Topic: An energy warning in effect for Cali

[Jack Morris]

Record California power demand possible soon By Bernie Woodall
7 minutes ago
 


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's power grid could post a new electricity demand record by Monday as air conditioners across the state battle a powerful heat wave, the California Independent System Operator said on Thursday.

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The Cal ISO manages the power grid that connects major power lines in the state.

The grid operator called on Californians to conserve electricity by calling a "power watch" from Friday to Monday, said Stephanie McCorkle, spokeswoman for the ISO.

As of midday Thursday, there had been no weather-related outages, McCorkle said.

"New temperature data (are) indicating a warm air mass is pushing up temperatures even more than expected," McCorkle said. "Definitely Friday and Monday we are looking to possibly set new records for peak demand."

The highest demand is expected Monday when the hottest temperatures are forecast in the current heat wave over most of the western United States.

Friday demand is forecast about 46,300 megawatts around 4 p.m. PDT, which would break the record of 45,431 set last July 20, the Cal ISO said.

Monday's peak is expected to be 46,500 megawatts, also around 4 p.m. PDT.

"We have had some load growth since last summer and this is going to be a strong regional heat wave that is driving demand for electricity," McCorkle said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Cal ISO called on generating plants contributing to the state's power grid to restrict plant maintenance from noon until 10 p.m. PDT on Thursday.

The Cal ISO expects peak demand to reach at least 43,675 megawatts on Thursday, which is nearing the record of 4 said a Cal ISO spokeswoman.

Friday's peak demand is expected to be at least 45,150 megawatts.

Those peak forecasts are expected to go up later Thursday once the new weather forecasts are factored in, said McCorkle.

Californians will be asked to cut power use by raising thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit when they are home and to at least 80 F -- or turning air-conditioners off altogether -- when they are away.

Homeowners are being asked to avoid running big appliances during the hottest parts of the day.

Weather forecaster Meteorlogix said that in California the highest temperatures in most major cities will be Monday or on the weekend.

In Fresno, Monday's high will be 110 F, 14 F higher than normal. Tuesday's high will be 105 F and Wednesday's, 103 F.

Los Angeles will be 4 degrees F above normal with a high of 78 F on Friday and it will remain in the uppers 70s to low 80s through next Wednesday. In the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, highs will be over 100 F through early next week.

Sacramento will have highs 5 F more than normal on Friday and 12 F higher than the normal on Monday, when it will have a high of 103 F. Tuesday's high will be 100 F and Wednesday's 97 F.

Those forecasted temperatures from Meteorlogix were issued early Thursday before weather experts said the coming warm air mass Friday through Monday will be even hotter than first predicted.

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Homeowners are being asked to avoid running big appliances during the hottest parts of the day.

Yeah righhhttttttt! Hey, everybody turn off their A/Cs and refridgerators! 

I'd make every state office turn off their A/C and employees bring fans to work. 

It would also help if you ejected some couple of million people that are not supposed to be in the state or nation to begin with.

[Commander Maxillius]

hell, if they wanted to enforce the request, they could cut power to substations that feed subdivisions between 10am and 4pm and store the power generated in that time in cpacitors or batteries so that the draw betweeen 5 and 7pm will be lessened.

[Jack Morris]

They are also on fire. not good at all.

This is a joke, ok? Heck, if Nagin said something I think I should be able to too.

God is mad at California for letting all those illegals come in and do as they please. 

[Jack Morris]

Oh yeah, I forgot. Link.

Desert, forest fires may merge in So. Cal. By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 39 minutes ago
 


YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. - A 40,000-acre fire chewed through desert wilderness Thursday after destroying 100 homes and buildings and was on course to possibly merge with a blaze in the San Bernardino National Forest, where it could feed on vast stands of dead trees.

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The huge Sawtooth fire edged northwest toward the forest, burning greasewood, Joshua trees, pinon pines and brush on the desert floor. Containment was just 20 percent. Five miles away, the Millard fire had scorched 1,200 acres in the forest and was 5 percent surrounded.

In the scorched landscape left behind by the Sawtooth, residents returned to see how they fared.

"We're very, very lucky," said Sandy Dugan, whose Pioneertown home still stood while the charred remains of others smoldered. "It's hard to see your neighbors' homes gone."

Authorities said smoke from the blazes 100 miles east of Los Angeles was smelled in Las Vegas and Ogden, Utah.

State fire officials said that both fires could link up on the desert floor but they were at least 15 miles from any areas of dead trees.

Kevin Olson, deputy chief of operations in the headquarters of the California Department of Forestry, said it was possible "but not very likely at this time" that the fires would reach the timber stands.

Swaths of Southern California forests have been weakened by drought and killed by bark beetles. For several years, workers have been cutting down dead trees near communities and roads. Thousands of acres have been cleared but experts say it will take up to 20 years to remove all the deadwood.

However, Olson said there have been contingency plans for several years on how to fight fires and evacuate people in the beetle-infested areas.

The Sawtooth fire was ignited by lightning during the weekend and roared into an inferno Tuesday, racing through tiny high desert communities. Forty-two houses, 55 other buildings and 91 vehicles were destroyed in Pioneertown and other communities near Yucca Valley.

