Electricity Blackout

Bit scary how reliant we all are on electricity....

Whole heap of stuff on bbc web site --- reports, maps, pics and comments by joe publc. read all about it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3152985.stm

I wouldn't even know where to start popping
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh
i'm gonna go soak the tootsies soon - and save the grey water

http://www.thestar.com/

the story there will change - so here's what i see there now

Power is slowly being restored in Southern Ontario today but people are being urged to take the day off and to conserve power and water.

In Toronto, subways still aren't running and GO Train service is cancelled because of computer problems. TTC buses and some streetcars are running. Some flights are leaving Pearson International Airport, but travelers are urged to verify departures with their airlines before showing up at the airport.

People struggling to find a way to work found themselves sharing cabs with strangers as taxi drivers packed as many people as possible into each car. On Toronto-area roads traffic was much lighter than usual.

At a 6:30 a.m. news conference, Deputy Mayor Case Ootes said the city has 50 per cent of its usual power but warned that some areas will stay in the dark for a while.

"Some residents may unfortunately be without power for the whole weekend," said Ootes, who urged residents not to use high-energy appliances such as air conditioners and washing machines.

Officials are also warning of rolling blackouts as they try to balance bringing up the grid with demand for power.

"What we're most concerned with is once the power is back up, it stays up," said Ootes.

Across the Greater Toronto Area, power came up gradually through the night and morning. In downtown Oakville, power was restored at 3 a.m. In parts of downtown Toronto, some power came back up two hours later.

Premier Ernie Eves declared a province-wide state of emergency last night. "This is going to be a difficult time, but we'll get through it," he said.





Eves declares state of emergency
City sparks BBQs and keeps going
Managing Editor's Notebook: Star spirit pulls paper together
Roundup: Canada and U.S. blame each other
Editorial: Toronto sparkled during blackout
'I'm proud of this city': Mayor Lastman praises city for its discipline and calm
Confusion reigns in Ottawa as politicians point fingers
Power cut costs millions

Wonder if all this safe sex/condom in every pocket stuff will mean fewer babies this time?

Given the temperatures here, I suspect not too many people were finding a need to get/stay warm. Everybody was trying to cool off - which usually doesn't lead to sex. Usually.

I look so warm in that avatar. I think I need another shower. Do I dare?

ahhhhhhhh
better
much better

hubba hubba ! ! !

Sharing cabs! The horror! What ever will people have to put up with next..... sorry, just thought that was a little silly. So, Beth, you got your power back? Where are you typing from?

Hamsters running ina wheel which is attached to a generator to generate electricty...

or maybe 2 little doggies who look sorta like hampsters.....

My dog tangled with a skunk in the middle of the night. I was up during the wee hours bathing and de-stinking. So I heard some mainstream overnight talk shows discussing the power outage. Two comments which stayed with me:

1. A talk show host who (I've noticed) is tolerant of "wild theories" on his show, but doesn't not subscribe to them and says so, commented gratuitously on the power outage, saying that he's noticed that whenever there's a crisis, Bush is not in the White House but well away and either on or in close vicinity to Air Force 1.

2. The outage may serve very well those in Congress and in the administration who have wanted to put in place energy systems which are jazzy and "failsafe" but very objectionable environmentally.

To which I'd add how amazing it is that odd "unexpected" events have served administration policies over and over again.

oooohhh, aaaahhh. Very interesting.

ehBeth as Dorothy Lamour........well.

I like it.

I wonder how many people would have been cut off if the money spend on this useless ship was used on the modernisation of the electricity network.

NPR quote: the rules for generating power weren't followed... or the rules are no longer adequate.

It is truly astonishing.

Just thought of people in the subway when the power went out...

Now they are saying they don't know what happened: (hmmm)

Power Outage May Have Started in Ohio
By H. JOSEF HEBERT

WASHINGTON (AP) - The largest power blackout in American history prompted new calls Friday for overhauling the nation's electricity system as investigators said they believe the power disruptions began in northern Ohio.

``That's where the information is starting to point,'' Ellen Vancko, a spokeswoman for the North American Electric Reliability Council, said in an interview. ``It looks like that's where the collapse started.''

Vancko, whose industry-sponsored group monitors the transmission system, said it would take time to pinpoint the cause.

A spokeswoman for First Energy Corp., whose electricity service area stretches along Lake Erie in Ohio, declined to speculate on the cause of the disruption which shut off power Thursday and into Friday from New England to Michigan.

``We are not going to speculate as to the origination of or the cause. We do not have enough information at this point,'' said Kristen Baird, a spokeswoman for First Energy, based in Akron, Ohio. ``Our focus at this point is restoring service.''

President Bush promised a review of ``why the cascade was so significant, why it was able to ripple so significantly throughout our system.''

