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222 Comments
- novenator, on 07/15/2009, -3/+175As some electrician friends have declared to me over and over, we live in a 1st world country with a 3rd world power grid. We desperately need to upgrade our infrastructure as was demonstrated by the brownouts in CA and the massive blackout on the eastern seaboard a number of years ago. Plus, with all of the green energy that will hopefully be built soon (esp. wind power), we will need an upgraded capacity to transport this energy to population centers.
- inactive, on 07/15/2009, -7/+160i just want a ***** job.
- crash331, on 07/15/2009, -1/+130Better map
http://www.npr.org/news/graphics/2009/apr/electric ... - superkendall, on 07/15/2009, -12/+120That map desperately also needs new nuclear power plants, wind farms and other green sources are a drop in the bucket. Want to move off coal and oil - do what France figured out years ago, go nuclear.
Don't forget also that a better grid does not help as much as you think it might - you can really only practically transmit electricity so far before transmission losses overcome the benefit you are getting by transporting it from elsewhere. - ChromaVita, on 07/15/2009, -1/+56Yep, clearly if you don't live near one of those power lines you just won't have any electricity at all.
- dpk87, on 07/15/2009, -7/+57So basically... ***** the south east? I don't get it.
- rajun50, on 07/15/2009, -3/+50A: ***** you haikuFU. We already have a grid in place.
B: I'm guessing the new grid would be connected to parts of the old grid, and the second picture is simply showing the new grid without the parts of the old grid it would be connected to. - SirBruce, on 07/15/2009, -6/+53No, we aren't. There's no shortage of uranium nor places to store waste. Please stop recycling environmentalist whacko rumors.
- MrMontag, on 07/15/2009, -0/+39It's just like SimCity!
- oehmer08, on 07/15/2009, -0/+32I'm confused on what you are trying to say with your comment.
- number5, on 07/15/2009, -1/+29as far as the south goes, we have the "Newest" gird, being a lot of it was built by the TVA, so maybe it doesnt need to be replaced
- schnikies79, on 07/15/2009, -1/+28Breeder reactors and recycling the waste.
- JtoCLA, on 07/15/2009, -2/+26The "New Power Grid" will never happen as long as every grass eating druid across the nation, keeps fight the instillation of new power lines. They want clean energy but not in their back yard! I live in San Diego and the fight to put a power line (for a solar power project) in desert have been going on for 6 or 7 years.
- taikyokuken, on 07/15/2009, -1/+25lol
- inactive, on 07/15/2009, -3/+25Many of those California brownouts you refer to (and I remember experiencing) were mainly caused by Enron. They were shutting down power plants to decrease the supply of electricity, thereby raising the price.
- crash331, on 07/15/2009, -1/+22Us rednecks have to have something to ride our jeeps and ATVs on, so a few of us got jobs at GA Power and TVA and built some kick ass trails that happen to be power right of ways.
- stox, on 07/15/2009, -0/+20Looks like it from that map, but it is deceiving. An awful lot of power comes through Northern New York from HydroQuebec to interconnect with the Northeastern grid.
- hatepaste, on 07/15/2009, -1/+20Get off Digg and start looking?
- Gareth321, on 07/15/2009, -0/+18I see nuclear technology as our future. We have enough material for a virtually unlimited supply of power for centuries to come. When we make the switch from petrol to electric cars, nuclear power will be essential to maintain power through the increased load.
- Xaevier, on 07/15/2009, -11/+28Looks like it will still suck to live north of New York.
- jander99, on 07/15/2009, -0/+17Remember this map is for 500kV to 999kV lines. Those are the big boys. In regards to Niagara station, I believe its a bunch of parallel, lower voltage (still in kV range, obviously) lines, that just so happen to not show up on this map.
- sherm420, on 07/15/2009, -0/+16agreed. much more insightful and more artisitcally made.
- crash331, on 07/15/2009, -0/+14Um, because we already have them?
- Galgum, on 07/15/2009, -0/+14Yessir: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_c ...
- Pseudorious, on 07/15/2009, -1/+15Inaccurate. Just because a region doesn't step-up to 500+ kV, does not mean that it is without a power grid.
http://www.npr.org/news/graphics/2009/apr/electric ... - rjc5056, on 07/15/2009, -1/+15I just want my kids back!
- Tom Jane - crash331, on 07/15/2009, -0/+14Atleast the southeast took initiative and built lots of nuclear power.
