Well... this is different ~ california's latest "green scheme"

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Just saw it on the news ~ Gov Gav just announced Project Nexus - a new plan to benefit the state! 

 

As we all know, california is in an almost permanent state of drought (despite record rainfall) and now has the most expensive electricity in the country. 

 

The plan?  Simple!  

 

Just cover the state's 4,000 miles of water delivery canals with solar panels!  Plenty of electricity for "free," plus it'll reduce water loss from evaporation!  

 

There's gotta be some sorta science in there somewhere.  Prolly gonna be cheap, too!  

 

Quote

The UC Merced study showed that covering California’s approximately 4,000 miles of public water delivery infrastructure with solar panels can result in significant water, energy, and cost savings for the state. The study illustrates a savings of some 63 billion gallons of water annually – enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people.

 

[Sedalia Dave]

Just wait... To pay for all those solar panels, Emperor Newsom will add an income based surcharge to everyone's electric bill AND he'll add a matching surcharge to everyone's water bill. Got to keep everything equitable don't cha know. 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

28 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Just wait... To pay for all those solar panels, Emperor Newsom will add an income based surcharge to everyone's electric bill AND he'll add a matching surcharge to everyone's water bill. Got to keep everything equitable don't cha know. 

 

AND rural folk with domestic wells (as in not on a public water system) for a few years now have had to put meters on their wells.  At their own expense.  On top of paying for the well (in these parts $20k - $30k), plus paying for the power power to pump the water, as well as taxes on the power and equipment.

 

“[property owners] must pay an annual fee of $300 for each well plus they must meter the water and send in a monthly usage report and pay a fee for water that is pumped starting in Feb 2023....

 

"What a great racket!” [a] California resident added. “The government provides no service, no support, no product, doesn’t even do the billing! That’s all on citizens. All [the government does] is cash the check.”

 

Article

 

[Pat Riot]

£#€% California’s Governor & Government!

 

 

[Badlands Bob #61228]

So this scheme is going to save 63 billions of gallons annually from evaporation.  This 63 billion gallons of water vaper is now going to be stopped by solar panels, which will love being engulfed in water vaper 24/7.  

[Ozark Huckleberry]

Solar panels over the water supply --  what could possibly go wrong?

 

 

Besides the impact of reducing sunlight to a body of water. 

 

 

[Old Man Graybeard]

I don't know how or why anyone lives in Commiefornia

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I've been out of California for almost ten years now so I don't have a dog in this fight.  I still have friends in California and they all understand that if they want see me again they have to come to Arizona, because if were to go there I'e a felon the second I crossed the border.

 

I miss a few things there but none enough to ever go back.

[Subdeacon Joe]

"The UC Merced study..."  That right there is the problem...it was a UC study.

I vaguely recall a proposal back in the '70s to cover the water system, not with solar panels, but just cover it to cut down on evaporation.  After being studied to death it was determined that the cost of installation and upkeep was prohibitive.  

[Pat Riot]

PC Morons claim man made global warming caused climate change. These same morons put up solar panel farms which have been scientifically proven to cause temperature hot spots all around the solar farms where these panels are set up en masse.
These solar hot spots affect wildlife and birds. Solar panels seem to magnify heat upwards. 
Most of those canals made for water to be delivered to the scummy cities are in high desert regions which get very hot for at least 5 months a year. Now those areas will be even hotter around the canals and solar installations. 
Who wants to bet that in a decade there will be a strange life threatening super bacteria or fungus that has mutated from something benign that lived in the water and on the canal walls that were once cool but now run warm through the canals due to heating from it’s environment. (Long sentence)

 

 

[Cypress Sun]

Have these idiots ever heard of photosynthesis? Do they understand the evaporation process or how rain clouds are formed? Maybe they missed that day in school.

Sounds like another boondoggle destined to make a few very rich and the rest paying for the very rich to get richer.

 

I understand why people continue to live in California...family, employment, financial issues, etc...but there's no way I could ever live in such a *****d up state. I feel sorry for the folks that are stuck living there.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

CA = the longer you stay, the more you will pay ($).

