Dismissive ignorance

[thedr9wningman]

The enquiry into dismissive ignorance
I was on a webinar conference last week and I was struck by one of the speakers. I don't exactly work for a progressive company: we're run by three, older, white Republicans and a liberal Indian man, but even the white guys were turned off. Why? Because of dismissive ignorance

Comments

Re: power consumption etc

[thedr9wningman]

Yeah, the appliance thing is called 'phantom load' in the industry. TVs, microwaves, anything that receives a remote signal, any wall warts (including cellphone chargers and laptop transformers) and even some floorlamps(!) contribute to phantom load. There was a study done about IKEA (usually not a bastion of evil by any means in the sustainability community) that was talking about how much energy a floorlamp used when it was off. It was like half of what it used when it was on, all because they wanted to save a couple of cents on a transformer inside the lamp.

With respect to natural gas, there is a flat rate on all utility bills just to have you connected to service. And of course, shutting your service off and restarting it requires more money than just paying the flat rate. During the summer, I pay the flat rate; my stove usage is essentially free.

The studies we did in So Cal for gas fireplaces showed me that turning off the pilot light saves upwards of 20% of the gas bill when it is just used for a fireplace. In the scheme of things, pilots aren't a big waster, but why waste if you don't have to?

Reduced consumption not being profitable has been a big challenge to the energy efficiency industry. It was only after the 80s that someone (I don't even know who) finally convinced utilities it is in their best interest to reduce demand. Some states (usually with PUCs or public utility commissions) have 'decoupled' rates with consumption. I think I will post about decoupling separately, but it is a prime example of how government 'interference' in the marketplace creates winners without creating losers. It is a fantastic system.

That said, that flat rate rewards utilities for reduced consumption; if they're able to have a lot of consumers like you, just paying for their overhead in the amount of 6-8$ a month and they don't even have to provide fuel, that gives them room to grow without adding capacity. So, you're doing your part by paying the minimum!

Generally, futures pricing saves people money, but in the event of a bad forecast, it screws everyone. It is interesting to me, as I go up through the ranks of my working career, how much more impact my analyses have. I can imagine being that person who does the forecast (which is a past-oriented discipline, and we all know predicting the future from the past is like going to war for peace) and them getting it wrong. They would probably be kicking themselves. Because you can't foresee a hurricane, an economic decline, or any amount of other things in the world that will cause demand to skyrocket or tank... yet it is that person's job (or multiple people, but still).