How much corporate advertising today reflects a public passion to "feel good" as we are being trotted down a disastrously wrong path?
Xcel Energy - a big obstacle to wise policy
Winston Churchill said, "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." Xcel Energy is an appeaser. Xcel is busily making Gov. Bill Ritter, utility regulators, and other "new energy economy" advocates happy with actions like rebates (paid by ALL ratepayers) to customers who behave well by, say, insulating their attics. And, with copious advertising, patting itself on the back for its commitment to the energy sources that a group of selective activists define as "renewable."
Here is a story of some of that Xcel public brainwashing – er, advertising.
Coors Field scoreboard during 2007 NLCS final game
Rockpile LED board
The picture on the left above is a photograph of the scoreboard at Coors Field (taken, as it happens, during the 2007 National League Championship Series final from which the Colorado Rockies emerged as National League champions). The picture on the right was cropped from just below the center of the other.
For three seasons, Xcel Energy has run ads on televised Rockies games promoting a solar system in Coors Field. Press releases in 2007 when the system began operating pegged annual production of electricity at 14,000 kilowatt-hours. Xcel's ads lead to the inference that this solar-generated electricty is enough to power the Rockies' scoreboard.
Few would disparage the arrangement between the Rockies and Xcel leading to the solar installation in 2007. We need that kind of effort toward developing new energy sources and strategies. But there's a great deal more.
First, it's that little Rockpile LED board that consumes the 14,000 KWH per year (maybe a third more than used by a single average U.S. residence), not the big, impressive scoreboard. One should care about this because it sets the stage for suspecting misleading intent; even an Xcel PR rep conceded having the impression from the ads that the solar system operates the full scoreboard, despite how Xcel might parse the script (e.g., it might claim honesty by pointing out that the script mentions "Rockpile").
Second, an inquiring member of the public cannot find out the cost of the system. That is a carefully guarded secret, and inquiries to the parties are stonewalled. One should care about this since the whole purpose is to promote solar-electric power as terrific progress, and the public should not be denied knowing its apparently high cost.
Third, Rockies games are mostly played at night and there is no battery backup so the system isn't really powering the scoreboard. One should care about this since organized-environmentalist-favored "renewable" energy sources like solar and wind cannot provide level output 24-7; therefore, they must be backed up with storage systems that don't yet exist or really reliable sources like coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear.
Fourth, the yearly output of the apparently expensive Coors Field solar system is the same as the output every 12-½ seconds of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix. One should care about this since Xcel and other appeasers in the utility business know that the spectacular safety record of nuclear power is unequalled by any other major industry in history, but they have been browbeaten into silence while being sued and regulated into using inferior (and in cases like so-called "renewables" much more expensive) power sources. The general public, not the guaranteed-financial-return utilities, is the loser.
