America must have an ‘Anti-Fragile’
electric grid
American Thinker,
by
Chris Talgo
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
5/8/2025 7:09:22 AM
In our modern age, the electric grid is the mother of all networks. Without electricity, advanced forms of transportation and communications virtually grind to a halt and nearly all digital and electronic devices are rendered practically useless. When the grid goes down, we lose conveniences like air conditioning, lighting, and other amenities that we often take for granted.
Several days ago, Spain, Portugal, and parts of France and Belgium lost power for an extended period of time, demonstrating just how devastating a total grid collapse can be to our modern way of life.
During this colossal blackout, the largest that Europe has ever experienced, more than 50 million people
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Getting rid of Green Energy is a start...
13 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
NamVet70 5/8/2025 8:06:05 AM (No. 1946844)
Spain and Portugal collapsed because of a heavy investment in wind and solar power. The long recovery is because of a lack of generating stations that can restart if they don't already have AC power available. The US grid used to be reliable and comply with reliability principles. There was a large effort to improve this after the NYC blackout of 1977. However, this has been largely compromised by a green fetish with wind and solar power.
12 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/8/2025 10:02:55 AM (No. 1946900)
Green Energy and the lunatics that push it have set back the improvement of the electric grid and prevented new nuclear power sites for a couple of decades. The grid must be updated, hardened, decentralized and protected. The lifeblood of almost everything we do today is electricity.
8 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Foghorn 5/8/2025 10:34:04 AM (No. 1946924)
This is certainly one of the infrastructure systems that need immediate attention. The idea of windmills and solar has passed and it is time to pay attention to what is really needed, nuclear power. Less labor intensive on the supply line and can be used for many years. The opwn wires need to be put under ground to prevent damage by storms and attacks. This is a huge national security issue.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 5/8/2025 12:47:11 PM (No. 1947000)
We never used to lose power, but in the past three years, we've lost power multiple times for an hour or more, so we put in an emergency generator (as have several neighbors). It is worth the price - especially during weather extremes.
3 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/8/2025 1:52:43 PM (No. 1947036)
Most people don't know the Texas grid is supplied by 75% intermittent energy. And ERCOT members, which administers the grid, appoint the successor, if any member leaves. Most of the members don't even live in Texas. How did this happen? The citizens of Texas have no clue. What is being done about it? Texas has a Republican legislature, don't they? Not really. A Republican Governor? Yes, but he has done nothing about this for 2 years, after the collapse of the grid for a week in single digit freezing weather. Texas has many companies that have moved in, including AI facilities, and 10M illegals. So what is the Texas government doing? Nothing.
1 person likes this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
chumley 5/8/2025 4:17:36 PM (No. 1947094)
All my life the power has been reliable enough. Occasional outages every few years, but nothing long term and mostly an adventure. Ten years ago we had two, one week outages within a few months of each other, and several all-day outages since then. Now I have a generator for the freezer and refrigerator. The peace of mind made it worth it. Dont know why our grid has gone all 3rd world, but its a headache.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 5/8/2025 4:21:12 PM (No. 1947097)
Anyone who doesn't have a generator and stored fuel for a week to keep the refrigerator/freezers and at least your blower on your furnace (must be gas or propane or oil powered, not heat pump) or an alternate heating system to keep your pipes from freezing, and a way to cook and get water is just asking for trouble.
And keeping a goodly bit of cash handy is wise, too. Credit cards and 'phone pay' are useless when the grid is down, but money will still work in most places.
Proof yourself and your loved ones against a week or so, at least, of power loss.
Food, water, heating (forget cooling, mostly) cooking and toilet flushing are key capabilities to think thru.
1 person likes this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 5/8/2025 5:23:03 PM (No. 1947125)
We've been off-grid for three years now on the homestead. The system has, so far, worked beautifully. The investment was big, almost $89,000, but we refinanced before rates went crazy...got a 2.7% mortgage. Timing is everything in this life...and TK has great timing!
0 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 5/8/2025 5:42:33 PM (No. 1947135)
Over the past 20 years more than 150 gigawatts of coal fired generation capacity has been forcibly removed from the grid with no reliable replacement.
0 people like this.
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