Melbourne sweltered last week in ridiculous heat. This we know. There were power issues as demand on the local grid exceeded supply, suburbs blacked out, businesses lost stock, the frail and elderly suffered.
This has turned political. The government should, various parties argue, have been able to guarantee supply. All very well. I’d suggest another role for government: it should have urged folk, where possible, to curb their use and decrease the load. It’s nice to have, but air conditioning is not compulsory or necessary.
Restraint was never suggested, and maybe if it had been, people would have been prepared to suffer a little more in the heat and save the power load for the people who really needed it. Or maybe not.
It doesn’t say a lot for the sort of sacrifice that will probably be necessary to bring big long-term changes to climate to heel, that we can’;t get through three days of high heat without bringing our power system to its keens due to the over use of various comforting appliances.
It says even less that we see this sort of access to high-cost technology as a right that should be guaranteed by government. That’s an attitude that will need to change methinks.
One Comment
Strongly agree with you, but urging the folks won’t work. Houses have to be retro-fitted or properly built in the first place. I don’t know about Victoria, but in WA, while there are rules for orientation and insulation, houses built even in the last year are built with east and west facing picture windows and without overhangs. Blocks are cleared of trees which might ameliorate the heat. And governments have encouraged air-conditioners – both the industry and the electricity companies continue to make a killing. Most Australians do not know why their houses should be oriented to the north, why curtains inside are a waste of time – once the heats in, it’s in. A little basic physics in school would be a good idea. And whole house air-con should be banned – one room is enough to manage excessive heat for a few days. Having just watched Tim Flannery’s spiel at the Melbourne Writers Festival, if governments don’t get real with homes, businesses, farms and coal=fired power stations, they are either ignorant or incompetent