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Bonus Joules and the Knowledge Economy
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A Goggle atGoogle
Click on any cartoon Chapter Five - Land of the Other- A Goggle at Google.
Bonus Joules and the Knowledge Economy: All content on this site is copyright 2001 and you are free to use it with care.
Blog by Dave McArthur 26January 2008 How
nations use their electrical potential may determine if humanity
survives. So do you know who controls that potential in your country? The
NZ Listener’s insights into critical issues such as our use of our
carbon, solar, electrical, symbol and other potentials seemed shallow to
meaningless. I
thought it would be a hard break canning my weekly magazine. I have
subscribed to the NZ Listener for three or four decades now and used to
look forward avidly to its arrival each week. This last year or so it
has lain around for weeks unread and then I pick it up not to be
stimulated but to check out how it failed to handle important topics. As
I write now I am listening to fine music over the net via the speaker
system I bought with my $NZ150 NZ Listener subscription. The speakers
add a wonderful extra dimension when I watching some of the insightful
video lectures and audio articles now available on the Net. I feel wired
for sound. In fact I feel far more wired in general. Which
brings me to the topic of this blog –what it is to be wired. I
mentioned the key issues facing us. They provide the context of any
evaluation and so I will spell at what I believe are the critical
elements. Already the human population has swelled by 10% this century
from 6 to 6.6 billion souls with our richest billion people consuming
our resources on this planet at a suicidal rate. Key mineral, soil and
biofuel resources (including foods) are on the steep downside of the
bell curve of their exploitation. In
this context our use and abuse of our
electrical potential becomes critical. Used with wisdom it can
enable us to enjoy healthier foods, sustainable transport, enlightening
communication and the profound sharing of knowledge and hope. For
instance cars with combustion engines can be seen as electrical devices
for transporting people. The electrical currents used to move/heat/cool
the car are commonly generated by burning fossil fuels but increasingly
by biofuels. As little as 10% of the energy used actually moves the
occupants. Thus cars with combustion engines are an incredibly
inefficient form of transport and way of generating the electricity. By
comparison the electrical currents used in an “electric train”
consume a fraction of a percent of Earth’s resources to move a person
and can be one thousand times more efficient. The
socio-economic implosion caused by our current use of cars and the
accompanying abuse of our electrical potential is becoming evident with
countries such as the USA and New Zealand becoming increasingly
debt-ridden and militaristic while many poor countries face famine as
the price of both mineral oil and biofuels rockets. As a result food
prices have doubled in Bangladesh this last year alone. Inflation is
becoming rampant around the globe. This
is the global context in which we New Zealanders use our nation’s
electrical potential and there is one person who has dominated how we
use this precious resource. This arguably makes him probably the most
powerful person in our nation. He
controls how we design and use our homes, how we communicate, transport
and entertain ourselves, what we view and shapes much of our foreign
policy. For all this the name of David Caygill does not a rate in our
media’s vision of our power structure. Either our journalists are very
ignorant or they are simply cowardly hacks acting for sector interests.
