Potential for power blackouts in less than 3 years

[lilused]

Think that will happen too, especially with the new EPA rules on coal. Guess many are saying they cannot afford all the upgrades needed. And the aging power grid will surly fail at some point. Hope not, but possible.

[damian_steele]

Blackout risk this winter highest in a decade, warns National Grid

Britain's electricity safety buffer is at the lowest since 2007 and a cold winter could see an energy supply crunch.

The risk of blackouts this winter will be higher than it has been for almost a decade, National Grid warned on Monday.

The Grid said reserve supplies of electricity will be wafer thin after a dramatic fall in the amount of coal-based power plants operating across the UK. And it warned it may have to issue NISMs – warnings to industry to bring mothballed plant into action or increase generation to cope.

National Grid expert Chris Train said that in a cold winter, the UK's electricity "margin" or safety buffer will be just 5 per cent, almost half last year's level and the lowest since early in 2007.

He told an industry conference this morning: "Things will be tighter than they have been historically."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...onal-Grid.html

[damian_steele]

Blackout Britain: Energy experts warn households face risk of power cuts for the next FIVE years

The UK faces a higher risk of blackouts over the next five years as old power stations are decommission, the Government was warned today.

Britain’s ageing national grid will be under most pressure next winter, causing potential disruption to electricity supplies, a report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering predicted.

The report comes weeks after the big six energy companies warned Labour leader Ed Miliband’s election pledge for 20-month energy price cap increased the risk of energy shortages across the country.

Meanwhile, earlier this week SSE became the first of the energy companies to raise its energy tariff- by 8.2 per cent. And today British Gas announced it was raising energy prices by 9.2 per cent.

The remaining four big energy companies are expected to increase their tariffs in the coming weeks.

The Government-commissioned study found that although the national grid is able to cover projected levels of demand it will be stretched ‘close to its limits’ and events like low wind, cold weather and unplanned plant outages could put the country's power supply at risk.


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/b...ower-cuts.html

[squern]

I'm trying to get my worries in order - I think I might have them out of sequence:

I remember in the 60s there was a prediction of a coming ice age, then we had global warming, and now "climate change " (Isn't that just weather?). These events were predicted by "Scientists", so they must be true.

Then we had Dutch Elm Disease. Anybody noticed much difference?

And whatever happened to acid rain? I thought all the trees were going to die from it, and we would end up living in a bleak windswept landscape.

Don't forget the food shortage - we're all eating too much, and it will run out soon, and we'll all starve.
That's if we don't starve first because all the bees will be dead, and unable to pollinate crops.

I also remember the 3-day week, and power cuts. It was an inconvenience, not a disaster.

Don't you think all of these predictions of doom and gloom have things in common:
1. They are predicted by "scientists".
2. They are predictions, so neccessarily set in the future, and are basically just opinions..
3. They are difficult to disprove.
4. When they don't occur, there is a deafening silence.
5. Most of them require lots of taxpayers money to "resolve" or prevent.
6. The resolutions require lots of highly paid experts who all disagree among themselves about the solution, and who are totally unaccountable for the money they spend, the worry they cause, and the failed outcomes of their endeavors.

Makes me a bit suspicious.

If there is an electricity shortage, do you think anyone will turn off the lights in shop windows, or on billboards, or those illuminating car showrooms, department stores, and government buildings?

.

[damian_steele]

If there is an electricity shortage, do you think anyone will turn off the lights in shop windows, or on billboards, or those illuminating car showrooms, department stores, and government buildings?

You may choose to prepare for the possibility of power cuts or you may not choose to do so. That's your choice. I run this thread so that people have access to information on the subject and then also have a choice based on what they have read.

IF we do have wide spread power cuts, even for a short time, it is not likely to be like the 1970's. We rely so much more on technology now than we did before and that, of course, requires electricity. In an age where most payments are now electronic, it will be almost impossible for most people to perform even simple tasks like paying the household bills, buying the weekly shopping or getting fuel for the car. Those who do not prepare will face extreme difficulties.

[tony41]

I'm trying to get my worries in order - I think I might have them out of sequence:

I remember in the 60s there was a prediction of a coming ice age, then we had global warming, and now "climate change " (Isn't that just weather?). These events were predicted by "Scientists", so they must be true.

Then we had Dutch Elm Disease. Anybody noticed much difference?

And whatever happened to acid rain? I thought all the trees were going to die from it, and we would end up living in a bleak windswept landscape.

Don't forget the food shortage - we're all eating too much, and it will run out soon, and we'll all starve.
That's if we don't starve first because all the bees will be dead, and unable to pollinate crops.

I also remember the 3-day week, and power cuts. It was an inconvenience, not a disaster.

Don't you think all of these predictions of doom and gloom have things in common:
1. They are predicted by "scientists".
2. They are predictions, so neccessarily set in the future, and are basically just opinions..
3. They are difficult to disprove.
4. When they don't occur, there is a deafening silence.
5. Most of them require lots of taxpayers money to "resolve" or prevent.
6. The resolutions require lots of highly paid experts who all disagree among themselves about the solution, and who are totally unaccountable for the money they spend, the worry they cause, and the failed outcomes of their endeavors.

Makes me a bit suspicious.

If there is an electricity shortage, do you think anyone will turn off the lights in shop windows, or on billboards, or those illuminating car showrooms, department stores, and government buildings?

.

The Power Blackout reports are government propaganda so that we will accept the ridicolous prices they are prepared to pay to nuclear power generators.

[squern]

Yes, I do know what an elm tree looks like - I used to cut up dead ones with a chainsaw.

It depends on which doom-mongers you believe, which catastrophe will strike first, whether you choose to take any precautions.

My money is on the bees.
If all the bees die after the harvest, we will have about 2 years before all the food runs out. If they die before, that will be shortened considerably.

So we won't have to worry about the power shortages in three years time, because we will all have been dead for a year.

Less if the bird flu gets us.

And I was quite looking forward to a bit of global warming - ordered a new barbecue and everything.

[damian_steele]

It depends on which doom-mongers you believe, which catastrophe will strike first, whether you choose to take any precautions.

Once again, if you choose to prepare, then prepare. If not, then don't. But please do us all a favour and stop posting negatively on this thread. If you choose not to contribute in a positive manner, then kindly resist the urge to post anything.

[squern]

In other words, don't post unless I agree with everything you say.
Or, don't post if I have another viewpoint, which may be as relevant as your, but which differs.

And any post which differs from your opinion is a negative one?

The point I was trying to make is this: We have heard it all before. The nature of the impending disaster varies, depending on which particular axe is being ground. but they all have similarities.

They all require the spending of huge amounts of public money, and there is nothing meaningful we, as individuals, can do to avert any of them. We are told that we must pay other people who are far more knowledgeable and innovative than we are to avert them.

In many cases they are the same, or connected, people who forecast the disaster in the first place.
For instance, until recently the UK Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, was also employed as a lobbyist for, and had financial intersts in, alternative energy companies. He stepped down after public pressure.

So, don't believe everything you read - you may not have all the information. It is in the interests of a lot of people to have one scare after another - it is profitable.

[damian_steele]

Have it your way.

I'll be locking this thread after this post. It will only get opened again when I have posts to add to it. Apologies to anyone else that may have wanted to contribute in a positive manner.