Berkeley bans natural gas in new homes

[Tom Stenzel]

....
3. This is the easiest: Google "efficiency of pumped water energy storage" and see what comes up. Here's one article that says the efficiency is between 70 and 80%.

Mike

[It's bad to lie to others, but it's worse to lie to ourselves.]

When I visited the Ludington pumped storage facility 25 years ago they claimed the efficiency was 70%. If Wikipedia can be believed it's been upped by 5% since then with new turbines. Of course if it's on the 'net it must be true.

The facility was supposed to be used in conjunction with the planned nuclear Midland Power plant that was never completed. With a nuke plant supplying the electricity the expected 30% loss was considered acceptable and would maximize the use of the plant. The only problem was it ran Consumers Power out of money. Construction problems delayed completion and 3 Mile Island made nuclear energy the halitosis of power generation. Midland was finally finished but it's not nuclear.

-Tom

[Rick Potter]

Mea Culpa

She described herself as mid twenties in the text.....I made the sexist assumption that it was a guy.

[Günter VögelBerg]

Yet with all of the assumed "insane ballot initiatives" California still has an economy if viewed separate from the rest of the nation would still be in the top 10 of world economies. They must be doing something right.

jtk

I would not dispute this for a second. California does a lot of things right. It must to have higher economic output than the entire UK, despite the kooky politics.

[Mike Henderson]

I would not dispute this for a second. California does a lot of things right. It must to have higher economic output than the entire UK, despite the kooky politics.

Regarding kooky politics, the UK is in no position to throw stones

Mike

[Jim Koepke]

I would not dispute this for a second. California does a lot of things right. It must to have higher economic output than the entire UK, despite the kooky politics.

What some consider "kooky politics" may actually be doing business so things work out for a majority of the population instead of passing legislation to please a very narrow section of the population.

For example compare the "kooky politics" of California to the "smart politics" of Kansas. The tax cuts in Kansas had the opposite effect of what was promised. Some said it was "kooky politics" for California to raise taxes, yet it didn't destroy the state as some declared it would.

Hopefully this hasn't strayed to far afield of the SMC TOS.

jtk

[Günter VögelBerg]

Fair enough. I'm not actually making a point.

Besides, I'm from Switzerland, so if you want kooky politics...

[Bill Dufour]

California figured out the time to rasie taexs is when the economy is doing well. Build up a budget reserve for bad times ans so you can cut taxes if the economy slows down.
Trump got it backwards he lowered taxes so the country will have more dept going into his recession which is starting to come on. He has increased the dept of the country for no gain. Of course this is exactly his supporters goal to bankrupt the government so government spending has to be cut back.

[Jim Koepke]

California figured out the time to rasie taexs is when the economy is doing well. Build up a budget reserve for bad times ans so you can cut taxes if the economy slows down.

Raising taxes in boom times and lowering them during lean years is common economic theory. Sadly many politicians are not clear on the concept.

My understanding of the situation is a little different. Wasn't California a financial basket case after the phony energy crisis back in 2003? Wasn't that part of what got Governor Gray Davis recalled and ended with Arnold Schwarzenegger being elected Governor? By the time Jerry Brown became Governor for the second time there was a $25 Billion debt load.

A lot of people thought his plan to raise taxes was "kooky politics" back in 2012. The people of the state voted their approval. Now the state has not only turned its finances around, California is doing okay today.

jtk

[Keith Outten]

I think we passed the limit on political discussions in this thread.