Either way they fail us and to illustrate the how much they fail us I
will I will provided a potted history of the last two decades in New
Zealand. In
the late 1980s it was becoming very apparent that our use of our carbon
potential was profoundly unsustainable. We had experienced the inflation
and stagflation impacts of the “oil shocks” of the 1970s and knew
this was a minor prelude of the catastrophic economic collapse that
would happen if we continued to put a low value on mineral oil and gas. At
the same time we glimpsed the possibilities offered by the confluence of
optic fibre cable, computerised electrical equipment and dwelling scale
generation of our needs. We knew this confluence of new technology using
our electrical potential could provide fantastic possibilities for a
more sustainable life. Back in the 1980s New Zealand was extremely
fortunate in that every community still owned its local 230
volt/communications grid and citizens in each community had a democratic
say in how its potential was used. The people of New Zealand also owned
the telecommunication system (Telecom) and were in an ideal position to
ride the great confluence to new levels of wealth. In
1990 Hon David Caygill was the Finance Minister, having been Trade and
Industry Minister and Health Minister. At the time fellow cabinet
ministers and political commentators described him as more or less the
intellectual powerhouse of the cabinet. As one fellow cabinet minister
is reported to have said, David had the capacity to put up cogent
argument after cogent argument on an issue and keep going long after all
others were silent of ideas. Ever genial and polite, he quietly
dominated cabinet decisions by wearing down alternative views by
“attrition”. In
those days people who disagreed with the neocom vision that dominated
national policy then were dismissed as “wets”. Hon David Lange, our
Prime Minister for much of David’s cabinet life, described him as
“.. tinder dry ….combustible..” It is probably true to say
David’s humanity was powerfully tempered by a deep fascination with
Milton Freidman style Chicago
Economics. I
know of no evidence to suggest that David used his powerful role in the
1990 cabinet to oppose the sale of New Zealanders national
telecommunication’s system (Telecom) to a couple of American
corporations (Ameritech and Bell Atlantic) at a give-way nuts and bolts
price of $NZ4, 250 million. The new owners were even gifted the phone
numbers, thereby giving them an effective medium term monopoly over
landlines worth $NZ billions. Most evidence suggests David promoted this
vast transfer of the control our electrical potential to these private
corporations. David
was also influential in forming the framework for the reforms of the
Bulk-generated electricity industry. These reforms continued under the
National Government throughout the 1990s, culminating in the 1998
Electricity Industry Act. This legislation effectively stripped New
Zealand communities of their rights to own the intelligence of their
local 230-volt grid systems. In 1999 the wholesale transfer of New
Zealand’s Bulk-generation resource began with the transfer
of control of a critical 26% of it to the Edison Mission Energy
Company of the USA in the form of Contact Energy. The
Electricity Reforms, as they are known, were very unpopular and the
Labour Party capitalised on this fact by describing them as “Mad
Max’s Reforms”. (Hon
Max Bradford was the Minster of Enterprise and Commerce, which
included responsibility for Ministry of Commerce (including Energy and
Industry) and the Department of Labour. In
the build-up to the 1999 elections Labour made great play on what it
called the “electricity shambles” and promised a major review of the
Reforms if it were given the mandate. It got a powerful mandate to do so
from the New Zealand people and one of its first acts was to institute
the 2000
Ministerial Inquiry into the Electricity Industry. This
presented Labour with a grand opportunity to perform a historic review
of New Zealand’s use of our electrical potential. The power of the
convergence of the new great technologies was very clear now – as is
evident in that link showing how the 2000 Inquiry used the Internet. The
failure of the telecommunication reforms was now apparent with the rate
of involvement of New Zealanders in the Internet and broadband
plummeting from being world leaders in the early 1990s to very mediocre
levels by 2000. Also very clear was the fact that the disenfranchisement
of communities and the fragmentation of the grid had resulted in
increasingly unsustainable, crises-ridden systems. Carbon emissions were
rocketing, despite New Zealand’s Kyoto commitments to reduce them to
1990 levels. This
is manifest in many ways. The system is now profoundly hostile to the
community development of distributed generation and the intelligent uses
of local broadband. As you can see from the linked graph the average
Kiwi household endures rocketing
Bulk-generated electricity charges while large corporations
experience little or no increase. The situation for the average person
has worsened since this 2002 graph with many of us lower paid citizens
now paying over 20 cents per kWh. And
then in September 2006 the Labour Administration (Hon David Parker,
Minister of Energy) sacked
the head of
the Electricity Commission for doing as he was legislated to do: explore
the full range of options of how we can use our nation’s electricity
potential in the most sustainable way. In fulfilling his legal
obligations Roy Hemmingway questioned the dominance of the merchant
bankers who make huge profits off our Bulk-gen electricity system. Roy’s
affidavit makes fascinating reading and its insight into David
Parker accords with my
experience of his abilities. Labour
replaced Roy with David Caygill. David was then, and is now again a member
of the Commerce Commission. As
mentioned it was becoming apparent to anyone with half an alert brain in
the late 1980s that the Cheap Oil-Gas Age is coming to a close –
probably within one short generation. It was also clear that how we use
our electricity potential will be critical to whether humanity
transitions to a new age. In this context David has shaped New Zealand
through the last two decades as no other person has done. His views have
affected our nation’s wealth by scores, if not hundreds, of billions
of dollars. It is probable that his views have had a major influence in
developing NZ as a model for global warfare. In
this context, David Caygill is the most powerful person of this
generation in New Zealand, whether our media realise it or not. We
should know more of David’s views and as our media cannot or will not
do the research and ask the required questions then I guess it is up to
bods like me (a school janitor) to volunteer some starter questions of
David. I do this for free and with no journalistic or academic sinecure
to help me. The questions are in no particular order and they are
intimately connected. Q.
