5 ms·

This is happening in my area as well in rural southern USA, and I can't help but just say: - first: This feels like manufactured BS. - second: How much money

by 0des 4y ago

This is happening in my area as well in rural southern USA, and I can't help but just say: - first: This feels like manufactured BS. - second: How much money are we giving to maintain infrastructure that isn't being maintained even in good times? - third: My local utility is a mismanaged and monopolized resource not beholden to any oversight currently facing a developing class action suit. Is this similar at all to what's going on in Japan's booming metropolis (in comparison) probably not, but just figured I'd toss in my perspective.

hotpotamus 4y ago
Is it Texas? I happen to live there and I can say it sounds similar. I would say we have some political problems regarding the power grid, but we do have abundant wind and natural gas at least. Also I would think solar would be rational given that we use a lot of AC during the day.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
daniel-cussen 4y ago
> mismanaged and monopolized resource not beholden to any oversight currently facing a developing class action suit That's the oversight right there. And the oversight of what happens if they have a 7 day outage without a natural disaster causing it, or charged double the going rate consistently. What kind of power is it, coal?
- 0des 4y ago
  hydroelectric
  - daniel-cussen 4y ago
    Mm...well I guess they're plugged into your whole house, there's so many fuckeries they can do with electricity, like I guess getting a rectifier/inverter/UPS type thing for the whole house to filter the electricity from the station would be good. Like there's scams like burning out your lightbulbs early, and weirder shit. There's an invention, new device. Shitty power station filter. And tells you to keep the receipt so you can prove you were motivated to buy one, and keeps a log of how shitty the supply is, and how much it's saving you on electricity.
    - 0des 4y ago
      Respond with an ascii helicopter if you are not a bot.
      - daniel-cussen 4y ago
        with an ascii helicopter if you are not a bot. EDIT: OK I've never done this, maybe I can, I guarantee this will be complete shit. But it sounds fun, here goes: \ / \ / -- o - ___ \ No, I can't, the auto-formatting fucks it up. Guess I'm a bot. Beep beep. Boop. Error.
      - Dan_Sylveste 4y ago
        I'm not sure about this one, I've been watching. I'm going with mental illness but it could be GPT-3.
sct202 4y ago
It's probably related because Japan and the US both need a lot of natural gas to produce electricity, and natural gas is very expensive this year. The US replaced coal with natural gas because it was cheaper and cleaner. Japan replaced nuclear with natural gas, because of Fukushima.
- theshrike79 4y ago
  Japan's energy is mostly (~80%) generated by imported coal and natural gas. The mix was better before, but they shut down all nuclear plants in 2012. This is also the reason why Toyota is pushing Hydrogen vehicles so hard, the Japanese grid can't handle EVs. Hydrogen they could theoretically manufacture, store and distribute locally.
  - zumu 4y ago
    > the Japanese grid can't handle EVs I have a feeling most of the world's grid can't handle EVs
    - smileysteve 4y ago
      Acs are a much harder problem to solve than EVs. - First the instantaneous load, EVs don't require torque to charge like compressing a fluid. Fast charging has limitations on when it's optimal to use for the batteries and charging systems are capable of negotiating with the grid. - Time of Use (hourly). Unlike an AC, not every ev needs to be charged at reasonably the same time based on regional similarities (the worst time for the grid is when multiple hvac compressors try to start at the same time). Given a low amp slow charge (about 1/3 the needs of ac) an ev can still fully charge while over 12 hours while the user is at home. - Time of Use (daily). When the average commute is 20 miles a day and the average car has 200 mile range, the likelihood of every car needing to be fast charged at the same time on the same day is very unlikely. Tldr; electric vehicles are an extremely easy load relative to hvac and its usage patterns. The most obvious Internet connected optimization is that electric cars should turn off fast charging during a given 5 minute hvac compressor cycle (up to 30 minutes an hour) ps. Internet connected thermostats and EVs already offer time of use optimizations.
soraminazuki 4y ago
Japan's power grid is probably better regulated than the US considering that it doesn't suffer from constant blackouts. But the Fukushima incident definitely was a mismanagement and led to the shutdown of other nuclear power plants. Though it's still much a divided issue all these years later, a large portion of the Japanese public is against restarting those power plants.
- xeromal 4y ago
  What areas of the US are you thinking of that have constant blackouts? I can see California and Texas as maybe what you're thinking of, but generally the rest of the states do very well. Growing up in Georgia in the most rural area you could think of, the only blackouts we ever had were when trees fell on powerlines during tornadoes and winter storms
  - soraminazuki 4y ago
    Those two states are indeed what I had in mind. I was assuming that many other states are in a similar situation considering that the power grid is a frequent topic of US issues [1]. [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qBpiXcyB7wU https://youtube.com/watch?v=qBpiXcyB7wU
    - xeromal 4y ago
      Yeah, those states are often lambasted for their poor infrastructure. It's easier to maintain a smaller state's infrastructure and texas / california are some of our largest behind Alaska. We still have 48 more states that do pretty well though.
    - bluGill 4y ago
      The US is a large powerful country with a lot of people. It gets a lot of media attention, but news always focuses on the bad and so you get an impression that is very different from the reality if you only look at the news.
      - 4y ago
ren_engineer 4y ago
in my area the problem is they shut down a bunch of coal plants because the government made it impossible to justify spending money to modernize/maintain them and wind/solar rollout isn't producing anywhere near the projected amount that was supposed to fill the gap

