I had an argument with a real dunce yesterday on the subject of power generation.
My point was that using less electric power if you can (especially on very hot days) is a good thing overall. His point was that it doesn't matter how much power you use because the greedy electric companies should be able to make as much clean power as we need. If things were only that simple.
In areas like the Northeast, using less power can help save lives on peak demand days. Most of the power to the densely populated areas (like New York City) is delivered from long distances across lines that can only hold so much power. Capacity is strained. And the ability to deliver that capacity is strained as well.
Those who use less power close to the highly populated help to insure that electricity will get delivered to those who really need it. Those who use less power further away, but along the transmission path help more energy to be available under less constrained transmission conditions.
So using less electric power if you can is a very good thing.
On the subject of renewable and clean energy common sense needs to apply. Clean energy sources such as wind will only become viable alternatives if we can stabilize the level of demand for power in local areas.
Reliability and safety are the top mandates for power generators. When you hit the switch a light should go on. Its hard to maintain reliability in a constantly growing demand environment with sources of energy (like wind or water) that are not 100% reliable. Could you make the wind blow on command?
So we need other sources of power generation, especially natural gas and nuclear, which are very reliable and insure that we can meet the demand for power. But if people across the board would reduce power demand those other sources would be more viable alternatives in areas where conditions exist that are friendly to those types of generation.
Some of those angry at the power companies might disagree, but I'm trading on 7.5 years of direct experience with the electric power industry in North America.
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