[Subdeacon Joe]

"The pilot project is called Project Nexus as a nod to the water-energy nexus paradigm gaining attention among public utilities. Utilities are increasingly recognizing the symbiotic relationship between water management and energy management, and are finding ways to design projects and actions that benefit the management of both resources beyond what has been done historically."

 

They left out "free range" and  " gluten free."

 

"

• Solar AquaGrid – Bay Area development firm Solar AquaGrid serves as program manager for Project Nexus. Solar AquaGrid originated the pilot project after first commissioning the UC Merced Study in 2015, and is facilitating collaboration among TID and the various parties to bring Project Nexus to fruition."

Now, what financial ties does Solar AquaGrid have to which political figures in Sacramento?

 

"Solar panels on water canals seem like a no-brainer. So why aren’t they widespread?

Back in 2015, California’s dry earth was crunching under a fourth year of drought. Then-Governor Jerry Brown…"

 

It's a "no brainer" because you have to have NO BRAINS  to try it!

 

Mr. Washington foresaw this breed of idjit, and saw it in a different context in his own time.

"My experience is that people who call themselves "The Intellectuals" understand theories, but they do not understand things. I have long been convinced that, if these men could have gone into the South and taken up and become interested in some practical work which would have brought them in touch with people and things, the whole world would have looked very different to them. Bad as conditions might have seemed at first, when they saw that actual progress was being made, they would have taken a more hopeful view of the situation."

Booker T. Washington

Edited April 5 by Subdeacon Joe

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Among the concepts considered for the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was a vast solar array.  Ordinarily the latitude would make it infeasible but since the land can’t be used for anything else, why not?

[Texas Joker]

They haven't suggested putting micro hydro power into the canals? 

 

If there is water flow wheels turning gennies  would use gravity to generate power

[Subdeacon Joe]

16 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

They haven't suggested putting micro hydro power into the canals? 

 

If there is water flow wheels turning gennies  would use gravity to generate power

 

That makes a lot more sense than this boondoggling waste of money. 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

12 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

They haven't suggested putting micro hydro power into the canals? 

 

If there is water flow wheels turning gennies  would use gravity to generate power

 

Won't work.  The water is pumped through the canals ~ some, but not much, gravity feed.  

 

The article mentions 4,000 miles of canals.  The california Aquaduct System canals are actually only about 400 miles.  Lessee... at a width of 110 feet, and an estimated (my estimate, based on residential solar installation cost) of roughly $10,000 per linear foot of canal cover, it'd cost something like $22 billion.  But hey... they ain't that efficient.  

 

 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

How Gavin pictures himself:   

 

                  

 

How the rest of us see him:  

 

Edited April 5 by Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

Another boondoggle like the bullet rain. Although it did  put a bunch of money in politicians pockets. Not 1' of track has been laid.

[Subdeacon Joe]

56 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

The article mentions 4,000 miles of canals.  The california Aquaduct System canals are actually only about 400 miles. 

 

That's the main California Aqueduct. The Intellectuals at EWE SEE Merced were likely adding in all the tributaries into it and all the local irrigation canals, channels, and ditches from that and other sources.   

 

Or....more likely,  just accepted the typo.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

21 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

That's the main California Aqueduct. The Intellectuals at EWE SEE Merced were likely adding in all the tributaries into it and all the local irrigation canals, channels, and ditches from that and other sources.   

 

Or....more likely,  just accepted the typo.

 

You're spot on.  The state is laced with irrigation canals that undoubtedly make up most of the "4,000 miles."  As another sad note, most of these were built earlier in the last century to provide water to farmers.  Now, relatively little water is actually delivered to farms via these canals - or "ditches," as most of my farmer friends call 'em.  

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Surprised residents of Californians aren't charged for the air they breathe yet??

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 minute ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Surprised residents of Californians aren't charged for the air they breathe yet??

 

It's called Property Tax.

[Pat Riot]

10 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

Have these idiots ever heard of photosynthesis? Do they understand the evaporation process or how rain clouds are formed? Maybe they missed that day in school.

Sounds like another boondoggle destined to make a few very rich and the rest paying for the very rich to get richer.