David, you are head of a national institution called the Electricity
Commission. What is your definition of electricity? Q.
Our schools, media and other institutions – including the Electricity
Commission - commonly confuse the electricity, power and
energy symbols. Q. A
similar confusion exists in the use of the electricity symbol.
The dominant use in our culture, including the Electricity Commission is
in the equation electricity = Bulk-generated electricity. This
works to exclude a huge spectrum of our electrical potential –
broadband, Micro-generation, Dwelling generation, photovoltaics,
cellphones, Internet etc. What role can the Electricity Commission play
in providing a wider and more cohesive our vision of our electrical
potential? Q.
Current economic models associate growth in consumption with a
healthy society and the human population has grown exponentially this
last century. Do you believe this is sustainable and what do you think
New Zealand’s role should be in the global context? Q.
Other countries, for instance Germany, see the promotion of
Dwelling-generation of electricity as an important investment in risk
management (Civil Defence) and for enhancing the resilience of their
grids in general. German householders, for instance are guaranteed a net
profit on any electricity they contribute to their local grid. By
comparison, the current NZ legislation contains a wide range of blocks
to such investment here, including onerous taxation, metering and other
compliance costs. Indeed it appears as if the Electricity Reforms are
specifically designed to suppress the development of Dwelling-based
generation of electricity. What value to you put on Civil Defence and
how essential to you believe it is to have our communities involved in
it? Q.
Our Bulk-generation companies are legally bound to provide profits for
their key shareholders/stakeholders –effectively this means their
bankers. What genuine motive does a Bulk- electricity generator
corporation have in promoting efficient uses of our electrical potential
when they make their best profits from selling Bulk-generated
electricity and from keeping the grid systems profoundly stressed? Q.
The Electricity Reforms resulted in the fragmentation of New Zealand
peak load control system (the “hot water” ripple system). Often the
“ripple” switches on the dwelling switchboards became the property
of the Bulk-generated electricity companies. Their wider interests are
best served by the ripple system failing, or at least working
inefficiently. In fact Contact Energy is reported to charge consumers
extra for installing ripple relays. This makes sense because they can
pass on the costs from the ripple failures and increased inefficiency on
to consumers via the Electricity Commission, local grid owners and other
agencies. How do you propose
to remedy this fundamental flaw in the system? Q.
What is your definition of democracy? Q.
What is your definition of Fascism? Q. A
great convergence of technologies such as broadband; the Internet;
“smart” metering and appliances; and Dwelling-based generation is
occurring. What do you think the implications of this are? Q.
At present there is very little indication in the statements of our
political parties, Parliamentary media releases, portfolio and
legislative frameworks etc that our Parliament and policy makers are
aware of this convergence. It is probable that this convergence means
current accounting methods are outdated and will result in New Zealand
massively undervaluing the composite value of these technologies. (I am
sure you are aware that the 1990 Treasury advice re the sale of Telecom
failed to account for the convergence. The Electricity Reform
legislation evidences no cognisance. Nor did the sales of Capital Power
and similar grids. Hence they were sold for as little as 10% of their
real value.) How
do you propose to ensure that the people of New Zealand receive advice
that puts full value on the convergence and we fully conserve our
electrical potential? Q.
The Electricity Reforms effectively stripped New Zealanders of our
rights to be citizens and reduced us to just being tradeable
commodities. Already this century we have seen the trade between
companies of over a million people (assuming each household contains on
average over two people.) Some people have been traded more than once.
This has been done with no consultation with very valuable personal
information being traded, including security, financial and other
information. Do you believe this is right and proper in a civil society? Q.
There is much talk about “smart metering” and “smart
appliances”. Most of the talk refers to the capacity of the new
electronic technology that enables dwelling electrical flows to be
remotely monitored at the time of consumption and for dwelling
appliances to be controlled by remote electronic means. Do you concur
with the belief that this means the controller has enormous power over
how modern households are designed and used? Q.
