PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND PRACTICES - COLUMN 170
be a cheap fix!!! And, what about those industries that use fossil fuels for things like large furnaces that can’t be converted to electric only?? Well, guess we will just have to ship those jobs to a country without progressive ideals for removing all fossil fuel use, like China?
“Then we get into the really thorny
ment, especially of gas-fired furnaces, with electric appliances that last for a long time?
On December 24, 2018, Colorado Governor Hickenlooper declared a disas- ter emergency due to a shortage of pro- pane in Colorado that was impacting about 33,000 propane customers who primarily live in rural areas. “These customers may not be able to receive enough propane to heat their homes in the near future,” the Governor’s press release stated. Hickenlooper issued the verbal executive order due to propane production issues combined with the ongoing shortage and anticipated severe weather. The executive order suspends hours-of-service regulations for intra- state commercial truck drivers. The reg- ulations were suspended until January 8th at midnight. According to the gov- ernor’s statement, a number of state agencies along with the Colorado and New Mexico Propane Gas Associations determined that the shortage presents “a clear risk to populations dependent on propane for heating.”
The last week of January was marked
by the incursion of the Polar Vortex into the northern midwestern and eastern states. The TV news reported that Xcel Energy was requesting that Minnesota customers turn down their thermostats in order to conserve so that everyone would be able to heat their homes to at least a cool, but tolerable level.
The gas shortages in Colorado at the end of December and Minnesota at the end of January should alert people to the importance of fossil fuels in heating our homes; gas in the Midwest and West and fuel oil in the northeast where digging pipelines is very expensive. I haven’t seen any evidence that many people have learned from these events.
Doug Peters, CPG-8274, contributed the following thoughts on this topic.
www.aipg.org
“There probably are two parts to the lack of discussion on appli- ances and furnaces. One is that it means acknowledging this issue will be a direct and big hit
to indi-
vidual finances, and manufacturing, something the environmentalists try to avoid because people get angry when unneeded expenses are foisted upon them by those who don’t care who gets hit. A similar discussion occurred when the mandate to elimi- nate the old-style light bulbs was pushed through. However, those costs were considerably smaller as long as new bulbs could be used in the same light fixtures (i.e., no need to change a lot of personal or commer- cial infrastructure). The variety of available and politically correct light bulbs increased dramatically when everyone figured out that one size (the standard CFLs that first came out) did not fit all light fixtures and getting people on board meant mak- ing direct replacements available for all sizes of light fixtures already in use. Changing everything to electric heating, cooking, etc. is not going to be cheap or quick or simple, and will therefore be an anathema to those who like simple answers to complex problems of supply and demand and to those whose finances are not able to absorb that sort of major shift.
“Oh darn, we forgot that the already aging electrical infrastructure prob- ably can’t handle everyone switching to electric-only sources of energy for homes and businesses. There have been many instances in the past decade of summer cooling demand pushing or exceeding electric supply and transmission capabilities. Where does the additional electric supply and increased transmission capacity needed to replace all the fossil fuel BTUs come from?? That is not going to
issue of who is going to subsidize all these changes because the vot- ers likely will rebel once they figure out that they will get hit with many thousands of dollars of new purchases (and costs to dispose of old tech) just to satisfy the government mandates, and considerably higher energy costs as well. Well, if we use Colorado’s new governor, Jered Polis’ political methods (per his campaign and start of his administration), we just say all this good stuff will happen and it will be free to all, without any apparent concept up front of how it gets paid for in reality. Unfortunately, real- ity still happens! Bummer for the ‘progressive’ ideologues of the day to have to explain that away (but that may be beyond the limited terms of office for current incumbents, includ- ing Polis, and so such considerations don’t count).
“The second is the manufacturing and disposal part of such a change. Well, manufacturers already make many electrical options for things like stoves, ovens, and furnaces. Maybe just a major expansion of plants will be needed to handle the huge change in demand for such electrical appli- ances. Will they bother to expand or just keep production levels within the capacities of their currently available factories? What if supply doesn’t keep up with sharp increase in demand for any reason? (By way of example, we had to wait two months for a new washer and dryer set thanks to the sudden demand increase caused by just a sales discount for the particular model we purchased.) Guess folks will just be screwed and eat out or use sterno, white gas camping stoves, or something for heat until their spot on the waiting list gets to the top of the stack for their new expensive appli- ances and furnaces.
“And who pays to recycle (we won’t
even mention a ‘trash’ option because that just would not be ‘correct’) all of the stuff that is going to be streaming out of homes and businesses to keep up with these changes? Talk about ‘disruptive’ (a word I increasingly am hating for its new overuse) events
Continued on p. 49
Apr.May.Jun 2019 • TPG 43
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