AP: US Grid

[rcjordan]

http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2015/AP-Investigation-US-power-grid-vulnerable-to-foreign-hacks-public-often-kept-in-the-dark/id-c8d531ec05e0403a90e9d3ec0b8f83c2

[rcjordan]

Dec 23 2015 > Ukraine:
First known hacker-caused power outage

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/01/first-known-hacker-caused-power-outage-signals-troubling-escalation/

[simplytheresa]

As this kind of news spreads, I wonder if there will be an increased demand for solar panels...

[rcjordan]

>solar

As we urbanize, I wonder what percentage of the 1st-world population could install alternate power?  20th floor in Brooklyn? Nope.   

[ergophobe]

http://www.verticalfarm.com/

But then again...
http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/12/13/vertical-farming/

But then again again...
http://panacea-bocaf.org/verticalfarming.htm

(frankly, I know nothing about this, I just always see it in Pop Sci style mags and these were the first three links I found)

[Brad]

Reliability of the grid will also effect adoption of residential solar in the 1st world.  If I start getting frequent blackouts or brownouts due to hackers or aging infrastructure I'm going to be looking at solar systems to smooth those out.  A decentralized grid might make a lot of sense under those circumstances.

Moving away from coal fired power plants is another factor.  My whole state is mostly powered by coal and I haven't the slightest idea what those plants will be or can be replaced with. 

[Travoli]

>20th floor in Brooklyn

They're working on the office building window solution now.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188667-a-fully-transparent-solar-cell-that-could-make-every-window-and-screen-a-power-source

[Mackin USA]

>solar

Make a list of what you REALLY NEED electric power for:

Maybe communication...

[rcjordan]

>list

This will slip into a prepper discussion pretty quickly.   And it depends on where you live ...but no matter where you live, water-pumping will be high -probably tops- on the list after 2 or 3 days.

[simplytheresa]

water-pumping

Definitely! Living in a rural place where electricity isn't redundant, we have our fair share of longer term power outages. For short term outages, it'd be nice to have lights, but that's an easy fix. For the longer term, water (even if we have to filter it ourselves) and a septic system start becoming pretty urgent needs. And refrigeration. It's not that easy for us to make a run on the local canned food section.

Communication would be a harder thing to be self-sufficient on in the case of a broad electrical outage. We have a fully corded phone in a drawer that only needs a phone line to work. That's also come in handy.

office building window solution

Very cool.

[rcjordan]

When the grid goes, there won't BE a canned food section after a few days.

>refrigeration

Now we're talking high current draw for most people  ...though there are LP (natural?) gas refrigerators.

Again, we're talking almost exclusively about people living in independent dwellings. Urban, high-density dwellers are screwed.

[rcjordan]

>hack

If I wanted to maximize the hit for many US urban areas, I'd probably wait until July-August

Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

[Travoli]

> water-pumping
or desalination, eh RC?

[Mackin USA]

>refrigeration

http://www.amazon.com/Norcold-323TR-Refrigerator-3-Way-Right/dp/B0002F684A/ref=sr_1_5?s=appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1452184727&sr=1-5&keywords=lp+refrigerator

>Urban
Those MFs are Fucked

[rcjordan]

>Norcold

I have one in the motorhome. They are fire hazards (mine has an aftermarket halon extinguisher), but if I have to use it for a prolonged period after a hurricane nukes our infrastructure, it might come in handy.

>fucked

Yup. We can talk about future-ish tech saving their collective asses, but the reality is that the mortality rate in urban areas is going to be high.