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Show Currently! Spealcingl 7 by Peggy .tiler Moon Lake Electric Association, Inc. FACING OUR ENERGY FUTURE The problems facing electrical distributors today ore many. One of them is adequate supply. You see, the problem is that the cooperative, as well as any other electrical elec-trical supplier, just can't keep consumers con-sumers standing in line. Sure you'll wait in line at the supermarket, or line up at a gas station, but nobody wants to wait for the lights to come on or for their food to cook. And, in case you haven't noticed, we don't have any way to store electricity on shelves, in tanks, or any other way for that matter! Now you may not need much electricity at 3 a m. or you may say "turn it off at midnight mid-night except to keep houses warm," but at 7 a.m. when you get ready for work or school or at 5 in the afternoon when dad comes home hungry and the kids holler they have to have a certain outfit washed and dried by that night -you're going to say, "I want my electricity and I want it now." Some of the ways to solve the supply problem may be new plants-an expensive expen-sive but unavoidable method due to continued con-tinued growth. Research for new power sources will help too solar power or using the tides may be common in years to come. Through our national association, Moon Lake supports Electric Elec-tric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Or perhaps we'll be using a nationwide grid for electricity -the east coast receiving the major portion of their supper hour and then shifting the bulk of it out west for their dinnertime hours later. All these options may be vital to the future of electricity. But whatever we can do to help today, we must do. It's a sure bet we don't want the next generation genera-tion asking, "What time does the electricity elec-tricity come on today?" In next week's column we'll discuss another problem cost and we'll give you a suggestion on something you can do about it. |