If you’ve read the news lately, you may have learned the State of California is warning its residents it may be necessary to begin having rolling brown outs or, in other words, periods of time where their electricity will be purposefully cut off by the power company so as to conserve as much energy as possible.
Warm temperatures and a great demand for air conditioning are high among the reasons that would prompt the rolling brown outs. Is it understandable? Perhaps. Is it reasonable? No, not really, since it’s 2022 and you’d think, by now, these companies would know better.
However, the bottom line is that if it is needed, it will happen. Of course, just the idea of being without power is enough to induce nausea. But actually being without it is even worse. Sometimes, you don’t even realize how much you rely on power to do the mundane, like peeking at yourself in a bathroom mirror at night or brushing your teeth with a chargeable brush.
Now you may ask, why the headline if this is all about brown outs? Well, consider this. The very same California is reportedly working to mandate only electric vehicles by the year 2035.
That’s a mere 13 years from now.
What happens, let’s just say, if every Californian has an electric car and then the power company decides it needs to enact rolling brown outs?
Just think about it for a moment. The ensuing chaos would be unfathomable. What happens when people can’t get to work because they couldn’t charge the Prius because the utility shut the power off to conserve it?
What happens when the charging stations won’t work? What would a person then have to do? Can’t require everyone to have a generator, for starters, since they require … gas! So again, what’s next?
Think conversely for a moment. Could you envision any logical reason why gas stations would have to stop pumping petrol in a manner similar to a brown out? Imagine if the ’ole Esso couldn’t sell fuel on Mondays.
Absurd, is it not?
So to believe all-electric vehicles could ever work in California — or anywhere in the world for that matter — is downright asinine. And there is talk Jersey could follow in California’s footsteps? No, thank you.
Could you even imagine what the NJ Turnpike would look like round Exit 15-W if everyone’s vehicle stopped because they couldn’t be recharged? Oh the horror!
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.