Re: [VAC] gas airconditioning versus electric utilities

[John Anderson <janderson@xxxxxxxx>]

Gerald, I think you are on target, but please put blame where it belongs,
not on the utilities who tried to build more generation (over-exuberantly,
in some cases) but on the ill advised public policy in some regions like the
upper midwest.  Bad policy based on sentiment, not science, drove states
like Minnesota and Wisconsin to adopt positions of "No new power plants in
our state!" and so these states became energy importers as utilities turned
to South Dakota, which wanted some economic growth, and built power plants
in Sioux Falls, for example.  Then in 1997 when several of the larger plants
in the region were down for maintenance and other problems, the energy
"well" was dry, and rolling blackouts became a real possibility.  The
utilities took a bashing, but the root of the problem lay in the fact that
public policy makers dreamed that conservation would offset economic-based
growth in energy demand, and so the utility's plans for new generating
plants were rejected.

Air conditioning is a big part of Airstreaming for me, since my wife is the
opposite of you; she can't handle hot weather AT ALL and we have had a few
experiences where the hookup where we were staying couldn't handle the A/C
load. Believe me on a 90 degree F night with 90% humidity and no air moving,
the "Airstream experience" lost some of its luster for her.   Hello Holiday
Inn.  If you can perfect the propane powered or propane absorption A/C unit,
you will have contributed mightily to the mobile community.