392. What’s Going on with California’s Energy Crisis?

California is making a lot of laws about energy. Are these laws good? Or do they cause more problems than they solve?

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Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Brittany: Hi, Ronni.

Ronni: Hi, Brittany.

Brittany: So California is added again. Yeah. Which I feel like say.

Ronni: Oh, California.

Brittany: Oh, California. So they are like the kings of making silly laws that, you know, harm everyone and have disastrous consequences, but, just, you know, no old news there. But the newest thing they’re doing is in regard to their energy crisis. And I hate to say the newest thing that they’re doing because I moved away from California many moons ago when I was 15. And again, I don’t wanna, I’m old. it was, oh my goodness. Wait, okay. It was a really long time ago. I moved away in 2000, I think. Yeah. When I moved away and right after I moved we had what was called rolling blackouts. A rolling. Yeah. I remember where it was like, oh, we need to save power and so we’re just gonna cut off your electricity for a couple hours a day. So I’ll get back to that. I’m gonna mention that more later. But, so for starters, the ridiculous thing I wanna talk about today is California passed a law a few months ago that, said they were gonna start banning gas-burning cars starting in the year 2035. Which sounds like a long time, but it’s really not. So gas-burning cars, that’s pretty much, you know, the cars we’re used to the ones you go at the gas station you fill up. So that means that anybody who gets a new car in California after that time has to get an electric vehicle. So.

Ronni: And to clarify, does not hybrid has to be actual full electric?

Brittany: You know, that is a good question. It said gas-burning vehicles. Okay. So I would assume.

Ronni: That’s also hybrid then.

Brittany: Yeah, would be, yeah, it would be hybrid, which is just ridiculous. ’cause again, like there’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect the environment. That is great. And it’s great if companies wanna make hybrids or make these electric cars and you know, and people are like, this is great. I wanna voluntarily buy it. Great. But forcing people to do it is not good. Even if it’s in the name, you know, of protecting the environment force is just never a good way to do it. It’s also even worse because it’s also meddling in the free market and which is gonna car cause harm to everybody ’cause you’re taking away other industries. So like, I said, the law won’t go into full effect until 2035. So, you know, what is that? That’s really not that long. 13 years.

Ronni: Well, that’s when a lot of our listeners will be driving, so it will affect them.

Brittany: That is very good. Isn’t that weird to think kiddos, you’re like, oh, I’ll be driving soon. It’s, so yeah, crazy. That’s a good point. So supporters, you know, of this law are thinking this is great, you know, for the environment and this is gonna, and this part really got me. Somebody’s like, this is gonna be great for innovation because now they’re gonna have to make better like car batteries. I’m like, yeah, but maybe they would’ve done it on their own without being forced.

Ronni: Well, isn’t there a lot going on about making car batteries too, and that making the car batteries are actually less sustainable? I thought I was reading something about that really as well.

Brittany: Yeah. If, you know, I don’t know anything about that. So if you know anything, please share.

Ronni: I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I was definitely reading something about how the batteries, well I do know that any batteries that we do, or even things like making cell phones, a lot of our electronics that we think we’re being more sustainable for that the actual like manufacturing process or some of the materials that we use are actually far less environmentally friendly. We should look into that more. But I definitely think that overall, it’s something that sounds much better on the surface in reality is not quite what it seems.

Brittany: You actually, you gave me an idea for a future episode, which is we can talk about all these things where people are like, it’s gonna help the environment and then it, it doesn’t, doesn’t, or it has other, problems like with the, the reusable grocery bags, they don’t necessarily harm the environment, but there’s germs. Like they found that there’s like so much bacteria in those clothes. Oh, grocery bags. Yes. And people aren’t always, you know, washing them between, because think about it, you put your meat in there, you put your, you know, so like, again, it’s not that it’s harming the environment, but they’re doing this stuff. I believe the Beyond Meat, which I have a whole vendetta against, but it was supposed to, you know, save animals or something and it ended up like it harms the environment. It’s just, it’s so funny.

Ronni: Yeah, we should.

