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Too much efficiency is dangerous: it makes the overall system more vulnerable because it removes redundancies, increasing systemic risk. Decision processes are
by MrBuddyCasino 6y ago
Too much efficiency is dangerous: it makes the overall system more vulnerable because it removes redundancies, increasing systemic risk. Decision processes are not scale-invariant: politics, and therefore susceptibility to corruption, increases, transparency decreases.
Not saying a unified grid is not worth it, but there are downsides that might not be immediately obvious.
- tonyarkles 6y agoI definitely picked up on the same thing, remembering the east coast blackout in 2003. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
- X6S1x6Okd1st 6y agoYou don't know the contra positive though, would the spare capacity in the rest of the system have prevented it?
- MrBuddyCasino 6y agoMy point is that the spare capacity would evaporate, as the higher-cost power plants would be shut down.
- EricE 6y agoYup - just in time manufacturing means we often rely on critical parts delivered from foreign countries. I wish I could remember the article I read over five years ago that was pointing out that many utilities do not have backup equipment at larger substations and often rely on replacement devices from overseas sources. Hopefully we have gotten a bit better and stockpile spares for critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, especially when we have lost so much of our internal manufacturing capabilities.
- 5040 6y agoOf some relevance here: Transformers that are small are often on hand and easy to swap out. But some of the bigger ones have months long lead times. The facility we were at had transformers that had a 6 month lead time from Germany to replace them and they had to be sent via boat as they wouldn’t fit in planes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24318278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24318278