Late last year the California Energy Commission of California State attempted
to introduce legislation permitting Bulk-generated electricity
corporations to use the new generation of “smart” monitoring devices
to turn off heating/cooling devices such as freezers, hot water system,
air conditioners etc in dwellings. Many dwelling appliances would be
fitted with “non-removable” FM radio receivers as part of building
and other compliance codes. There has been a considerable public outcry
at the proposal and the proposal has been considered Orwellian. Q.
Meridian Energy’s ARC technology is an illustrative precursor to the
advent of the fuller technology in New Zealand. It is only available to
Meridian customers in areas where they have strong concentrations of
customers. (Source Meridian Energy)
The Electricity Reforms were based on theoretical premise that
“competition will deliver new technology.”
However as this and other examples (the planned degradation of
the ripple system, consumer advice services etc) illustrates how in
practice “the market” tends to obstruct innovation and generate
expensive duplication. How do you propose to promote the use of
technology that serves the greater interests of communities and the
nation rather than just the interests of corporations? Q.
One striking feature of the convergence of technologies seems to be that
its benefits can be most fully realised by local community structures. Cellular
technology relies on using small, localised broadcasts. Every community
has its own set of needs and unique generating potential (solar, wind,
tidal, insulation etc) and thus the effectiveness of dwelling based
generating technology varies widely. Broadband over the 230-volt system
will probably be cellular and local too as transmission is blocked at
the suburb level by transformers. The Electricity Reforms preclude the
intelligent involvement of communities in their local grids and this far
has promoted structures that are antithetical to the convergence.
How
would you like to see the convergence to be manifest in New Zealand? What
structures do you propose? In
particular what structures would you put in place to ensure that
communities can maximise the knowledge potential of broadband? Q.
The Electricity Reform legislation effectively gives the Bulk-generated
companies the total right to own under the knowledge of how households
use 230-volt electricity. For instance, citizens are not permitted to
use ARC and similar monitoring devices to broadcast their household
consumption data to groups of their choice such as their local council,
consumer group, hospital, university or other support/research
group. If so how does this accord with your notion of democracy and with the stated aim of the Electricity Reform legislation to provide New Zealanders with more choice in how they can be involved in the Electricity Market? Q.
Some argue that Wellington’s Citylink
is the future of sustainable societies. Using city owned infrastructure
and a seed fund of $NZ100,000 two council employees ran optic fibre
though central Wellington making its CBD at one time the second most
wired in the world. Basically they created a fat pipe providing cheap
bandwidth and left the community to decide what runs through it. What do
you know of Citylink and how sustainable do you think this model is? Q.
Most of Wellington City’s broadband structure is based on the Treasury
model that the sale of Telecom was based on. Large corporations provide
competing networks (at present Telstra Clear, Telecom and Vector Ltd.
This has resulted in widespread duplication and profound stress to
existing systems. (See my
photo essay of collapsing Wellington’s collapsing network).
My street now experiences blackouts at a third world rating. Q. I
have constructed a prototype template of how grids can be evaluated on
an intelligent – incoherent continuum.
What would you rate the current Electricity Reform model on this
continuum? I
finish this blog as I always do by providing a brief explanation of the
cartoon strip that accompanies it. It was first published about four
years ago now and the commentary that accompanies it is slightly dated
but it still remains accurate. Google continues to employ the image
symbol in a most unhelpful way – particularly in the light of recent
fMRI research pointing to the very powerful role of images in our lives. A
search of “greenhouse” under images on Google still generates an
utterly confusing and dangerous association of the atmosphere with
greenhouses. A search on “greenhouse gases”
compounds the association while a search on “trace gas
warming” provided only a couple of helpful links. The point is that
Google is fundamentally a reactive force that works against sustainable
adaptation of behaviour. In this case it promotes a profoundly flawed
vision of human's role on Earth while destroying sustainable uses of the
greenhouse symbol. Other popular search engines similarly put us at
risk. As
an aside, I just searched on Google using a large portion of my last
blog and the page of links it supplied failed to provide a link to it.
By contrast a search on AltaVista provided one link only when provided
with just the introductory sentence to the blog –the correct one.
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