I live in the Cleveland, Ohio area where the source of the blackout supposedly occured. My work is 5 km up the road from where one of the high tension lines overheated and began to sag, catching a tree on fire.
Let's face it folks, our power system was designed in the 1950's when the amount of electrical usage was small. Now, with larger homes being built, requiring more energy to heat and air condition, the amount of power demand is raching the limits of the system. We have microwave ovens, hairdryers that people then never had and consume lots of power. We have TV's in every room of the house, Computers, multiple refridgerators, and deep freezers, etc. Think of all the appliances we have now that did not exist 50 years ago and how much power we consume compared to people then. And you will see why our grid is overburdened and starting to fail.
At the same time, the cables and transformers are getting old and can not handle the loads. The new transformers are not as tough as the old ones they are replacing. Our power companies are crying poor, while they pay off politicians for who knows what.
The US does not invest in its infrastructure because that cuts into the bottom line and profits don't look good on paper.
Yes, heads may roll at First Energy, the power company servicing Northeast Ohio, but that will not solve the problems. It is the consumers who have to use less power and be less wasteful. And if some sort of conservation efforts are not put into place and enforced, we will all be sitting in the dark more often in the future. Like it or not.
