Several months ago I tried to mention peak oil to my management. But when they started to look at me like I am nuts, I stopped talking about it.

vtsnowedin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 11, 2008 Posts: 633

My electric Co-op gets its power from the garbage gas coming from the states largest landfill. So you have the garbage from 300,000 people supplying electricity to 10,000 of them. They are trying to expand it to use all the gas available and plug into some big wind turbines but the permit gods are pondering the question. Wonder if they will steal it from us by eminant domain when things get tight?

The_Virginian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 1528

My mother told me " Only rich People have Garbage"

Less affluence = Less Methane ta' boot!

Eminent Domain laws vary from state to state, but push comes to shove the "needs of the many will outweigh the needs of the few" to mis-qoute Spock Razz

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cipi604

Troyboy1208

Why must you use all caps? Is your thread more important than others?

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1323

I put in another post the need for electrical rates to climb. Electricity needs demand destruction along with other fuel/energy sources, lest too many people make a sudden switch to electric which overloads the grid, shutting down electricity for a wide area.

There are hinderances to electricity demand destruction however. Some states do not allow an electric utility to terminate service in the winter. There is no such thing as filling up a tank. People are free to consume as much as they like, and without paying a dime. The utility will shut off your service for unpaid bills, but it may take a few weeks. If a person can access wires, stealing electricity is possible, goes on all the time all over the world.

A sudden surge in demand is a possibility. A cold winter with high heating oil rates would drive people to heat their homes with other means. Portable electric heaters can be had for a 20 dollar bill, will heat a room. This last winter saw $2.50/gallon for heating oil, current contracts are well above $4/gallon. Last winter saw a large increase in heating assistance program demand. Many programs spent every penny available and still it was not enough. Wal-Mart can sell thousands of those little heaters in no time.
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If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984

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Accept the Facts.

vision-master

Businesses can apply for energy assistance too.

IanC

This issue gets to the crux of some of the biggest problems our society will soon be up against. There is a serious disconnect in people's minds between electricity and the means of generating electricity. Most people think electricy IS an energy source.

For example, it is idiotic to hear people crow about "plug-in hybrid" cars without realizing what massive amounts of electricity would be needed for all of us to convert en masse.

-Ian

gt1370a · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 02, 2005 Posts: 361

I recently worked for a major US utility and this was true there as well. Their plans for future generating planning were based on linear extrapolation of past population and economic growth trends. I tried to move into the power planning group to try to challenge some of those assumptions, but I was unsuccessful and eventually just got frustrated and quit.

However, what action would be appropriate for them? If there is a massive shift to electric vehicles, they would need to scale up their baseload generating capacity significantly. On the other hand, if there is a major economic downturn and their industrial customers shut down and go out of business, then they would be way over capacity and would have to figure out what/how to scale down. Companies can't operate with that kind of uncertainty, so they will continue on the same course until a change in consumption patterns emerges so that they can react to it.

SheikYarbhouti · Tar Sands Joined: Jan 27, 2008 Posts: 25

essex

Talked to the utility company that wants to install wind turbines in our city's water supply - mainly to generate carbon credits I might add - told them we face a depression and the fossil fuel they need to build this massive project will soar in price at the same time as there is demand destruction for electricity. The one and only aluminium smelter here in NZ uses 15% of the country's total electricity and it could close tomorrow if carbon trading , as they claim, wrecks their business. Told them people will huddle together under a single energy efficient light bulb when things go belly up. Did these dumb smucks even have a clue about what I was telling them ? No siree, they just got back into their suv's and drove away.
www.palmerston-north.info

Twilight · Expert Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 3076 Location: UK

Did you expect them to be?
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bromius · Heavy Crude Joined: May 26, 2008 Posts: 143

I'm fairly close with someone who works pretty high up in the food chain at a major utility in my area. There was at least discussion going about the likely shift to plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, and how to expand capacity to handle them. They were also aware that people might start switching to electric space heaters if other heat sources became too expensive. Sounded like things were still just in the discussion/early planning phase, but that company did seem to be taking the situation seriously at least.

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 436

one of my grocery store co-workers recently quit and went to work for Perdenales Electric Company. He told me they are getting all their electricy from wind farms. My other neighbor said, "yeah, thats why they have those big diesel tanks on site...."