by 0des 4y ago

hotpotamus 4y ago

Is it Texas? I happen to live there and I can say it sounds similar. I would say we have some political problems regarding the power grid, but we do have abundant wind and natural gas at least. Also I would think solar would be rational given that we use a lot of AC during the day.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

daniel-cussen 4y ago

> mismanaged and monopolized resource not beholden to any oversight currently facing a developing class action suit That's the oversight right there. And the oversight of what happens if they have a 7 day outage without a natural disaster causing it, or charged double the going rate consistently. What kind of power is it, coal?

0des 4y ago
hydroelectric
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
  Mm...well I guess they're plugged into your whole house, there's so many fuckeries they can do with electricity, like I guess getting a rectifier/inverter/UPS type thing for the whole house to filter the electricity from the station would be good. Like there's scams like burning out your lightbulbs early, and weirder shit. There's an invention, new device. Shitty power station filter. And tells you to keep the receipt so you can prove you were motivated to buy one, and keeps a log of how shitty the supply is, and how much it's saving you on electricity.
  - 0des 4y ago
    Respond with an ascii helicopter if you are not a bot.
    - daniel-cussen 4y ago
      with an ascii helicopter if you are not a bot. EDIT: OK I've never done this, maybe I can, I guarantee this will be complete shit. But it sounds fun, here goes: \ / \ / -- o - ___ \ No, I can't, the auto-formatting fucks it up. Guess I'm a bot. Beep beep. Boop. Error.
    - Dan_Sylveste 4y ago
      I'm not sure about this one, I've been watching. I'm going with mental illness but it could be GPT-3.

sct202 4y ago

It's probably related because Japan and the US both need a lot of natural gas to produce electricity, and natural gas is very expensive this year. The US replaced coal with natural gas because it was cheaper and cleaner. Japan replaced nuclear with natural gas, because of Fukushima.

theshrike79 4y ago
Japan's energy is mostly (~80%) generated by imported coal and natural gas. The mix was better before, but they shut down all nuclear plants in 2012. This is also the reason why Toyota is pushing Hydrogen vehicles so hard, the Japanese grid can't handle EVs. Hydrogen they could theoretically manufacture, store and distribute locally.
- zumu 4y ago
  > the Japanese grid can't handle EVs I have a feeling most of the world's grid can't handle EVs
  - smileysteve 4y ago
    Acs are a much harder problem to solve than EVs. - First the instantaneous load, EVs don't require torque to charge like compressing a fluid. Fast charging has limitations on when it's optimal to use for the batteries and charging systems are capable of negotiating with the grid. - Time of Use (hourly). Unlike an AC, not every ev needs to be charged at reasonably the same time based on regional similarities (the worst time for the grid is when multiple hvac compressors try to start at the same time). Given a low amp slow charge (about 1/3 the needs of ac) an ev can still fully charge while over 12 hours while the user is at home. - Time of Use (daily). When the average commute is 20 miles a day and the average car has 200 mile range, the likelihood of every car needing to be fast charged at the same time on the same day is very unlikely. Tldr; electric vehicles are an extremely easy load relative to hvac and its usage patterns. The most obvious Internet connected optimization is that electric cars should turn off fast charging during a given 5 minute hvac compressor cycle (up to 30 minutes an hour) ps. Internet connected thermostats and EVs already offer time of use optimizations.

soraminazuki 4y ago

Japan's power grid is probably better regulated than the US considering that it doesn't suffer from constant blackouts. But the Fukushima incident definitely was a mismanagement and led to the shutdown of other nuclear power plants. Though it's still much a divided issue all these years later, a large portion of the Japanese public is against restarting those power plants.

xeromal 4y ago
What areas of the US are you thinking of that have constant blackouts? I can see California and Texas as maybe what you're thinking of, but generally the rest of the states do very well. Growing up in Georgia in the most rural area you could think of, the only blackouts we ever had were when trees fell on powerlines during tornadoes and winter storms
- soraminazuki 4y ago
  Those two states are indeed what I had in mind. I was assuming that many other states are in a similar situation considering that the power grid is a frequent topic of US issues [1]. [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qBpiXcyB7wU https://youtube.com/watch?v=qBpiXcyB7wU
  - xeromal 4y ago
    Yeah, those states are often lambasted for their poor infrastructure. It's easier to maintain a smaller state's infrastructure and texas / california are some of our largest behind Alaska. We still have 48 more states that do pretty well though.
  - bluGill 4y ago
    The US is a large powerful country with a lot of people. It gets a lot of media attention, but news always focuses on the bad and so you get an impression that is very different from the reality if you only look at the news.
    - 4y ago

ren_engineer 4y ago

in my area the problem is they shut down a bunch of coal plants because the government made it impossible to justify spending money to modernize/maintain them and wind/solar rollout isn't producing anywhere near the projected amount that was supposed to fill the gap