It has been a quiet week, or at least it is down on Refuge Farm. The political internals in the Swamp have the people responsible concentrating on each other. They can get back to the citizens when they get a chance. Down in the country, we have blue skies this morning with fresh chill breeze. The sky is decorated- not dominated- by some swiftly moving upbeat white clouds. There is relative calm in public social events, which may be partly a function of preparations for things to come.

That potential comes from the big magenta blob headed this way. Weather reports from places as far away as Texas foretell possible frigid temperatures here in the Piedmont, and The Lady in Red on the flatscreen tells us to expect 1-3 inches tonight, maybe five more into the morning and the possibility of a full foot of white by the time the magenta moves out to sea and leaves its treasure.

Real threats are interesting, since they can be measured. What was interesting in the Texas stories was the mild surprise that the big impressive windmills all iced-up in the chill. They could not be used to produce power during the subsequent deep freeze. That is one of several aspects of the nature of intermittent power, nominally wind and solar. The Socotra editorial team supports intermittency in many things, but prefers power to be “On.”

It was just before lunch when that crazy young person from the intern desk rushed in and said the problem in Texas was with coal and gas companies. He just saw it on the news. There was no mention that the windmills were shut down. Just that coal and gas had been affected, proving their unreliability.

There was silence in the executive suite. One of the long-standing members of the editorial staff pursed her lips and said that seemed to be a near complete inversion on what is happening. “Coal and gas have provided mostly reliable on-demand power for a century,” she said. “The idea that we should back up reliable power with intermittent wind is sort of…you know.”

We all nodded and got back to getting ready for the storm. We talked about it, but did not haul down the fan, since that would only mitigate warmer emergencies. We may lose power, you know?

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com