We have all heard the cliché, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” It summarizes the notion of summertime comfort. In California, with blackouts predictably occurring every time residents want to turn on their air conditioners, they should be saying, “It’s not the heat, it’s the capacity.”

A heat wave reportedly hit California last week: the temperature in Cupertino, where Apple is headquartered, reached a high of 86° F on Thursday. Readers in other parts of the country might wonder what Californians mean by a heat wave, but the temperature was high enough to compel millions of Californians to turn on their air conditioners. And, when a bunch of Californians turn on the A/C at the same time, there’s trouble. Recall a press statement from Elliot Mainzer, the California Independent System Operator’s president and CEO, in 2022. It reads as follows:

This is an extraordinary heat event we are experiencing, and the efforts by consumers to lean in and reduce their energy use after 4 p.m. are absolutely essential.  Over the last several days we have seen a positive impact on lowering demand because of everyone’s help, but now we need a reduction in energy use that is two or three times greater than what we’ve seen so far as this historic heat wave continues to intensify.

I am sure that if you prodded Mr. Mainzer further, he would drone on about how climate change is intensifying heat waves and we must all do our part in fighting climate change by curtailing CO2 emissions, yada, yada, yada.

It is a bit strange for the CEO of any company to continuedly appeal to the public to not use its service. However, fixing the problem would entail increasing thermal power capacity, something few Californians have said they want because it would tarnish their image as an environmentally friendly state. The other option is to go broke installing more batteries.  As a result, Californians will sweat through another heat wave while feeling virtuous about the ecotopia they have created for themselves.

Image generated by AI.