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What does the North do differently so that their power doesn't go out every winter?
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:39 am
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:39 am
I know this has probably been discussed before.
But I've been speaking with an uncle who stays in Texas. He knew about the storm beforehand, but he didn't think it was a big deal. He grew up in Connecticut and Philly. He stocked up on groceries figuring that he would be locked in the house for a week. No big deal at all. But he had no idea that he would be out of power for a week. He wasn't prepared for that at all. That's something that never happened when he grew up living up north. He said he was lucky to have a gas stove, fireplace and multiple branches laying around in his backyard. Otherwise they would have been screwed.
When a hurricane comes to town, it's expected that your power will go out. That doesn't surprise anyone. Going forward, For people living in the south, should we begin to prepare as if our power will go out whenever a winter storm comes our way?
But I've been speaking with an uncle who stays in Texas. He knew about the storm beforehand, but he didn't think it was a big deal. He grew up in Connecticut and Philly. He stocked up on groceries figuring that he would be locked in the house for a week. No big deal at all. But he had no idea that he would be out of power for a week. He wasn't prepared for that at all. That's something that never happened when he grew up living up north. He said he was lucky to have a gas stove, fireplace and multiple branches laying around in his backyard. Otherwise they would have been screwed.
When a hurricane comes to town, it's expected that your power will go out. That doesn't surprise anyone. Going forward, For people living in the south, should we begin to prepare as if our power will go out whenever a winter storm comes our way?
39
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:40 am to QJenk
Design criteria is a little different up there in regards to ice and wind loads
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:40 am to QJenk
Basements
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:40 am to QJenk
Their infrastructure is built for the cold so it doesn't freeze over. They also aren't on an independent power grid, so if it fails, there is a backup.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:40 am to QJenk
Seriously? 
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:41 am to QJenk
What does the south do differently that their power doesn't go out every winter.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:41 am to QJenk
Their senators don’t go to Cancun and so the power doesn’t go out
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:41 am to QJenk
quote:yes, every 50-100 years you should by a few blankets, loaves of bread and some lunch meat and some extra water.
Going forward, For people living in the south, should we begin to prepare as if our power will go out whenever a winter storm comes our way?
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:43 am to QJenk
quote:
What does the North do differently so that their power doesn't go out every winter?
Ignore DOE regulations limiting them?
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:44 am to QJenk
I would imagine that for starters, for the same way they’re prepared for the snow with snow plows, snow blowers, sand and salt, their infrastructure is prepared and expects extremely cold weather and all the associated hazards. Same way we’re prepared for heat and hurricanes in the south, people up north have no concept of that.
This post was edited on 2/20/21 at 11:40 am
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:44 am to Mufassa
quote:
Their senators don’t go to Cancun and so the power doesn’t go out
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:44 am to QJenk
In uban areas with above ground wiring, they do a lot of tree trimming to minimize frozen branches. Taxes and utility rates are high also.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:48 am to QJenk
quote:
Going forward, For people living in the south, should we begin to prepare as if our power will go out whenever a winter storm comes our way?
You already had snowmagedon in Georgia in 2014. It’s been established that no lessons were really learned. Georgia seems better equipped for this also.
quote:
We do have more connections to a much bigger grid than Texas has,” Grubert said. “We could draw from a much wider geography if we did run into trouble that way. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re completely resilient against emergency conditions.”
quote:
In 2014, “Snowmageddon” brought its share of problems, but a statewide power shortage wasn’t one of them. “We don’t have windmills that freeze over and stop producing. And that’s the situation that’s happened in Texas,” said Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald.
LINK
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:48 am to Macfly
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:51 am to QJenk
Same reason why they had no idea how to deal with hurricane sandy while the south gets hit with multiple hurricanes a year and it’s usually not nearly that big of a deal. Of course there’s issues (don’t need to tell lake Charles that after the last year) but there’s just infrastructure in place that’s worth the investment because it happens so frequently. Texas spending money to keep their equipment from freezing twice a millennia isn’t really shocking. There are more pressing issues to spend money. Hindsight is always 20/20 but New Jersey and New York spending hundreds of millions to have hurricane responses in place for storms they’ll get every few decades is also ridiculous.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:51 am to QJenk
I may be wrong but I think everyone/most people have large tanks of heating oil that lasts weeks/months. Therefore the power load does not fluctuate radically with temperature.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:52 am to QJenk
People from the North are smarter than us here in the South. IF you don't believe me, just ask them.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:53 am to QJenk
quote:
every winter
You answered your own question. The north gets this EVERY WINTER so they build for it.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 11:00 am to skidry
That’s very true, but you need long term contracts with a heating oil vendor or you’ll face the same reactionary pricing in times of need as Texans faced with electricity. Many people gamble and buy on the spot market and get raked over the coals for doing so. It may have changed in recent years, but it used to be a racket for the long term contracts. You’d have to commit to buying X gallons of fuel every so many weeks. If you hadn’t used it then you still paid for the amount you’d contracted for. If it was a warm winter you were basically screwed.
As for power never going out up there, I can recall numerous times ice storms caused outages lasting 3-5 days when I lived up in the Northeast. And it was miserable.
As for power never going out up there, I can recall numerous times ice storms caused outages lasting 3-5 days when I lived up in the Northeast. And it was miserable.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 11:04 am to QJenk
At least the 19th thread on this
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