Changing Electric Service Looms
By James Donahue
Millions of Americans have been experiencing unexpected cuts in electric service to their homes and offices. These painful interruptions have been growing in number as the power companies have been dealing with the damaging results of weather change.
The great fire storms that swept the Western states, the intense storm fronts that have been moving across the central plain states, and the powerful hurricanes that have been slamming the East and Gulf coastal areas and literally tearing up the elaborate electric distribution systems now operating from coast to coast.
This is because most electric distribution lines are mounted at the top of utility polls where they are vulnerable to high winds, falling trees, fires and floods. Buried utility lines aren’t totally immune to storm damage either. Floods can wash away supporting earth and damage the underground wiring systems.
These unexpected blackouts have proven especially troublesome when the power is cut to important health and business services that can endanger lives and interrupt important household, business and on-line services. Lets face it . . . Americans are more dependent on their electric service than ever before in history.
During the current COVID crisis, many office workers are working from home and children are even getting their education via their computers and the Internet. But changing events are proving that the current electric distribution systems are becoming archaic. Change is needed and at least one man in the business suggests that it is in the works and will be coming soon.
In a recent television appearance Aaron Jagdfeld, CEO of Generac, a home back-up generation system, said new battery technology has opened the door for households and businesses to become energy independent from the traditional electric grid and break away from centralized systems.
“We think that there is a massive change coming real soon in the grid,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot more decentralized, on-site power generation, from solar to wind. Batteries are a key component of that, of course, because you need to be able to store that energy so that you can use it and deploy it at different times during the day,” Jagdfeld said.
He said the power shutoffs in California earlier this year generated a robust demand for the home generators his company produces, and it has “really accelerated with the pandemic.”
While home generation is showing to be a good way to deal with electric blackouts, there are new and alternative methods of generating and distributing power. Giant solar farms are appearing in desert areas around the world and wind generating systems can be spotted on the hills and even in the water where the wind blows free. Solar panels are appearing on the roofs of many homes and businesses.
The change is coming sooner than we once thought. Changing weather patterns are forcing it.
By James Donahue
Millions of Americans have been experiencing unexpected cuts in electric service to their homes and offices. These painful interruptions have been growing in number as the power companies have been dealing with the damaging results of weather change.
The great fire storms that swept the Western states, the intense storm fronts that have been moving across the central plain states, and the powerful hurricanes that have been slamming the East and Gulf coastal areas and literally tearing up the elaborate electric distribution systems now operating from coast to coast.
This is because most electric distribution lines are mounted at the top of utility polls where they are vulnerable to high winds, falling trees, fires and floods. Buried utility lines aren’t totally immune to storm damage either. Floods can wash away supporting earth and damage the underground wiring systems.
These unexpected blackouts have proven especially troublesome when the power is cut to important health and business services that can endanger lives and interrupt important household, business and on-line services. Lets face it . . . Americans are more dependent on their electric service than ever before in history.
During the current COVID crisis, many office workers are working from home and children are even getting their education via their computers and the Internet. But changing events are proving that the current electric distribution systems are becoming archaic. Change is needed and at least one man in the business suggests that it is in the works and will be coming soon.
In a recent television appearance Aaron Jagdfeld, CEO of Generac, a home back-up generation system, said new battery technology has opened the door for households and businesses to become energy independent from the traditional electric grid and break away from centralized systems.
“We think that there is a massive change coming real soon in the grid,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot more decentralized, on-site power generation, from solar to wind. Batteries are a key component of that, of course, because you need to be able to store that energy so that you can use it and deploy it at different times during the day,” Jagdfeld said.
He said the power shutoffs in California earlier this year generated a robust demand for the home generators his company produces, and it has “really accelerated with the pandemic.”
While home generation is showing to be a good way to deal with electric blackouts, there are new and alternative methods of generating and distributing power. Giant solar farms are appearing in desert areas around the world and wind generating systems can be spotted on the hills and even in the water where the wind blows free. Solar panels are appearing on the roofs of many homes and businesses.
The change is coming sooner than we once thought. Changing weather patterns are forcing it.