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Worldwide Blackouts

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
A rather large blackout affected the US east coast in August. London had a blackout a few weeks later. Now Italy lost power throughout the better part of the country.

Fantastic coincidence or is there foul goings on in these incidents?
Could this be terrorism or simply the work of bungling bureaucrats. Then again maybe Klaatu is about the planet again!;)

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How rude... you forgot to mention ½ of Denmark and som eof south sweden had a blackout last friday...


    :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The one in London was actualy quite small, the problems were mainly caused by bad management.

    The big example being that because some tube trains stopped in the tunnells people were taken out over the track. So before the powered up again they had to make sure that there was no-one around. This took way longer than it should have, thus big delays.

    I'd say the biggest potencial problem that Europe has is that so many countries seem to rely on France for their power.

    On a side note, we are getting rid of out nuclear sites because people dont like them, insted we buy our power from France who has shit loads of nuclear sites. Whats the difference?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I guess the difference is that we don't have to put up with those contaminating, dangerous, polluting foul things and their by-products.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We've just got to trust them with it rather than our government, actualy that sounds like a fine idea.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Our power network is fundamentally unsustainable because it relies on power sources that will eventually run out whilst our power needs continue to increase, an unhealthy situation altogether................
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Deregulated energy companies with a primary need for profits over quality of service?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    maybe its a conspiracy, maybe theres going to be a global disaster leading to blackouts everywhere and the governments are just testing th eemergency services to see if they're ready..

    then again maybe it was just the trees:D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Deregulation isnt always a bad idea at all, if you look at the water situation in England compared to Scotland. The latter is still national and the service is worse and much more expencive.

    Toadborg; Nuclear power could last us a LONG time, granted not forever but long enough not to be a serious concern. Hopefully fusion power will be viable soon anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe but nuclear power has so many failings of its own that it is at a point where it is being cutback.

    Nuclear power does not seem to be the future for Britain.........
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The power blackouts showed how unprepared we are for a serious powercut. These may not have been caused by terrorists, but if they had been, it shows how defenceless we were. And I'm worried it may have given terrorists some ideas!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Toadborg
    Nuclear power does not seem to be the future for Britain.........

    waves and wind

    I'd rather have a wind farm close by than a nuclear power plant
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not as worried about terrorists targetting power supplies as other things. Unless they're planning to kill us all by making us fall down the stairs ;)

    Unfortunately we do not need terrorism to black out a country, or stop its trains.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    it could be practice runs ...in case of terrorism?
    but if the big bad camel jockeys have some kind of device ...shudder.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The problem with wind farms is that they are stupidly expencive, noisy and kill off loads of wildlife, and wave power is even worse, the cost of that is outragous.

    The future of Britain is that we buy in most of our power from France and basicaly pay them to manage nuclear power stations for us.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    However as wind farms become more common the technology improves and the costs come down.

    And those offshore wind farms seem to be working very well, and stay out of the landscape.

    Wave power stations are still pretty much untapped, and like all new technology the initial costs would be high. But that applies to pretty much all new technology- you have to start somewhere.

    Besides, the point should not be how much it costs to set up, but to ensure we use renewable, non-polluting sources.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You have to count the cost somewhere because its the end user who will end up paying and given so much business depends on it, it could end up harming the economic situation.

    I have heard better things about off-shore wind farms, but they still kill lots of birds. However where they are fishing cant take place and fish stocks can increase so its a bit of a trade off.

    Carbon neutral power stations using charcoal from coppice might well be an answer too. Although getting farmer to swap to this is hard.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A wind farm is highly cost effective, once set up they can create power literally forever with only basic maintenance.

    It really doesn't wash to complain about animals being killed either given the negative environmantal effects of all sources of power........
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was just pointing it out as one of the down sides, which many people dont know about.

    As with all things though I do think a mix is the best idea, wind isnt going to be able to provide all our power. A mix of coppice charcoal, wind, wave, nuclear, imported and others would be the best option.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Agreed, I think there will always be a mix, it is case of getting the balance of cost-effectiveness,environmanetal damage and all the other issues right...........
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Also we should all really try to use less electricity, full stop (as he uses the PC for idle chat :rolleyes: )
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Toadborg
    Also we should all really try to use less electricity, full stop (as he uses the PC for idle chat :rolleyes: )

    I would agree with that. Even simple things like getting double glazing or turning off the lights/heater when you leave a room can reduce the amount of energy you use.

    As the advert says; Be good. Be energy efficient.
  • JadedJaded Posts: 2,682 Boards Guru
    Does it bother anyone else to see shop fronts and department stores with all lights blazing at three in the morning? I know its a security thing, but do all of them have to be on???? Imagine how much power would be saved if they had minimal lighting or used power saver globes...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nah, I reckon in many cases it's just the desire to attract more business.

    Perhaps they are unaware of a device called a timer, or perphaps they haven't worked out that shoppers are usually in bed at 3 am.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do shops get hit by the climate change levy for doing that?

    I am not sure how it works..........
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