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Zonie63 -> RE: Politics of Infrastructure (3/14/2014 6:52:21 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: joether
I've had in the past argued that this nation should improve its energy/telecomm infrastructure. As much of it is still using technology as old as 1950 in most places. During each of the summer in the last decade, we have observed very high temperature summers. These summers have always placed a considerable strain on a system that meets or exceeds its capacity. There have been previous reports of localized outages in places that were stifling hot and humid.
The counter arguments have been pretty petty given the subject nature. Yet enough for Congress to take no useful steps in updating the nation's infrastructure. The document below I think will shed some new light on this problem. I do not think its something that we should ignore.
Report: U.S. Could Be Plunged Into Blackout By Minimal Attacks
I agree. The neglect of our infrastructure (not just energy or telecommunications, but also pipelines, bridges, tunnels, etc.) is an indication of the kind of myopia which pervades our political culture. The politicians will only do the bare minimum, short-run solutions to whatever problems we have, while leaving any long-term considerations aside, since it's not something they'll have to deal with directly.
In all candor, those of us who are alive today really should hang our heads in shame at the kind of country we're leaving to posterity. A rotting infrastructure, depleted resources, a diminished manufacturing base, insurmountable debts, a corrupted political system, and a polluted, dying planet. What the hell have we done to ourselves?
The world is also far more unstable. The article you linked points up the electrical grid's vulnerability to attack, but there's also the matter of possible motives for such an attack. This would indicate further myopia on the part of our national leaders, since they embarked on a foreign policy which would provoke other nations/factions to attack us, without first adequately preparing for the eventuality of such an attack.
I expect it will be a hot summer around here. Unlike the unusually cold, harsh winter they've been having back east, our winter here in AZ was unusually hot and dry, which means a greater likelihood of forest and brush fires. Not sure what they're predicting for the east as far as what kind of summer it will be. But if it's hot and humid like previous summers, then all those air conditioners will definitely put quite a load on the power grid. One thing I notice about cities back east is that a lot of the buildings are older and use box A/C units for individual rooms rather than having a centralized A/C compressor for the whole building.
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