Power Grid crisis in AMerica?

Question

Power grid crisis in America?

did you know about this?

theres a serious problem that America is not addressing. its called Power grid failure. a few years ago all the electricity in New York went out. This issue is extremly serious. if these power grids are not fixed within the next ten years we will have no electricity.

that means no computers no air conditioning no refrigeration....

Answer 1

This question might get more responses in the Engineering section.

It is not just a problem in America, but in certain places within many industrialized and developing countries (India for example is notorious for its power outages). Proper policy change at the gov't level and appropriate actions taken by the power companies can effectively solve the problem in America. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the issue, though.

The heart of the issue is that if one power company shuts down due to accident and doesn't follow protocol, other companies in the surrounding area are suddenly presented with the failed company's load. This can overload the surrounding companies and we may have a chain reaction like the US/Canada outage a few years ago (which was started by something as innocent as a few trees touching the power lines in Ohio). Fortunately, there are new technologies on the horizon that will better isolate company circuits from one another and effectively route power (such as extra heavy duty power electronics). Also, the gov't should propose policy to encourage companies to keep more power in reserve and use renewable energy for supplements in case of accidents. That along with a few upgrades in the grid infrastructure ought to mitigate the problem.

To hope for a massive power outage during winter is quite sick, though. The amount of people that would die or suffer in hospitals and the amount of older folks that may perish in there homes could be pretty high.

I have linked an article about the problem below. It is a little jargony, but very interesting. I kind of summarized some of the points above from the article and my own knowledge on the subject.

Answer 2

I remember it well. I was a consultant dealing with the crumbling infrastructure of the power grid at the time and when it happened they immediately blamed the Canadian system (many people don't realize that more than 40% of the hydroelectric power the US uses comes from our neighbor to the north) of course the problem wasn't in Canada (in fact thier hydro electric system is the envy of the modern world) it was due to the fact that politicians would rather send kids to die in Iraq than actually do something at home.
But yes, I for one hope that a MASSIVE power failure happens this winter and leaves people without power for months.
We'll see how fast it takes the citizens to string up the president by his own guts then...

Answer 3

LOL While it would be nice to find a more efficient ways to obtain electricity, we wont run out of it. Thats like saying water will cease to exist. It wont happen.

Answer 4

sure i understand this. issues that ought to help are nuclear skill flora, and wind farms. why do you imagine Senator ted Kennedy is doing his ideal to provide up a wind farm contained in the sea off Cape Cod?

Answer 5

yes I know this. things that would help are nuclear power plants, and wind farms. why do you think Senator ted Kennedy is doing his best to stop a wind farm in the ocean off Cape Cod?

Answer 6

guess it is not that important but if it does happen that would probably suck for some people that actually depend on electricity and has never in there lives done with out guess i will be just fine

Answer 7

you mean we're not good for power? oh ****!
break out the kite, string and key.