August 13, 2023

A perpetual motion machine is an imaginary device that can accomplish more work than the energy it consumes.  Inventors have devised countless concepts for such a machine, but none has worked because all of them violate the 1st law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted into other forms.  An internal combustion engine converts chemical energy into horsepower.  An atom bomb converts nuclear energy into heat.  In the real world, a machine’s output is always less than its input.

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Fortunately, California is considering an exception to that law — legislatively.

California is developing a workaround to thermodynamics out of shear necessity — due to its energy predicament.  It has a small energy conversion problem and a huge energy policy problem.  Making electricity is easy.  Figuring out how to make enough electricity without violating leftist dogma is quite a bit harder.

California’s population has grown an astounding 162 percent since 1958.  Yet the state hasn’t built a new power plant (other than wind or solar) since the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant came online in 1985.  The state simply does not have the electrical generating capacity to meet its current needs — making it more dependent on imported power than any other state in the Union.

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California currently imports between 20 and 30 percent of its power from other states.  The “save the planet” zealots have become dependent addicts, ensuring continued profitability for the evil pushers of environmentally destructive energy.

That dependence on other states is a simple engineering problem to solve.  If you don’t have enough electricity, just build more power plants.  We actually know how to do that.

The thing making California’s electricity shortage a huge issue is not the availability of energy or technology.  The problem is California’s energy policy.  The state hasn’t built a new power plant in almost 40 years because it has committed to reaching 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.  Within the next 22 years, Californians will have saved the planet by making themselves totally dependent on windmills that stand idle on calm days and solar panels that go dormant when clouds pass over.

How’s that conversion to renewables working for California?  It succeeded in making the state dependent on its neighbors for electricity — so it’s not working especially well.  But there is a time-honored leftist tradition: if something isn’t working, do more of it.  Therefore, California’s Legislature has mandated that by 2035, all new cars sold in the state must be zero emission — which translates to electric.  If renewables can’t satisfy current needs, just place more demand on renewables and tell the utilities to suck it up.

There are two entirely foreseen (to sentient beings) consequences of the E.V. (electric vehicle) mandate.  The first is that California’s electricity shortage will be getting worse — much worse.  Those E.V.s use a lot of juice to recharge, and they will all be plugged in at the same time — when people get home from work.  The second consequence is that the market for obsolete, gas-guzzling, smog-producing used cars is going to explode in California — increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the state that is trying to eliminate greenhouse gases.

Luckily, California is known for its innovators, and they’ve come up with a creative solution to their electricity shortage.  Just mandate that all the new E.V.s incorporate bidirectional charging — as Senate Bill 233 proposes.  This means that when the cars aren’t being driven, their batteries can either be recharged from the grid or discharged into the grid.  Therefore, the stored energy in millions of parked electric cars can be used to meet the state’s electricity shortfall during times of peak demand.  When my car is plugged in at night, it can be used to charge my neighbor’s car.  After his car is fully charged, it can be used to charge my car.  It’s genius!