Sunrise No Link to Reality

By John Messner, Coronado

We also realistically need to assess what our needs are for power as well, now and in the future. How will be power housing? How will we power the businesses and employers who will pay the wages so that people throughout San Diego can live, work and play here, buy groceries, send their kids to school and more. In considering any sort of development, so many seem to have a Hobbit mentality where we all live in little vilages, powered by waterwheel technology. Let's grow up--and see things in an adult light.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
February 16, 2008 9:03 am

Wonder why the Chula Vista chamber of commerce is in such a rush to eliminate a key revenue source for the city of Chula Vista? The city wants the SoBay plant eliminated, but wants to find another site within the city for a replacement plant. How is that effort coming along? The local chamber seems to be acting in response to getting money from SDG&E and Sempra instead of looking out for the city itself.

Posted by Watcher | reply to this comment
February 16, 2008 12:33 pm

Hey BlkJK if we don't get control of our consumption/ waste cycle, which is powered by your friends at Sempra, we WILL all be living in little Hobbit villages once the dust settles after the storm. The Golden Age is over and we are in decline: oil is half used up, the climate is warming, resources are being used up at a record pace and waste is poisoning the environment in which we live. The only responsible action we can take -- if we care about the future for our children and future generations -- is to live as sustainably as possible using as few resources as possible and creating as little waste as possible. Anyone who blows this off is without conscience and selfishly focusing on their own present needs at the expense of others who shall come after them.

Posted by Christopher Hall | reply to this comment
February 16, 2008 1:16 pm

Watcher, don't you think a stadium and convention complex will ultimately pay the city better than the power plant fees, especially since South Bay is just operating as a peaking unit? And Mr. Hall, while I agree we need to get control of our consumption/waste cycle, wishing won't make it so. We know that we're adding more and more uses of energy to our lives so overall consumption is going up even though we're using more efficient appliances. Blame Sempra? Is Sempra building McMansions in the desert or putting 50-inch plasmas in living rooms across the county? Reality is, they can't truly control people's use -- they can only hope to be able to meet it. If you don't think they have good reason to fear an inability to meet demand, recall the anger of 2001. Are you gonna stand up and take the heat when the lights go out?

Posted by Critical thought | reply to this comment
February 17, 2008 9:24 pm

If indeed we are in decline, it's because increasing numbers of people simply refuse to solve probloems, and opt instead for doing nothing. California used to be in the forefront of creating solutions, now we simple accomodate problems.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
February 18, 2008 6:05 am

I believe those plasma and LCD tv's use a lot less power than the old color television sets we used to have, especially when people went to the wide screens ! Take a look at the power consumption of the LCD TVs ! One of our largest consumptions of power must be all of those little black plug-in converters for every piece of equipment from a clock radio all the way to our computers and our cell phone chargers. If solar power were reasonably affordable, homes and businesses would have solar power on the rooftops. There is a trusss building company in Hayward that creates enough excess power to provide that power for many homes in addition to providing power for its entire operation.As far as global warming is concerned, plant grass and trees to create oxygen and use up carbon dioxide.

Posted by San Marcos says, | reply to this comment
February 18, 2008 1:08 pm

San Marcos is right. In fact, I have long hoped that Sacramento would take a recess from creating social programs and come up with a formula that would make solar power for residences and businesses virtually free. By building tax credits and incentatives, this could be done. This sort of energy base would go a long way in cutting the $100-million a day that we send to petro-dictator Hugo Chavez as well billions to others. And it would truly help safeguard the environment.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
February 19, 2008 5:45 am

Actually, San Marcos, plasma TVs use about 8 times the energy of old-fashioned sets; LCDs use about 5 times as much. Air conditioning of the huge homes built east of the 805 are an enormous part of the high demand. BlkJk, power plants run on natural gas, not oil. The natural gas fueling California plants comes mostly from the United States with a bit from Canada. If you really want to help the environment and our political clout, put your energy into pushing for light rail. We CAN have light rail; it's a matter of political will. Cars kill, people!