About 1,350 firefighters worked the blaze with the help of bulldozers, helicopters and air tankers. Nine firefighters and two civilians have been treated for minor burns or smoke inhalation.

Evacuation orders were lifted for Pioneertown and several other communities but residents of Burns Canyon and Rimrock were still unable to return home, said Mary Flynn, a CDF spokeswoman.

Pioneertown, established in the 1940s as a location for filming cowboy movies, lost none of its Western-style storefronts but some residents weren't so lucky.

Rex Davis, 55, was told his nearby vacation home was destroyed but had to see it for himself.

"You're still thinking maybe it didn't burn," he said.

The Sawtooth and Millard fires were each about 30 miles from Big Bear, one of several communities atop the San Bernardino Mountains that were evacuated when wildfires swept Southern California in 2003.

Those 15 fires were collectively the most devastating in recent state history, killing 22 people, destroying 3,640 homes and blackening 750,000 acres.

Robert Vinson, 51, brought his wife and two sons to the Big Bear Lakefront Lodge on Tuesday for a vacation to escape the 105-degree heat in his Riverside County town of Menifee. He planned to stay until Saturday unless things got hotter.

"When I see the flames from my hotel room and they get within 10 miles, I'm leaving. I'm not gonna wait until they're under my balcony," he said.

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

Everyone is a A/C Hog.. maybe a few smart people will conserve, but not everyone will. They are going to need to use rolling black out to keep up with power demands, but its true.. those few million illegals do eat up a lot of power demands, so they should start there with the rolling black outs

[Jack Morris]

They can start by giving 4 bucks off for buying a package of 4 merc CFL lamps. Austin gives it, and the discount is right there at the register at Home Depot! Yet dumbarse Americans with cell phones and blah-blah just keep walking on by and buying incandecent lamps or regular flourescent.

So I got lamps that use 23 watts of power but give out 100 watts of light each. They also last 7 years, you will not find that with other type bulbs except for LEDs. 

http://www.otpco.com/ProductsServices/CompactFluorescent.asp

 

[Jack Morris]

A word of warning for ya'll. Oil futures are trading above 80 a barrel in the futures sector.

[Death_Merchant]

.. those few million illegals do eat up a lot of power demands, so they should start there with the rolling black outs

Well, I live in So Ca and I can tell you this.
Most of the apparent illegals I see are outside in the fields picking so we can have cheap groceries, or hanging out at Home Depot waiting for some weekend warrior or unscrupulous GC to hire them for the day.

Not an AC or fan in sight....

[Jack Morris]

.. those few million illegals do eat up a lot of power demands, so they should start there with the rolling black outs

Well, I live in So Ca and I can tell you this.
Most of the apparent illegals I see are outside in the fields picking so we can have cheap groceries, or hanging out at Home Depot waiting for some weekend warrior or unscrupulous GC to hire them for the day.

Not an AC or fan in sight....

We were talking about their homes and apts, DM. You know, the ones with a gazillion people living in them? As for cheap groceries and stuff, I can debate that, the restaurants have not lowered the prices of dinners even though some use illegal labor, and that nice house over there? Yeah, that one. Built with illegal labor yet the developer is charging market price, shouldn't we get a discount? 

As far as picking fruit and stuff? I think non-violent criminals should be put to work. So do a lot of Americans. It beats letting them sit on their arses in jail and sleep and watch cable TV. 

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Fear not.

Those new nuclear power plants are due to come on line any day now.

[Jack Morris]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_re_us/air_traffic_outage;_ylt=Au37AKM10SHD6vJ3HVY.R2us0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

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 Radar center outage disrupts flights 3 minutes ago
 


LOS ANGELES - A power outage at a radar facility Tuesday cut communications and brought incoming and outgoing flights in Southern California to a standstill, a        Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

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"We lost everything. We lost all power to phone lines, computers, everything," said Allen Kenitzer, a regional spokesman for the FAA.

The outage at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center was reported around 6 p.m., Kenitzer said, and the cause was not known.

The center is located in the high desert near Palmdale.

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Meanwhile, drug flights continued from Mexico! 

[Jack Morris]

Heat Wave Leads To Record Power Use In California
Fresno, CA, July 18, 2006 - As California records record high temperatures, power users have set a new record for energy consumption.


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A temperature of 110 degrees brings Palm Springs to mind. But that's what it was in Redding, 160 miles north of Sacramento.
It hit about 104 in Yosemite National Park, where a spokeswoman reminded panting park-goers that "the nice thing about Yosemite is it always cools off at night."

By afternoon, peak demand had surpassed 46-thousand megawatts, according to the Independent System Operator, breaking the record set 12 months ago. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the distribution facility to urge conservation and point out things were in good shape.

 Five years ago, they weren't. Inadequate supply, bottlenecked transmission lines, market manipulation and a flawed deregulation plan all contributed to rolling blackouts.

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5 years ago Houston was laughing at Cali, and banking it! Has anyone seen Kenneth Lay? Inquiring minds want to know...

[Fedman NCC-3758]

 .............. any day now.