Planned blackouts are becoming more common − and not having cash on hand could cost you
Posted by Nastyfaction@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 14 comments
GeekInSheiksClothing@reddit
I live in Baltimore. Last summer, the power went out at least 1 day a week, for 9 weeks straight. It was always 80-100°. Luckily we had friends nearby that let us cool off at their place, but what about people who are disabled, people without transportation, people without friends or family?
It's only going to get worse and the most vulnerable people will die. The poor, very young, very old, homeless, etc. Not enough power to go around and even if there was, the prices are getting ridiculous.
npcknapsack@reddit
When I lived in Cali, the clerks basically told me they weren't allowed to sell without the inventory system telling them what to charge during blackouts. I'm not opposed to cash, not at all, but I'm just not sure cash is the solution.
iwatchppldie@reddit
Guess we’re gonna slowly go to solar micro grids or nothing like developing nations. I wonder if there’s a term for a regressing nation like the USA.
SwishyFinsGo@reddit
Probably a fun chart with generator purchases vs the grid reliability.
If X number of generators are purchased in X window, you'd have an interesting indicator.
The other thing to look at could be fuel consumption or maybe air quality as a proxy. Soon as the grid goes down, generators start running. If you've been in this situation, there is a pause, and then the generators attempt to kick in. And then within a few minutes, you'll smell it also.
rematar@reddit
Failed state?
If you have skills, you might be able to live in a technogarch city.
https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no?feature=shared
mem2100@reddit
The economics of underground DC power transmission grow more attractive as the weather becomes increasingly hostile.
birgor@reddit
This is what happened in Sweden. We had a severe storm in the south in 2005, after that the grid went from totally 528 000 km lines with 260 000 km underground to totally 596 000 km line with 444 000 km underground now.
After that has there not been any main blackouts from storms or fire.
mrpickles@reddit
That's great. Is there a write up of this success?
mem2100@reddit
Smart. This is the result of a great educational system and well-educated government and engineering teams.
If you add up the cost of the fires caused by the above ground transmission lines in the US plus the cost of the outages so far, you start to realize why HVDC underground is a good strategy.
Glodraph@reddit
Same here in Italy. We have a lot of issues but frequent blackouts are not one of them, we mostly have underground cables from what I have seen, little maintenance and high reliability.
Nastyfaction@reddit (OP)
"Are you prepared for when the power goes out? To prevent massive wildfires in drought-prone, high-wind areas, electrical companies have begun preemptively shutting off electricity. These planned shutdowns are called public safety power shutoffs, abbreviated to PSPS, and they’re increasingly common. So far this year, we’ve seen them in Texas, New Mexico and California."
With changing weather patterns means society can no longer continue as business as usual, blackouts to be the norm in the fire-prone present and future.
seriouslysampson@reddit
It’s been happening in CA for years now. Most of the stores and a lot of residents bought backup generators.
Konradleijon@reddit
I mean if it saves energy. It accept it when the weather isn’t literally deadly
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Nastyfaction:
"Are you prepared for when the power goes out? To prevent massive wildfires in drought-prone, high-wind areas, electrical companies have begun preemptively shutting off electricity. These planned shutdowns are called public safety power shutoffs, abbreviated to PSPS, and they’re increasingly common. So far this year, we’ve seen them in Texas, New Mexico and California."
With changing weather patterns means society can no longer continue as business as usual, blackouts to be the norm in the fire-prone present and future.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1jpcnek/planned_blackouts_are_becoming_more_common_and/mkye0rs/