When it starts dying, get electrifying

It’s been interesting to watch the so-called “green revolution” advanced by the current administration, which is largely a push to electrify everything.

Consider this NPR article that appeared in early October, innocuously titled  “These 5 big purchases can save energy – and money – at home.” I clicked on it because I’m always interested in frugal suggestions.

I should have known better. This being NPR, their agenda is clear and their logic mediocre. The article begins: “Driving a car, making dinner, heating water and turning on the air conditioner – our everyday actions emit some of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. But sustainability experts say there are ways we can make these daily tasks more climate friendly. By using home appliances and vehicles that run on electricity, we can help reduce our carbon footprint and leave more fossil fuels in the ground.”

The article promotes a book entitled “Electrify Everything in Your Home” which, as the name suggests, wants everyone to convert to the wonders of electric everything. Forget wood. Forget propane. Forget natural gas. It’s electricity all the way, baby.

The article says, “Making these upgrades to your home and lifestyle will cost money – and you will need to plan ahead. … So don’t feel like you have to change out your appliances overnight. Instead, buy them as your existing machines wear out. [The book's author] offers a catchy phrase: ‘When it starts dying, get electrifying.’”

No. I refuse. I refuse to make ourselves more vulnerable.

The article touts the “dangers” of any other fuel option except electricity (even though these other fuel sources have been used anywhere from generations to millennia), and promotes such things as induction stoves and electric vehicles.

But all their persuasive arguments fail to address the one logical question, the ginormous elephant in the room they refuse to acknowledge: What happens when (not if, but when) the electricity fails? It doesn’t even have to be a big event, but merely a winter storm or a high wind that can take down power lines and leave people unable to heat, cook, drive, see, or otherwise function in the modern world.

And make no mistake, America’s grid is frighteningly fragile. California’s grid alone is so delicate that the logistics of plugging in millions of new electric vehicles being pushed by government mandates would be enough to topple it irrevocably. Yet this logic eludes the bureaucrats.

We ourselves are far too dependent on electricity for my comfort, even though we heat with wood, cook with propane, and never use a clothes dryer. My quest is to continue to look for ways to wean ourselves further off the grid, rather than depending more on it.

So this catchy slogan (“When it starts dying, get electrifying”) makes me laugh. Nope. I refuse.