 

I understand why people continue to live in California...family, employment, financial issues, etc...but there's no way I could ever live in such a *****d up state. I feel sorry for the folks that are stuck living there.

My original intention after leaving Oregon to go back to LA to do another light rail start up was to successfully kick off the light rail system, keep it rolling for a few years then retire in 2025.

The over the top dumbassery that I dealt with on a daily basis was just too much. At work. Outside of work. Everywhere I went. In the Fall of 2021 I decided I’d had enough. I retired 3 years early. I took a hit on my retirement income, but I didn’t care. 
I honestly believed that if I stayed there on that job it would have been the end of me, one way or another. 
I still mentally kick myself real hard every so often for going back to that s*** hole…then I look around at where I live and grin like a fool and drop what I had just been thinking about. 
It’s beautiful here. Lots of really great people. Gorgeous scenery everywhere I look. It is ‘almost heaven’. 
 

What were we talking about?

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Every day I see California and New York License plates here. I just hope they remember why they left.

[Pat Riot]

5 hours ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Every day I see California and New York License plates here. I just hope they remember why they left.

They won’t. They’re usually too self absorbed or stupid to function as a free citizen if they came from the cities. 
 

I ask people point blank what their politics are if they say they’re from NY or CA or I see that they are. Often I get the response “I am a Conservative. I hated living in (fill in the blank)”

Every time I say “Well, I am new fairly new here myself, but I vote Conservative. Welcome to ‘Almost Heaven’.” 
 

I met a guy at my gun club that was born and raised in NYC. He claimed he hated living there but because of his job he couldn’t leave. I asked him what he did. He owned a glass fabrication company. Then he said he tried numerous times to leave NYC but making the move would have been a hardship on the company and he said he had contracts with city agencies that more or less required him to stay within the NYC area. 
He seemed like a really great guy. He let me try out one of his rifles and he spotted for me when I was trying to dial in my scope. 
He said he was very conservative. 
I can identify with that gent. I lived in CA 26 years of my adult life. I felt like I was living behind enemy lines living and working there. 
 

Not everyone that has a CA or NY plate is a D’bag. 

Oh, almost forgot. I am polite to people that are from NY l, CA or a typically Blue state, regardless of politics. I don’t want to give them a reason to want to move here though. 
 

[Cypress Sun]

57 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

They won’t. They’re usually too self absorbed or stupid to function as a free citizen if they came from the cities. 
 

I ask people point blank what their politics are if they say they’re from NY or CA or I see that they are. Often I get the response “I am a Conservative. I hated living in (fill in the blank)”

Every time I say “Well, I am new fairly new here myself, but I vote Conservative. Welcome to ‘Almost Heaven’.” 
 

I met a guy at my gun club that was born and raised in NYC. He claimed he hated living there but because of his job he couldn’t leave. I asked him what he did. He owned a glass fabrication company. Then he said he tried numerous times to leave NYC but making the move would have been a hardship on the company and he said he had contracts with city agencies that more or less required him to stay within the NYC area. 
He seemed like a really great guy. He let me try out one of his rifles and he spotted for me when I was trying to dial in my scope. 
He said he was very conservative. 
I can identify with that gent. I lived in CA 26 years of my adult life. I felt like I was living behind enemy lines living and working there. 
 

Not everyone that has a CA or NY plate is a D’bag. 

Oh, almost forgot. I am polite to people that are from NY l, CA or a typically Blue state, regardless of politics. I don’t want to give them a reason to want to move here though. 
 

 

Had a RO trainee on one of my shifts at the range. Told me that he had just moved to Florida from California. My exact words to him were this "As a refugee or a reformer?"

He hesitated for a second and answered "Refugee".

 

 

[bgavin]

They are already kicking around a progressive tax on the utility bills.
In my income bracket, this is a $73 per month tax.

 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

My old friend Mark and his missus hauled stakes from california's Central Valley summer before last, and headed to Tennessee.  A good guy; one of those "salt of the Earth" types.  Worked hard, raised two fine youngsters, helped us secede from a huge school district and form our own, served on the School Board for eight years - six as board president for a small district that started with one elementary and now has five award-winning schools.      