- sherm420, on 07/15/2009, -2/+15and for everyone who thinks this is the total "energy grid" picture i present the book How to Lie with Maps.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Maps-Mark-Monmonier/ ... - silentboom, on 07/15/2009, -1/+14Sorry the money to rebuild our country's infrastructure went to build Iraq and now Afganistan, might have to ask them for a power line.
- TheHIV, on 07/15/2009, -4/+17$100 billion each year? Well now there is a way to cut some waste in the economy.
- RuthlessPirate, on 07/15/2009, -0/+12One giant tesla coil in the middle of Kansas to wirelessly power the country
- JK1150, on 07/15/2009, -0/+12according the original map they already have an abundance of high voltage lines. I don't think the plan is to tear down old lines, just to add new ones.
- manicjunkee, on 07/15/2009, -0/+12Tennessee Valley Authority FTW
- mdelling, on 07/15/2009, -2/+14Well... that's been the perspective of everyone in the north since the civil war...
- Galgum, on 07/15/2009, -1/+13It's true, the design we currently have is horrible. Not to mention it's far more efficient to send high voltage DC than high voltage AC these days.
- Tanktunker, on 07/15/2009, -1/+13America is the godamn definition of First World.
- tehdiggster, on 07/15/2009, -2/+13Improving this infrastructure should be a top priority, the renewable sources of energy we could tap into would be beneficial on numerous levels
- bman1984, on 07/15/2009, -0/+11There currently is a HVDC line which transmits power from Quebec to New England. Newfoundland is talking of building transmission lines also. If the US won't do anything to meet the increasing power needs on the Eastern seaboard, Canada will apparently.
- dandaman0345, on 07/15/2009, -2/+12Well maybe it isn't talking to you, jackass. It has a picture of the continental United States on there, it doesn't take a whole lot of reasoning to figure out who its directed at.
- redux2redux, on 07/15/2009, -0/+10Dugg for 'grass eating druid'
- WoWii, on 07/15/2009, -7/+15Apparently New England and the south don't need energy.
- Chewie67, on 07/15/2009, -0/+8While we're at it, why even have a Federal government? Just let every State fend for itself.
Come to think of it, why even have States? Just let each county fend for itself.
Actually, the towns could all just erect walls and act independently.
For that matter, just let each family fight for themselves. Create your own power; grow your own food; hunt your own meat; make your own shoes; solder your own circuit boards. Live alone.
Brilliant idea. - inactive, on 07/15/2009, -1/+9If Tesla was alive, how would he design it?
- crs529, on 07/15/2009, -0/+7HVDC only becomes more efficient for very long distances. In many cases its not the reason why the grid is outdated.
- otbeverly, on 07/15/2009, -1/+8Those bastards! (seriously)
I don't think I ever wanted to execute a "businessman" for committing a crime moreso than those Enron ***** caught on tape in the movie The Smartest Guys in the Room. - brandonchicago, on 07/15/2009, -3/+10A big waste of energy is transmitting it over long distances. The stats* are kind of old (1995), but I'm assuming they're still relevant, show that we lose over 7% of our power in the transmission phase alone. And the longer you transmit power, the higher percent you're going to lose.
My biased opinion is that we need to start making the grid local. Wind and solar power can be placed just about anywhere in comparison to coal or nuclear facilities. Get them closer to cities, or even better, at the individual residences and we'll see a combination of a lot less power being lost and have more clean power being created at a local level.
I still don't know why people are opposed to this and keep stamping their "clean" coal and nuclear feet about this. I guess one reason is because the method above has the potential to wipe out the power companies' oligopoly as individual residences would have their own source of power and not be reliant on "the grid." So I'm sure their lobbyist are working their asses off to tell people how great "the grid" is and how the only solution is to create a wider grid and power it with coal and nuclear plants.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transm ... - DaveVII, on 07/15/2009, -0/+7thats bull.
The countryside in the UK is full of pylons.
The lines "sizzle" because of the electrical field surrounding them (they carry a huge voltage with a tiny current to carry the same power and minimise power loss due to resistance). - Soulkiller117, on 07/15/2009, -0/+7or built to harness hurricanes!
- flyingsquirle, on 07/15/2009, -0/+7actually this is thinking ahead, specifically looking ahead to what kind of requirements our energy grid will need once we implement more and more "green" energies.
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 07/15/2009, -1/+7I'm all for modernizing the powergrid, but the CA brownouts were manufactured by Enron. CA produces more than enough power for its state and has since it was first electrified. In fact, there was big business selling power to other states in the late 90s/early 2000s. Enron bought up the private power companies and started deliberately choking off the power to justify driving up the cost of power (and their profits).
There was never any California power shortage, just an excess of greed. -
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