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I'm surprised at how reliable utilities are in America. I was in a low income neighborhood in San Antonio during university, and had maybe 2 blackouts in 3 year

I'm surprised at how reliable utilities are in America. I was in a low income neighborhood in San Antonio during university, and had maybe 2 blackouts in 3 years.

pluma 12y ago
Where are you from exactly? I live in Europe and 2 blackouts in 3 years would still be an outrage. (To be fair, we have less natural disasters.)
- soccerdave 12y ago
  The length of the blackout would probably need to be given to provide some perspective. 2 30 minute blackouts would be much easier to deal with than 1 3 day blackout.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  We're missing a lot of context. San Antonio is in Texas, which means these could have been rolling blackouts, one of the last-ditch efforts employed by power companies during record summer temperature spikes (which translate to monumental load spikes in the form of A/C)
  - mbreese 12y ago
    Or it could be weather related (like most outages), or a bad transformer, or a car running into a pole, or a ton of things... So, you're right that we're missing a lot of context - including the duration. A 30 min outage due to an accident is very different from a 3 day outage due to a storm. And like you said, AC can be a big drain on the grid during the summer. (Disclaimer: I'm not sure what the weather in San Antonio is like...)
    - lkbm 12y ago
      Not very rainy. No hurricanes or blizzards. Very hot. Usually in a drought, and not to uncommonly 50+ days exceeding 100 Fahrenheit in a year. (I'm in Austin, which is pretty close to San Antonio, but I see now is considerably hotter: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=100degreedays.htm http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=100degreedays.htm ww.usclimatedata.com/climate/san-antonio/texas/united-states/ustx1200 )
  - kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
    The heat alone contributes to reduced life of power handling equipment. Most parts of Europe don't have to deal with that.
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  The Italian Alps.

I'm surprised at how reliable utilities are in America. I was in a low income neighborhood in San Antonio during university, and had maybe 2 blackouts in 3 years.

pluma 12y ago

Where are you from exactly? I live in Europe and 2 blackouts in 3 years would still be an outrage. (To be fair, we have less natural disasters.)

soccerdave 12y ago
The length of the blackout would probably need to be given to provide some perspective. 2 30 minute blackouts would be much easier to deal with than 1 3 day blackout.
sliverstorm 12y ago
We're missing a lot of context. San Antonio is in Texas, which means these could have been rolling blackouts, one of the last-ditch efforts employed by power companies during record summer temperature spikes (which translate to monumental load spikes in the form of A/C)
- mbreese 12y ago
  Or it could be weather related (like most outages), or a bad transformer, or a car running into a pole, or a ton of things... So, you're right that we're missing a lot of context - including the duration. A 30 min outage due to an accident is very different from a 3 day outage due to a storm. And like you said, AC can be a big drain on the grid during the summer. (Disclaimer: I'm not sure what the weather in San Antonio is like...)
  - lkbm 12y ago
    Not very rainy. No hurricanes or blizzards. Very hot. Usually in a drought, and not to uncommonly 50+ days exceeding 100 Fahrenheit in a year. (I'm in Austin, which is pretty close to San Antonio, but I see now is considerably hotter: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=100degreedays.htm http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=100degreedays.htm ww.usclimatedata.com/climate/san-antonio/texas/united-states/ustx1200 )
- kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
  The heat alone contributes to reduced life of power handling equipment. Most parts of Europe don't have to deal with that.
spiritplumber 12y ago
The Italian Alps.