The Heat Is Coming

Weather forecasts are calling for brutally hot weather in the coming week, but I’m not afraid. My electricity supplier emailed me that all is well.

That supplier is FirstEnergy, which proclaims in the email that its system stretching from Ohio to New Jersey, is ready to meet the challenge.

Staffing has been adjusted and any planned outages have been rescheduled.

Sounds good, until the second paragraph promises that any local outages caused by excessive heat will be handled promptly.

What happened to the promise in the first paragraph that FirstEnergy is prepared to meet the anticipated demand from the heatwave?

The email concludes with the usual no-kidding list of things one can do to improve efficiency, things like caulking windows, etc. This is the sort of stuff that is the staple of TV news reports regarding weather.

When it’s cold, they advise us to dress in layers and limit exposure. When it’s hot, they encourage us to drink plenty of fluid and take breaks.

I doubt many will be rushing to caulk windows in advance of this bit of heat. I won’t.

I’m thinking (hoping) we will get through this because FirstEnergy has assured me the company is ready.

It is disconcerting, however, to recall all the news stories about people elsewhere being asked to conserve during warm or cold periods, because the creaky electrical grid just can’t handle the load.

And I think if all the electric-car wet dreamers had their way and we all were whirring round in EVs how bleak things would be. That would be electrical vehicles needing recharging virtually daily. No less an authority that Mayor Pete Butt (whatever) our secretary of transportation, has been forced to admit during Congressional testimony that each EV requires the annual electricity consumption equal to a person running 25 refrigerators.

I am willing to bet that if all of us ran out and bought 25 refrigerators and plugged them in prior to this heat wave, the FirstEnergy promise would not be fulfilled.

This is something you might think about as you sit around in your air-conditioned home in coming days, looking to avoid the heat and trying to follow all the no-kidding advice from the media about how to do so.

Now imagine those air-conditioners not running because the electrical grid has crashed due to EV recharging demands.

Enjoy.