In college at WVU when I asked a young lady for a date, “No” or “I have other plans” were not what I wanted to hear, but they were truthful answers.

If I wanted a date for Saturday night I knew I needed to ask someone else. “Yes” was a better answer if it was truthful. Several times when I went to meet my date on Saturday, I learned from her roommate, “She left here 30 minutes ago with her ex.” or “She just left with _____. (One of the football players.)

It was then I realized “Yes” really meant, “I will go with you if I don’t get a better offer.” I was the backup plan.

Looking back, it wasn’t all bad. I quickly learned those girls lacked integrity. Best to learn that early and find someone else, which I did in Lynnda, my wife of now 50 years. Trust and integrity are essential in any long-term relationship. The truth is easier to remember than a lie or a story. Truth doesn’t change.

What would I have done if one of the girls was honest and told me upfront, “Yes, Greg, I’ll go out with you. You’re not my first choice. If my ex or one of the football players asks me out, I’m going with them not you. Are you good with that?”

I would have appreciated the honesty and probably said, “Thanks but no thanks.”

One girl, I recall, would have been worth taking the chance for as a backup. I didn’t have the courage to ask for a Wednesday night date for being the Saturday night backup. Backups deserve to be compensated.

According to AI, a top tier experienced veteran backup quarterback in the National Football League can earn $10 million or more annually. Not bad money for sitting on the bench and not taking hits from large linemen. Backups are expected to step in and perform competently if the starting quarterback gets hurt. Third string quarterbacks, who are there primarily to perform in emergency situations, make less. A backup’s ability to perform when called upon can increase their value.

Many people can’t understand why electricity is so expensive in places like California and Europe, where renewables are a primary energy source. After all the sun and wind are free. The reason is the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Night comes daily. Storms and cloudy days happen. A backup power system is needed so people can have the 24/7/365 electricity they expect.

We want air conditioning on hot summer days and heat in the winter especially in extreme cold. When power goes off people can die like they did in Texas during a winter storm in 2021 when over 200 people died in the cold without heat. Natural gas is the typical backup for renewables because it can be brought on line quickly. We are beginning to see large batteries used as backup power. Batteries don’t produce energy they only store it. All of these backup power sources come at a cost paid for by us, the ratepayers.

Backup power for our homes makes sense. We have an all-electric home. It was built in the 1980s when natural gas was unavailable. We have had numerous power outages. The worst was for 9 days after the June derecho some years ago. For winter backup heat we have a wood fireplace and a propane gas grill for cooking. For summer we have the gas grill for cooking and batteries for lights. We don’t have a backup plan to stay cool without electricity.

We looked at roof top solar with battery storage for backup electricity. It was expensive. Since I would own the panels, a big concern was the disposal cost for the solar panels at the end of their useful life of 25-30 years. My waste hauler won’t take them. I talked to a friend who is a realtor who cautioned, “A solar panel on a house complicates the deal and can make the home difficult to sell. The buyer (new homeowner) assumes the liability for panel disposal at an unknown cost. Most home

buyers won’t assume this risk.” For example, a house with 10-year old solar panels will need to replace them in 15 years and dispose of the old panels. From AI overview, “Old solar panels can be considered toxic because they contain heavy metals like lead and cadmium that can leach into the environment making them a form of hazardous waste.”

With AI, data centers, EVs and increased manufacturing, electricity demand is quickly increasing. Currently natural gas is the only fuel we have that can economically meet this demand and even that will be a challenge. Nuclear power from small modular reactors will eventually be able to handle some of this load but not for years. Wind and solar can take some of this increased load but grid operators like our PJM grid must have 100% backup baseload power for every Gigawatt of intermittent power on the grid to keep our lights on. This will either be natural gas or large batteries. We the ratepayers will have to pay for the renewables and the backup.

Natural gas producers will need to drill more wells to meet added demand. They will have to decide to whether to sell their gas to customers with constant demand or to customers who only want to use natural gas as a backup fuel. Not much different than my dating situation except they will know they are the backup and will charge accordingly.

Most experienced NFL quarterbacks would prefer to be the starting quarterback instead of the backup. They would know what to expect and can make more money. In college I preferred a woman who would love me and want to be with me to someone who really wanted someone else and considered me the backup plan. Knowing and understanding the truth allows us as consumers and ratepayers to make wise choices.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.