Won't this be interesting (Solar Eclipse and GT power)

Marc Kurth

No! Try the heavy industry centers in South Korea and China. Last I heard from industry folks, 80% to 90% of the big boys are imported.

For purely domestic production, we would need an extra two years to spool up for that particular production - assuming that we could readily source the materials - which is a real concern.

Unless the Feds are doing something that we cannot see, the results of a widespread grid failure will be truly catastrophic in epic proportions.

I could not agree more with your comments, but "We the People" continue on the same spiral....... we just kick the can down the road.

Estragon

If true, that's truely disturbing. There are some serious national security issues there.

Marc Kurth

Do the research - it is possible that my info is dated, and that all is wonderful now. I know that it was true 10-15 years ago when I was working with people in that industry.

Dave Angelini

It does not look dated to me Marc. I have to go to the big city today. I might get a few more boxes of ammo.... Friday at last!!!!

Marc Kurth

Dave,

I cannot even wrap my head around the societal impact of no grid power for very long periods around major metro areas - let alone regionally....... water pumping, food transport, hospital and other emergency services are all reliant on generators that will quickly run dry.

Sometimes it is good to live among old-school farmers and ranchers. Men and women who remember how to get it done with primitive tools. Several of us meet regularly to ring steel at 500 and stay in touch. Then add battery bartering which goes a long way in building relationships that insure long term food and homemade beer supplies. Old guys keep their word and always return favors.

Dave Angelini

I think you are right! They make jokes about the people in my county like "they were walking on their knuckles only 50 years ago"
We are the poorest rural county in the state and vote conservatively for the most part. Lot's of ranches and farms. Many of the people could feed themselves off the land and as you said, they remember how their grandfathers did things as well as their Moms. Many here would think the effort that people are putting into the civil war out to be put into the modern day slave owners like ISIS.

The other thing the speaker said was if the grid went down, 75% of Americans would be dead in the first year!

We had a fire here a few weeks back and the 3 high voltage lines into the area went down for 7 days. If you left your property you could not get back in and it was hot, so without power (no gasoline pumping) and water pumps 5000 people left the county. There are 100's of freezers and reefers at the dump. Quite few houses had bears come in for the smell. 

Costco had 30 and 50 caliber ammo cases for 17 bucks today. There are 5 assault rifles on the hill here and 6 people who know how to use them. I don't really put much into that personally as it is a bit over the top for me. Our Sheriff likes the offgrid power thing and says this is his second home. He likes that my esposa has a CCW, RN, and extra class license.

Once my supply of Canadian whiskey and beer is gone it will be time to turn out the lights!  Might have to try a rum punch

Marc Kurth

Extra Class! Way cool - a truly rare breed nowadays. Not to mention CCW in the land of Moonbeam. I would add that RN is actually the most valuable skill set if the grid goes down. That is the biggest weak spot for most of us. (I will have to rely on a couple of DVM's and their supplies)

We had a fire on my hills in September of 2011 and 1,700 homes and 32,000 acres of towering pines burned. No power for 46 days when it was 97F to 105F every day for 85 days. Yeah, I know the smell.........

I do agree that a wide spread grid outage would reach epic proportions more quickly than most people understand. And I do mean epic. Laugh if you must, but I feel so strongly about this that I already have small survival kits ready for handout to needy folks passing by my place. Think about it.... stuff like water, high calorie/fat energy bars, sunscreen, tape for blisters, etc. are cheap and have a super long shelf life. Why not plan ahead?

Yes, I'm weird.

Estragon

So it turns out (per Bloomberg) that spot CA electricity prices during the eclipse ran ~1/2 the day-ahead price, and went negative as the sun reappeared. It seems folks were outside watching the thing instead of sitting inside charging their phones.

Dave Angelini

A good read or listen for anyone on a long drive this week is the book "Lights out" by Ted Koppel and also read by Ted. Read book are not always great by the author but this one is. More than you want to know about your power grid. Very sad how little it would take to make us much safer. There is a great section on the Silicon Valley attack that took out a mammoth transformer with AK-47s. it took 28 days to get another and it was the wrong one. Still no clues on this cold case from 2013.

 It is a bit dated from 2016 but have no worries, nothing has been done as it is still stuck in the Senate. The best money can buy!
Gobble Gobble!

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