Posted by Energy-informed | reply to this comment
February 19, 2008 1:50 pm

Our old 27 " color television used 165 watts of power, the plasma TV with 42 inch screen uses less than 250 watts, the LCD TV with 42 inch screen uses LESS than 150 watts, according to Techspedia comparison chart. The computer monitors CRT used the 150 watts of power and I use larger flat screen monitors which uses 18 watts. All of this in an atttempt to save power. We have solar garden lights GE - over 40 of them, for walkways, paths, and general lighting. The LNG we are GOING to be using is the new Hot Gas, courtesy of SEMPRA. This same Hot Gas will be used to power everything from power plants and peaker plants to our residential forced air and water heater units. Lucky us ! Sunrise's purpose is to send power northward !

Posted by San Marcos says II | reply to this comment
February 19, 2008 4:42 pm

....'lucky us'?....how american of you! The reality is that the plants in Mexico that burn LNG will not be up to par environmentally speaking...but hey...the energy is going north.... the LNG being sucked up from Peru, Indonesia, Australia and Russia is damaging their countries too...but hey...the energy is coming to america... embarrassing.....

Posted by kat | reply to this comment
February 19, 2008 7:01 pm

Do any of you people even actually know what the term hot gas means? You just spew the nonsense you're fed by people who make a living stirring up irrational fears. The native gas in California is way, way "hotter" than LNG. Look into it.

Posted by energeewhiz | reply to this comment
February 19, 2008 9:37 pm

To energeewhiz: Please refer to the U/T September 23, 2007 article *Cross-border gas project fuels pollution fear* with the Craig D. Rose article titled *Air-quality officials decry liquefied natural gas plans*. It is the Air Quality OFFICIALS that have brought the dangers forward, All of the Costa Azul FACTS are also listed in the article. All of our natural gas native to the United States is *scrubbed* to remove as much of the dangerous chemicals which create nasty, unhealthy pollutants when burned. The PUC didn't force SEMPRA to scrubb its LNG however the owners of the pipelines are being required by the State Lands Commission to come up with plans for monitoring and dealing with ANY pollution that results. Read the article and other articles regarding the LNG Hot Gas !

Posted by San Marcos says III | reply to this comment
February 20, 2008 6:53 am

Would that be the same article where the supposedly knowledgable reporter repeatedly refers to "nitrous-oxide" emissions? Yeah, that's where I'm going to get my trusted information -- from a reporter who doesn't know laughing gas from nitrogen oxide. And by the way, California gas isn't being scrubbed. Do a little digging. There have been some big disputes over it.

Posted by energeewhiz | reply to this comment
February 20, 2008 10:06 am

The bottom line here is that a number of people don't want any solution at all. The problem of energy will become so severe, our need for power will simply crash. This their goal. At that point in time, the entire infrastructure will begin to crumble, halting growth. The crisis will be severe. Rather than propose a no growth policy-- to include restrictions on development and immigration- these people and groups have opted for a backdoor approach which bodes ill for us all-- and the future.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
February 26, 2008 7:30 am

BlkJk -- exactly! The enviromentalists will back the power-plant alternative to Sunrise until the project is defeated, and then they'll turn around and fight like hell to ensure no more power plants get built. Instead, they should spend their energy and money educating people and getting them to use more efficient appliances and funding alternative energy sources. The problem isn't that Sempra wants to build more energy infrastructure. The problem is that WE are using the energy that the infrastructure delivers. Always fun to crap on the big bad corporation, but the enemy, my friends, is in your mirror. And the environmentalists' apparent strategy to force the issue by ensuring there's not enough power will backfire. You have the "green love" sentiment overflowing now, but make people face a power shortage and there will be a backlash that will erode that sentiment.

Posted by energeewhiz | reply to this comment
February 27, 2008 10:49 am

You turned on the lights with your response. Many groups are seeking to delay solutions, rather than solve a problem, and in doing so, the groups become a problem that's just as bad as the crisis we all face today. Why not take two aspirins, recouperate from this hangover from the 1960s and begin acting like adults...

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
February 27, 2008 11:26 am

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