One of the major reasons we didn’t have rolling blackouts yesterday was an ample supply of hydro electricity due to a wet winter, but in winters that aren’t so wet, having the Auburn Dam would still have helped.
The point is that all of these things (locally and statewide); flood protection, protecting the integrity of the Parkway, and adequate power for a growing population, are all part of our infrastructure, and we fail to keep it able to deal with problems we know arise regularly at our own peril.
Thinking optimally in those areas of the most easily determined, and most highly prioritized areas of the public good; disaster planning, flood protection, adequate power, protection of our natural resources, and protection from crime will allow us to feel secure and focus our energy on what else needs doing.
Public leadership operating from a Maslow hierarchy of needs for the public sector would be a boon to basic infrastructure care.
An excerpt.
Deja vu: State tries to stretch energy supply
By Dale Kasler -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Five years after the energy crisis petered out, California was back in dangerous territory Monday: trying to stretch a thin supply of electricity across an overheated state.
The state avoided planned "rolling" blackouts, but there were scattered outages because of equipment malfunctions. And officials did cut power to some "interruptible" customers -- industrial users who get lower rates in return.
All in all, the continuing heat wave and desperate calls for conservation demonstrated that California's power supply remains precarious.
One industry official, Gary Ackerman of the Western Power Trading Forum, said the situation would be far worse if not for the wet winter, which created a generous supply of hydroelectricity.
Otherwise, "we'd be lights out," he said. "The only reason we're staying alive is, we're having a very good hydro year."
The problem is simple supply and demand. Although the state has increased its generating capacity by about 10 percent since 2001, a strong economy and growing population have ratcheted up energy consumption. Peak usage is about 20 percent higher than it was in 2001, when Californians were first introduced to rolling blackouts, said Sean Gallagher, director of the energy division at the state Public Utilities Commission.