First Energy had about a fourth of its 4.3 million customers affected. Baird said power has been restored to all but about 100,000 customers, mostly in the Cleveland area.

Previously, the focus of investigators was upstate New York or Canada.

William Museler, president of the New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state's electric grid, said ``huge'' power fluctuations originating from a Midwest power plant started the downfall of the grid at 4:11 p.m. Thursday. He said the power swings became so large that the Ontario system could not sustain them, and the problem migrated to New York.

As the power fluctuated, generators in New York tripped off to protect themselves, an act of self-preservation that made it possible to restore power Friday morning, Museler said.

Electricity was back on in virtually all of upstate New York on Friday, while the New York City metropolitan area was beginning to get its power restored after a massive blackout, Gov. George Pataki said.

``The power has been restored to the vast majority of the state geographically,'' Pataki said at a command center in Albany, N.Y.

``From everything we saw last night and continue to see this morning, the restoration plan for the state is working very well,'' Museler said.

Still, Pataki has said the systematic failure should never have happened and said operators of the sprawling grid owe the public answers. He said the cascading problem should have been isolated by safeguards in the system. ``That just did not happen,'' he said.

Michehl Gent, the NERC president, said he was fairly confident terrorism wasn't involved. Federal officials earlier said there is no evidence of terrorism.

``We don't have any indication of blown-up equipment,'' he said on ABC's ``Good Morning America.'' ``So, we're almost certain it's not terrorism of any kind.''


A member of the federal agency that regulates transmission lines said the resumption of power also was being hampered because the ``transmission system - our (power) highway - is so weak and so fragile.''

``It's very clear this is not about deregulation. It's about investing in the transmission system,'' said Nora Brownell, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Some critics of increased competition in the electricity industry said it has caused utilities to concentrate on markets and ignore investing in the transmission grid.

Brownell said it was still unclear what happened.

The early confusion about the cause of the grid collapse reflects the bedeviling complexity woven into the North American electricity network. Strain on the system has increased with the boom in cross-border power energy trading, and the emergence of competitive energy markets where power is being traded across long distances.

The blackout brought to the surface the problems plaguing what many view as an antiquated electricity transmission system.

It is a system where a single failure can reverberate throughout and set off a catastrophic chain reaction like Thursday's, even with the relatively moderate summer heat and humidity of that day.

``We're the world's greatest superpower, but we have a Third World electricity grid,'' said former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, now governor of New Mexico.

After the 1965 blackout hit the Northeast, the industry sought to put in safeguards that would isolate future transmission problems. In some cases this worked.

In Vermont, a quick shutdown of power fees from New York helped the state avoid major outages.

Likewise, the vast mid-Atlantic regional grid, known as the PJM Interconnection, was spared problems across most of its system.

08/15/03 09:45

Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout
Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout
By NIKO PRICE
The Associated Press
Friday, August 15, 2003; 9:32 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.

From frequent showers to rooftop slumber parties, Iraqis have developed advanced techniques to adapt to life without electricity.

Daily highs have soared above 120 degrees recently as Iraq's U.S. administrators have been unable to get power back to prewar levels. Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the
same fate, if only briefly.

"Let them taste what we have tasted," said Ali Abdul Hussein, selling "Keep Cold" brand ice chests on a sidewalk. "Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis."

Here are some tips from the streets of Baghdad:

- SLEEP ON THE ROOF. Without power - and hence without air conditioning - Iraqis have taken to climbing up stairs in the hot nights. Some install metal bed frames on rooftops, while others simply stretch out on thin mattresses. "It's cooler there," said Hadia Zeydan Khalaf, 38.

- SIT IN THE SHADE. Many Iraqis head outside when the power's off. "We sit in the shade," said George Ruweid, 27, playing cards with friends on the sidewalk. Of the U.S. blackout, he said: "I hope it lasts for 20 years. Let them feel our suffering."

- HEAD FOR THE WATER. "We go to the river, just like in the old days," said Saleh Moayet, 53.

- SHOWER FREQUENTLY. "I take showers all day," said Raed Ali, 33.

- BUY BLOCKS OF ICE. Mohammed Abdul Zahara, 24, sells about 20 a day from a roadside table.

- GET A GENERATOR. Abbas Abdul al-Amir, 53, has one of a long row of
shops selling generators in Baghdad's Karadah shopping street. When the power goes out, sales go up, he said.

- CALL IN THE IRAQIS. Some suggested the Americans ask the Iraqis how to get the power going again. "Let them take experts from Iraq," said
Alaa Hussein, 32, waiting in a long line for gas because there was no
electricity for the pumps. "Our experts have a lot of experience in these matters."
---------------

EDITOR'S NOTE - Niko Price is correspondent-at-large for The
Associated Press.

Touche.