THE FALLACY OF APPLYING IDEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
( …instead of common sense)

Once again San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has shown its propensity for applying ideological perspectives…instead of common sense…to promote whatever cause du jour might be buzzing in its bonnets.In this instance it has opted by ordinance for San Francisco taxpayers to pay some $19.5million for a five year contract with Shell Oil to provide an alternative source of “green” electricity for them. Ostensibly this is intended to offset the currently less “green” electrical power provided by the PG&E Utility (a supply mix, it should be noted here, that is alreadycomposed of hydro, geo-thermal, wind, solar, gas-fired, and nuclear power generatedsources).

How this is supposed to make more San Francisco more “green” is unclear. This latest“going green” effort by the Board simply shows the fallacy of applying ideological perspectives…instead of common sense…because it ignores some fundamental aspectsabout electricity. That is:

a)No matter how generated (green or not), it all must be transmitted over the existing power grid and distribution system owned and operated by the PG&E utility.

b)Unless the Board has figured out a way to color-code its “green generated”electricity from that produced by PG”&E, there is no way any end-users can know  what kind of electricity is available from whatever plug outlet they might use.Electricity, is electricity, is electricity, is electricity…..

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s streets remain disgustingly trash-littered, street gang violencecontinues unabated, and other essential community services continue to be starved foradequate budgets. So, perhaps, the question that should be asked here is…might those$19.5 million dollars be better applied for such things…rather than making an oil major’s bottom line porkier than it is already; or, perhaps, making some of its Supervisors’ pockets“greener” for having approved such a contract?

Oh, well, such is San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors which always seems to operate as if it were performing in a Cirque du Soleil production, only to end up looking as if it were performing in a Cirque des Becas production instead.

CENTURION