Oh, FFS. Here is today's absolute leader in The Race to Ultimate FUD.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

I have long had a perversity: I love FUD(fear, uncertainty and doubt) when generated in the interest of those who would profit from said FUD. For years, the clear winner in FUD was Microsoft(who can forget their FUD aimed at Linux, like "You can't find drivers". What is a kernel, you geniuii? Chopped liver?)

Now, that Crown of FUD teeters on the brow of the great FUDmeisters of history. There is a new player in town and dayum, they have no shame(An essential quality for the greatest in FUD). Read on, and remember: laughing too much can start to hurt after a while:

WASHINGTON: Adding electricity from the wind and the sun could increase the frequency of blackouts and reduce the reliability of the U.S. electrical grid, an industry report says.

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. says in a report scheduled for release Monday that unless appropriate measures are taken to improve transmission of electricity, rules reducing carbon dioxide emissions by utilities could impair the reliability of the power grid. The corporation is the industry body authorized by the U.S. government to enforce reliability rules for the interlocking system of electrical power generation and transmission.

Such carbon-reduction rules are already in place in 27 American states and four Canadian provinces, and new ones could be mandated nationally in both countries. They may force changes in the utility industry, the group said, including the shutting down of coal plants that are located near load centers, and substituting power from wind turbines or solar plants in remote areas.

These actions would impose new demands on a transmission system that was never designed for large power transfers over extremely long distances.

The group also said that the carbon emission rules could increase reliance on natural gas, making power generation vulnerable to supply interruptions.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/10/business/10grid.php

There are simply times one must stand in mute and respectful awe of greatness, even if it's just FUD. The above article is true greatness, scabrous, diseased, smelly and gangrenous, rotting before our very eyes, true. But it has that one true element that makes FUD for The Ages, near-supernatural chutzpah that just ignores any technological and normative reality and just spews it out there like explosive diarrhea. Any time you see that, you know that true masters are afoot.

[anigbrowl]

1. This is not FUD at all. The National Grid badly needs an overhaul

We lose a fair amount of power through transmission leaks, and the system is not as robust as it ought to be. As a matter of fact, I think (and hope) overhauling it is likely high on Obama's public works priority list. I don't see why you're calling it FUD, the poor quality of the national grid is fairly well known to anyone with an interest in the energy sector.