Brittany: We have to do a whole episode of that. We should. But back to the California law, this is the thing that, like, you can’t make this stuff up guys. Like, I was laughing so hard. So California government is trying to, you know, push these laws, punish people who want to use gas burning, you know, vehicles, but they have this energy crisis going on. And I’ll be honest, Ronni, I don’t really know how this energy crisis started. My only guess was like, oh, it’s probably just California being ridiculous and poor management because I don’t know the beginnings of it. As long as I lived in California, we had an energy crisis and I, don’t know the cause I don’t know if you do

Ronni: I don’t either. But in the 18 years that I lived there as well Yeah. We were always having energy issues, which is why a lot of people went to solar. But again, talking about before that we have to talk about is the manufacturing, the solar panels better. I don’t know the details, but the point is yes, California and their energy crisis. I don’t know what’s up with that, but it’s always been a thing.

Brittany: It’s always been a thing. And you’ll notice the other states don’t have it, which makes me think this is a problem of government, not necessarily a problem. You know, that’s widespread. So that’s so funny to me. Okay. So they have this whole energy crisis, like we said, going on forever. But then during Labor Day weekend, as the government’s trying to ban gas-burning cars, they come out and asked people to stop charging their electric cars because there wasn’t enough power. And I’m like, this can’t be real. So first you’re telling people how great electric vehicles are gonna be. This is the future. No more gas-burning cars. But also because our energy crisis is so bad, we don’t actually have the power for you to charge the cars. So, sorry, like, did you hear about this, Ronni?

Ronni: Well, I saw pictures online somewhere of, using a gas generator to charge an electric car which is hilarious.

Brittany: Oh, that’s so funny. It’s just, it’s like, it’s so funny. Again, it’s like this can’t be true, but only in California. So, like I said, when I moved from California, there was something called the Rolling Blackouts where they would just turn off your power, to save energy every so often. And people were literally just supposed to be like, alright, that’s cool. And it gets kind of warm in California, so that’s not great either. I think they’re going through that right now as well. Like I said, I moved away a long time ago, so I’m gonna put Ronni on the spot as I like to do, right now at, cause she just Well, how long have you been out of California?

Ronni: About a year.

Brittany: Okay. So pretty fresh. So I want you to just explain your experience with the energy crisis. And maybe you don’t have one, but I’m just curious if you had to live through the rolling blackouts.

Ronni: I feel as though I didn’t, I’ve always been okay when I guess sometimes we would randomly lose power, but maybe because I didn’t rely on power too much or it does get hot in California, but it definitely depends on where you live. I would say unless you’re living in the desert areas that a lot of California doesn’t have the crazy heat waves, although they did this over Labor Day weekend, so they were like really hot, but usually, we could get by during the day with, you know, opening our windows and turning on the, well that probably also was bad. I was gonna say we did like sprinklers for the kids, but I’m sure that was also a No-no, come to think of It.

Brittany: Oh, I’m sure. Yeah. You can’t do anything there. Yeah, so it was the heat. That’s a good point. I’m glad you reminded me that it was the heat that made the energy-like crisis even worse. Because everybody had their power running because again, it got really hot. So of course all the justification for this is climate change, right? That’s what it comes down to. Everything is about trying to stop that. But again, like, I said, other states aren’t having this problem, so that doesn’t really check out. One really interesting thing, and this wasn’t California, I think it was Colorado, but I’m not sure. So a couple of months ago as of recording this, so in the summer,  there were some houses or some people who have like smart thermometers in their house, like the thing that controls your air conditioning in their heater. And they were going to turn up their air conditioning because it was hot and they got like a message on their thing that was like, you don’t have control over your AC anymore. You can’t turn it. Yes. You can’t turn it up. because there’s like an energy crisis. Yes. And I couldn’t, I believe it was Colorado.

Ronni: The total dystopian.

