Here's a perfect example of the externalities that materialize in the aftermath of a local or state government nonsensically deciding to decommission reliable energy providers. Just months after the illogical shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power plant on the banks of the Hudson about twenty-five miles north of Manhattan, citizens of New York City are receiving Emergency Alerts sent to their iPhones asking them to reduce their energy use to prevent blackouts. For decades, New Yorkers were able to depend on a base load of energy from Indian Point, helping to drive down power costs and increase the availability of electricity at all hours of the day 365 days a year. That is no longer the case as the State decided to decommission the nuclear power plant without first finding a replacement power generation source to replenish all of the nuclear energy being untied from the grid.

The complete lack of education around and understanding of our energy systems is beginning to have material consequences across the country. Earlier this year we witnessed as the Texas grid experienced blackouts caused by extremely cold weather. California has allowed the decommissioning of many natural gas and nuclear power generation plants, which has led to similar rolling blackouts year in and year out. One should expect these occurrences to increase over time if we keep allowing hysterical and incompetent individuals to control our energy systems and policies. It is 2021, humanity has the ability and wherewithal to harness energy sources to increase our quality of life significantly. However, we are lacking strong and sensical men/women who are able to apply common sense to very important situations instead of virtue signaling.

Virtue signaling has consequences. In this particular instance the consequence is New York City residents now live in a city with unreliable energy generation. If this trend continues, illogical energy policy is able to persist, and reliable energy sources are decommissioned without plans to replace this energy generation, it will be hard to consider New York City world class. Do world class cities have unreliable energy grids?

The overreach of the government into ordeals involving energy generation has led to an unreliable market for energy. If we wish to continue flourishing as a species, it's high time we started taking this trend toward unreliable energy grids seriously.

Final thought...

Wednesday night dance party by the bay. It's going down.