The power of Mother Nature
Thought for the day
Virtually every time there is a major snow storm, hurricane or tornado, above ground power lines are damaged forcing communities coast to coast to go dark for days, weeks or months.
I know tens of millions of dollars have been allocated for the development of "smart grid" technology in President Biden's $1.7T infrastructure bill, but what about federal funds for undergrounding utility lines?
I realize undergrounding is no magic bullet. During hurricanes, for example, many lines often become flooded leaving communities powerless. It also takes more time to bury utility lines than repair/replace damaged poles above ground. And then there is the cost. As is often the case, "This ain't gonna be cheap."
Each time I see a community devastated by Mother Nature, I wonder how I would react if there was no electricity for days, weeks or months. If you have lived through one of these disasters, send me a comment. I'd like to know how you managed the disruption.
-DF
When our house in east Bellevue, WA was without power for 3 days in the "Great Ice Storm" in the mid-2000's, we relied on a wood-burning stove for heat, candles & battery-operated lanterns/flashlights. Our water heater & cook top were gas, so they still functioned (because gas lines are underground). We transferred commonly used items from the fridges to ice chests immediately and kept the fridges closed. There was plenty of snow to keep the ice chests cold.
Fortunately, we could still cook and take hot showers. We read a lot. Played acoustic music.
Somehow, we managed to survive w/o TV or computers for 3 days, although we did have a battery-operated 'boom box' for music & news.
When the power came back on, we were nearly blinded by the light. We realized how unnecessary a large part of our wattage was. We still try to use only the lighting we really need, which is good because the solar panels on our new house can provide nearly all the electricity we need. Our neighborhood has underground electricity, but the high voltage transmission (grid to neighborhood transformer) lines are above ground, meaning we could still lose electricity in a storm, etc.
We are looking into an emergency generator, and hoping solar storage batteries become available at a reasonable cost.
Denny, talking about undergrounding is something I can relate to. I don’t remember if Laguna has undergrounding or power poles. I have a line which runs right over my garage. It was undergrounding which got me involved in my first local political encounter after retirement. It is a long story but our neighborhood ( about three streets in the Heights) fought the movement when we found out that less than the whole story was involved in information given to property owners. We fought against it for our small area and won.
In a similar vein, property owners are currently shocked by this month’s natural gas bills. They more than doubled from the previous month……almost $400 in January for a house not much larger than 1000 square feet!