Brittany: Total dystopian. And like, it wasn’t the government doing it was their actual provider but like, you know, because the government, you know, so it is crazy and I’ll try to find that link to put in the show notes, but I couldn’t remember what state it was in, so it was hard for me to find it. But it’s just ridiculous. But some other things about California that I think you’re just adding to the problem. So, California loves to ban everything and this is gonna blow up in their face sooner or later, but, if I took this from an article I was reading today, so they’re gonna start banning slow, what is it? It’s called, so diesel-powered trucks. So diesel-powered trucks are like the big trucks you see that carry supplies to and from everywhere, right? As we learned with the truck driver strike, you know, trucks give us our supplies, like they’re so important. Yeah. But they’re gonna start making those illegal too because.

Ronni: Would that be only in California or can you drive the truck to other states? You just cannot drive your diesel-powered truck into California.

Brittany: Correct. Which is so silly.

Ronni: Wouldn’t that be bad for California? Because then they’re gonna be getting fewer supplies whereas the rest of the country can still get those supplies.

Brittany: Exactly. And that’s why it’s just like, why does California keep doing this? And I guess it’s only for the ones that have engines built before 2010. So I don’t know how many that is, but they’re saying it would be 80,000 trucks, which that’s a lot of trucks.

Ronni: That again, can go to all the other states and give California everyone else things just can’t go to California.

Brittany: Yes. Isn’t it? It’s just crazy. So the electricity shortages in California were actually predicted. And part of that was because there’s a big war, and actually this would be another great idea for an episode because it’s something that I don’t know a ton about. And so it would, would be good for me to, I know in principal white school, but people don’t like nuclear power. They don’t like it. There’s a big environmental quest about it. But the thing is, it’s actually the most cost-efficient and very safe way to give power. But people just freak out about it. Like, that’s a big thing for environmentalists.

Ronni: Well, I know when I was younger I remember learning about Sheer Noble, which was the big thing that got in my head, forget what year that was, but I still remember learning about it. So I don’t know a whole lot about nuclear energy either, but I have heard that it is actually the best energy. So I too feel like I should look into it, but I still have, Chernobyl in my head of like, oh no, it’s gonna explode.

Brittany: Well, we had the one recently in where? It was in Asia somewhere, the one that was like 10 years ago.

Ronni: Yeah. Begin with an F.

Brittany: Yes. Or Fukushima. Fukushima, yeah, I was like, wait, so that happened too, which is scary. But when you look at all the, and again, we’ll do a whole episode on this, when you look at all the nuclear power that is as opposed to like the stuff that happens and that it was like human error. It actually is really safe and really cost-effective. Yeah. But of course, you know, in California they closed one down and now they don’t have enough power to power everyone’s home. And it’s, even people have been warning that this is gonna happen for years. But of course, California does not like to listen to logic. That’s not really their thing. And that’s why so many people are fleeing California. It’s crazy to be so many people live there and it’s, it’s hard because I’m a performer, and part of me thinks like, oh, maybe someday I’ll move back there for performing. But I’m like, no way. I don’t wanna pay the taxes or deal with no power, you know.

Ronni: I actually just went to California this past weekend. We went back for a thing and we got to go to the beach and I miss the beach so much. So, why do people live in California? Because the beach is amazing.

Brittany: And the weather is just so lovely.

Ronni: And the weather is too.

Brittany: It’s so lovely. But one of the scariest parts about this is that people are watching California and they’re following their lead, especially places like New Jersey and New York like they also are big nanny states, so they’re, you know, they’re all watching being like, yo, this sounds like a good idea, even though none of this makes any sense and none of it’s really working. But okay, let’s do it. Like, that’s what’s so silly about government, right? Let’s, and we did an episode a little bit, you and I Ronni, about kids who were helping solve the environmental crisis.

Ronni: Oh, that’s right.

Brittany: And remember, and their ideas, you know, kids your age, their ideas were better than this. So it’s just, it’s not innovative. The government getting involved is just a boring, ineffective solution. It’s like, think of something better. But so that’s the scary thing is if other states, you know, follow, but it’s not working. So, why go down with the ship? Why cling to an idea when it’s not working? That is a question I will never know. So California’s in some real trouble, which they always seem to be, and I’m sure we’ll have another episode soon on something else California is doing. But in the meantime, we’ll leave it there. So please don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast and share it with your friends. And until next time, Ronni, we’ll talk to you soon.

Ronni: All right, see you soon.