Infrastructure update?
 

Wanted to see what everyones opinion was on updating the power grid? I personally think it is very much needed. Cost an arm and a leg but still needed. Opinions? And plz plz plz lets try to be mature here....no name calling or loony lefties or crazy right wingers. If you don't like it please state why.

The problem with the grid is that it is privately owned. So if we pay to upgrade it with tax money, that is free money for the utility companies. What's this about voting yourself money from the treasury again?

If the grid were publicly owned, would it be maintained better than the streets?

What is your basis for updating it?

Most of the grid itself is very old. Obviously some updates have been had but for the most part the system has remained unchanged. It is inefficeint at best. Examples the meter boxes are one way only they only show customer usage but don't alert the company about power outages. The wires themselves I am sure could be better designed. The relay stations seem to be very prone to one goes and then another goes. There has to be something done about that. I realize they are privately owned but the problem with that is they are not going to spend anymore money then they have to.

So, what do you propose as the fix for this?

I personally feel that too much public monies have been spent to "repair" what has been working up to this point.

Perhaps certain municipalities could cause the power companies to go underground with their wiring, which would keep them safe from severe storms and such, but it would have to come from the local level, not the Federal level.

I think it's a great idea in theory. I've not seen any indication as to how it can be done in practice. As has been pointed out. The national grid is privately owned and the companies dont have the money to upgrade the way that's been proposed. Don't they have a limit on the rates they can charge? So even if they wanted to they might be unable to finance it.

- Peter.

But what is an upgrade could not only help make the grid more reliable (i.e. no more rolling blackouts ect.) and help keep it insulated from attacks of varying kinds. (i.e. blow one transformer and take out a part of a city). And if the devices we use keep on getting more and more advanced shouldn't the source of their power at least get some upgrade? I mean really there has to be a better way to transmit power (obviously not talking about trying to use superconductors or anything) but something. And sometimes privately owned means we won't upgrade until its on fire and burning down around us. And the fix might involve new wires or a redisign of substations maybe incorporation of some remote monitoring of some kind. I don't really know I'm not an electrical engineer.

Unless it is failing, age is not a reason for an upgrade. Overhead transmission lines don't really wear out. Insulators need to be replaced, but not often.


what part of the grid do you consider to be so inefficient? Generation? Transmission? Distribution? There's a lot of 'stuff' there that's lumped into this thing we call the Grid.

This has little to do with efficiency, and besides, if there is no power at the meter box, how is it supposed to send an alert???

Umm, wire is wire, how do you design that better??

Updates can go a long way to prevent these cascading overloads. The trick is to shut off the circuits fast enough that the remaining load is within the generating capacity still online, which is a good trick since the load changes 60 times per second. These failures can cascade FAST!

Many of them are publicly owned, and you can buy stock in CON-ED, etc. They have a duty to provide electrical energy at a high reliability and at affordable rates. That means they won't invest a lot in new, unproven technology, and they won't spend $1 to avoid only $0.01 in problems.

No problem.

The precedent has been established.

First, tell the people repeatedly that there is a crisis.

Then just increase the debt a few trillion and give the money to the private companies.

Some wire is better than other wire (how tightly wound, composition ect) and I am sure the insulator could be upgraded. In some respects it is failing. And yes age is a reason to upgrade just like drum brakes vs. disc brakes. I belive most of the grid transmission, generation and distribution can be improved. I never said it was a crisis only that is might be a good idea to improve upon it.

I personally don't see a need for much upgrading...there is only so much you can do with that technology.

Perhaps, in the future, there will come a person who can design a better system. Until then, we have what we have...

Define much upgrading? None or some? Just curious.

Perhaps I should have used the term "too much upgrading".

Okay fair enough.

My power hasn't gone out for more than a few seconds in about four years. My electric bill ranges from $20 in the summer to a high of $115 in the winter (electric heat sucks). The grid seems to be working fine in current form from my perspective.