“We’re having a heat wave! A tropical heat wave!” Oh, man, is it
hot! Another day of record-breaking heat is on tap for today. The jet stream pattern break predicted for
tomorrow has now been pushed back to Saturday.
Two days to hunker down and try to ride out the wave. Fingers and toes crossed the power holds!
The last couple weeks have
been exceptionally difficult around Bon Bon Pond as the Fairy Falls electrical line
is failing and in need of near constant attention from the crews at Excel Energy. We lost power on Monday and twice
yesterday. Monday’s outage was an “intentional
relief of overload” and Wednesday’s was categorized as “reclosure failure.” On Monday I drove up to Otchipwe Avenue and
talked with the team. I was told the
local grid is so bad they planned a pre-emptive strike to re-route power to
another line in an attempt to prevent a catastrophic failure.
When normal business resumes on
Monday, I am calling Excel and will demand to know the long term plan to handle
the problem. It seems obvious that
either a new line, or additions to the
existing line, are necessary.
The ramifications of near constant
brown-outs and outages are far-ranging. On the surface there is the inconvenience of
having no lights, or power to the water pump, but this hassle is only the tip
of the iceberg. Appliances, TVs, and,
most of all, computer equipment is subject to serious damage. In October of last year, my three-year old
Windows Vista computer died unexpectedly.
I called a computer technician and was informed the power source had
literally fried as a result of years of abrupt shut downs. Last week, both my washing machine and dryer
stopped working. During the service call
the repairman told me the dryer had been affected by the outages. In a nutshell, repeated sudden losses of
electricity are expensive.
I should mention that I have
tried to take precautions and purchased an expensive computer backup battery—which,
by the way, failed on Sunday night and left me unprotected for Monday’s
blackouts. I also use surge protectors
but this not an option for 220 appliances like the dryer or my older AC system.
If you live in the US and are
reading this tale of woe from air conditioned comfort, be warned! My plight could well be your problem—and soon. The
power infrastructure of our country is old and failing. Environmentalists have effectively prevented
the construction of any new coal or nuclear power plants. According to the *US Department of Energy, the last nuclear reactor built was the
"River Bend" plant in Louisiana. Its construction began in March of
1977. The last plant to begin commercial operation was the "Watts
Bar" plant in Tennessee, which came online in 1996. Additionally, the *DOE reports that as of January
2012 only one new coal plant has been approved for construction.
With all due respect to well-intentioned
environmentalists, current solar and wind technologies are nowhere near ready
to take on the mammoth task of powering the United States of America. Besides, as a bird lover, I HATE wind
power and would like to see turbines banned and removed as they are responsible
for killing millions of wild birds.
It’s fashionable today to get on the “coal
and nuclear are evil” bandwagon, but the consequences of ignoring an aging and
failing power grid are dire. People need
to understand that even if there were a political change in Washington tomorrow
it would take YEARS to get new plants up and running. In the meantime, we are vulnerable to
catastrophic failure. I really do not
believe most Americans understand the seriousness of the matter. Read on:
10 sobering realizations the
Eastern U.S. power grid failure is teaching us about a real collapse
Sunday,
July 01, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
In the wake of violent storms, the
power remains out today for millions of Americans across several U.S. states.
Governors of Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio have declared a state of
emergency. Over a dozen people are now confirmed dead, and millions are
sweltering in blistering temperatures while having no air conditioning or
refrigeration. As their frozen foods melt into processed goo, they're waking up
to a few lessons that we would all be wise to remember.
Here are 10 hard
lessons we're all learning (or re-learning, as the case may be) as we watch
this situation unfold:
#1) The power grid is ridiculously vulnerable to
disruptions and failure
All it takes is
Mother Nature unleashing a little wind storm, and entire human cities are cut
off from their power grid. Wind and trees, in other words, can destroy in
seconds what takes humans years to construct.
#2) Without electricity, acquiring food and water in a
major U.S. city can become a difficult task
Right now, masses of
people across the Eastern U.S. are scrambling to try to find food and water.
Fortunately for them, malls and gas stations are open, providing (processed)
food, water and air conditioning. That's because the power outages are
fragmented, affecting some neighborhoods but not others.
In a total grid down
scenario, food and water supplies in a given U.S. city will disappear almost
overnight. It's much the same for gasoline, batteries and even ammunition. All
these supplies (and many more) will simply be stripped from the shelves.
#3) Most people are simply not prepared and therefore
worsen any crisis
The average American
citizen practices zero preparedness. They are 100% dependent on the power grid,
the city water supply, and long-distance food deliveries to their grocery
store. They have no backup plans, no stored food, no emergency mindset and no
hope of surviving a real crisis. All they know to do is call 911 when something
goes wrong and 911 simply won't be there.
As a result, their lack of preparedness worsens any crisis. Instead of
being part of the solution, these people become a burden on all the emergency
services and supplies desperately needed across the region.
#4) Cell phones are a fragile technology that can't be
counted on in an emergency
One of the more
interesting observations about the current crisis is that many cell phone
towers are out of service. That's because they have no electricity and / or
they have been damaged by wind or debris.