 

They bought a house and settled in a semi-rural area near Jackson.  One day shortly after moving, Mark was walking his dog and came across a neighbor who was watering his lawn.  Mark meandered over to the fella and introduced himself.  The gentleman - who turned out to be a LEO - politely returned the introduction, but seemed a bit reserved.  After a moment, he asked Mark where he was from.

 

Mark sighed... and confessed to being from california.  The neighbor maintained a blank expression.  Mark then added "We're here now.  We left california forever - and by God, we've moved back to America!"

 

The fella slowly smiled, shook Mark's hand, and said "Welcome Home!"

 

 

   

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

While leaving a match today in AZ, I saw a car at the range with ca plates on it. I remarked to my buddy, "Now that is a ca plate that is welcome here!" 

[Sedalia Dave]

I still have friends in the China Lake area.  They are paying a stupid water surcharge because the valley doesn't have an alternative plan for water beside pumping it out of the ground. They live in the desert for crying out loud. There is only one source of water unless they blow up the pipeline Mulholland built when he stole their only other source of water in the 30's

[bgavin]

I live in spread sheets.
One of them has 346 places to live in the lower 48.

 

Among many data points, I track the cost of living by median house price, property tax rate, and state income tax rates.

I have a "weighted" column that sums these three data points.

NV is the easy winner here.
Yerington, Winnemucca, Elko, Washoe Valley, Dayton, Carson City, Gardnerville, Reno, Fallon, Johnson Lane and Minden.
The downside is the eternal big wind that blows in the Carson Valley.

Maryville TN (home of The Widder) is #5.
Prescott, AZ is #36, and Prescott Valley is #37.
Boise, ID (my home town) is #54.

I filter out Blue states, and those places with weather I don't want.
I further filter out by Crime, Air & Water Quality, and Weather.

 

Edited April 7 by bgavin

[Cypress Sun]

56 minutes ago, bgavin said:

I live in spread sheets.
One of them has 346 places to live in the lower 48.

 

Among many data points, I track the cost of living by median house price, property tax rate, and state income tax rates.

I have a "weighted" column that sums these three data points.

NV is the easy winner here.
Yerington, Winnemucca, Elko, Washoe Valley, Dayton, Carson City, Gardnerville, Reno, Fallon, Johnson Lane and Minden.
The downside is the eternal big wind that blows in the Carson Valley.

Maryville TN (home of The Widder) is #5.
Prescott, AZ is #36, and Prescott Valley is #37.
Boise, ID (my home town) is #54.

I filter out Blue states, and those places with weather I don't want.
I further filter out by Crime, Air & Water Quality, and Weather.

 

 

All places are only one or two election cycles away from being a "blue" state. Be vocal, very vocal...and vote...every time.

[The Shoer 27979]

20 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My old friend Mark and his missus hauled stakes from california's Central Valley summer before last, and headed to Tennessee.  A good guy; one of those "salt of the Earth" types.  Worked hard, raised two fine youngsters, helped us secede from a huge school district and form our own, served on the School Board for eight years - six as board president for a small district that started with one elementary and now has five award-winning schools.      

 

They bought a house and settled in a semi-rural area near Jackson.  One day shortly after moving, Mark was walking his dog and came across a neighbor who was watering his lawn.  Mark meandered over to the fella and introduced himself.  The gentleman - who turned out to be a LEO - politely returned the introduction, but seemed a bit reserved.  After a moment, he asked Mark where he was from.

 

Mark sighed... and confessed to being from california.  The neighbor maintained a blank expression.  Mark then added "We're here now.  We left california forever - and by God, we've moved back to America!"

 

The fella slowly smiled, shook Mark's hand, and said "Welcome Home!"

 

 

   

I always say, please don't hold it against me but I am from california

[watab kid]

gonna cost the state a fortune and here's a thought ......when did mixing electricity and water become a good idea ....unless of course you harnessed the water to produce it , someone's gonna get a shock then someone's gonna sue , then someone's gotta pay , but hey its california - they never saw a dumb idea they didnt like