As a result, people
who depend on cell phones for their lifeline to friends, relatives and 911
emergency services were suddenly left with non-functioning devices. Even in
areas where cell phone towers were still operating, many people had no place
to charge their phones because their own homes were cut off from electricity.
When the grid is up,
and there are no storms, solar flares or disruptions, cell phones are truly
amazing devices, but they are vulnerable to even small-scale natural events,
and they therefore cannot be relied on when you need them most.
#5) The internet is wildly vulnerable to natural
disasters
According to news
reports, these storms took down a portion of the Amazon Cloud, and this in turn
shut down Netflix, Pinterest and Instagram. Those services have now been
restored, but they were offline for several hours during which many of their
users no doubt thought the world was coming to an end.
#6) The government uses every crisis to try to tell
everybody what to do
Consider this quote
about the CDC telling people what to do: "The U.S. Centers of Disease
Control and Prevention was among many government agencies trying to keep people
informed -- from knowing when the food in your suddenly inoperable freezer
can't be eaten to taking a cool bath if you don't have AC."
Seriously? Does the
government have to tell people to take a cool bath in order to avoid
overheating? Do people not know when food has spoiled? And even more strangely,
is it now the role of the U.S. government to tell everybody what to do in every
emergency?
Whatever happened to common sense? I can tell you what: It moved out to the
country.
Out in the country of Texas, Georgia, Kentucky and just about everywhere else,
ranchers and farmers still have common sense. They know about backup water
supplies, and they can figure things out for themselves. It seems to be city
people who need the most instructions from Washington D.C. because many of
them have forgotten the fundamental skills of human survival. Their lives
depend entirely on the grid.
#7) 911 and other emergency services are quickly
overwhelmed
Fortunately, there have so far been no reports of outbreaks of violence or
social unrest. But that's a timing issue: If the power stays off for another
few days, and food and water remain hard to come by, the "politeness"
of society quickly erodes and you end up with desperate people doing desperate
things. Calling 911 is, of course, completely useless. This is a scenario where
home defense and self defense skills can truly be lifesaving.
#8) A national grid-down situation would be far more
complex to repair
The recent storms
that caused this "grid down" situation for millions of Americans was
a local event, and its repair and restoration has been aided by workers
arriving from outside the affected regions. In a national grid down scenario,
however, there will be no excess human capital to lend to the situation. Every
worker will be busy trying to restore the power grid in their own home regions.
This means repairs will take significantly longer, and according to some
experts like David Chalk and James Wesley Rawles, a national grid down scenario
has the potential of being unable to be repaired at all, resulting in years
of no power grid which would obviously unleash mass death across the U.S.
population.
Across all fifty U.S.
states, only Texas has its own independent power grid, and even that grid has
been strained by recent high temperatures.
#9) Many emergencies arrive unannounced
The Eastern seaboard
of the USA was shocked by this recent "derecho" wind storm. Unlike a
hurricane which approaches over a period of several days, this derecho event
arrived without notice and struck without warning.
This is yet another
reminder to be prepared at ALL times because many events arrive with no
notice whatsoever. The power grid can be taken down by an EMP weapon
#10) Mother Nature will humble humanity
Any
time human beings get too arrogant and too big-headed about all their amazing
cell phone technology, hi-rise cities and nuclear power plants, Mother Nature
just shrugs and sends forth a tsunami of water or wind as a subtle reminder to
stay humble. All of humanity's greatest constructs are but fragile toys to the
truly awesome power of Mother Nature and the resilience of planet Earth.
If the power grid goes down
across planet Earth for just one year, 90% of human civilization will perish, and along with it all the DVDs, Nike
shoes and designer bling as well. Even the entire fictional construct of
society's laws and banking system will cease to exist. That's because they were
all fictional to begin with.
Mother Nature is real. Consciousness is real. Seeds are real. But much of what
humanity has so far created is paper-thin and temporary. It can all cease to
exist in the blink of a cosmic eye. There is nothing humanity has yet done
that contributes anything notable to the universe. We are but specks of
irrelevant dust against a backdrop of a beautifully woven tapestry of life,
energy and consciousness. If the universe is keeping score of lasting
achievement, human civilization has still not risen above zero.
We are fragile beings exploring a sea of such greatness and scale that our own
lives seem silly by comparison. What humans think of as a natural
"disaster" is but a tiny expression of natural patterns to Mother
Nature. If we truly hope to survive as a species, we would be wise to remember
how insignificant we really are in the greater scope of things... and why we
must learn to respect nature and the universe rather than arrogantly thinking
we have conquered it with GMOs, nuclear power and a supercollider.
Humanity has much to learn and much to demonstrate before we count for
anything. Only through humility do we even stand a chance of seeking to gain
that understanding rather than destroying ourselves from runaway
"scientific" arrogance.
It’s high time for my countrymen to get
out of the dark and put aside the pipe
dreams of water and wind and sunshine
and dedicate all our efforts to improving existing technologies. Our very way of life depends on it.
For another sobering look at our failing energy grid, read this 2006 article. Unfortunately, the situation has only gotten worse since the story was written.
/Q/When_was_the_last_nuclear_power_plant_built_in_the_US
