Ok...so now for those of you that are wondering how a blackout occurred read this post of mine.
Ok...so we all know what a blackout is, but how the hell does it happen?
First off...lets start with a basic electric grid.
Suppose we have one million houses connected to two generators. These generator are perfectly fine, and can output how much power those one million people need.
Unfortunately we live in a vast growing society so we now add another million houses...We now have two million houses connected to two generators. These two generators now have to "work harder" to compensate. Because more people means more power needed. And more power needed from the generators means generators have to work harder!
Now suppose one of these generators failed because a bearing broke off! Now we have one generator power two million houses!
This sort of a situation is considered an overload situation. One generator cannot power two million houses!!! The one generator is in an overload situation! So much power is being drawn through that one generator by two million people that it heats up quickly and in a worse case scenario it will blow up!!
Luckily...Smart engineers created the electric grid so that if a generator does experience an overload situation, then it will automatically trip the circuit breaker. Thus shutting it down. Almost like the ones in our houses!
So the one generator supplying the two million people shuts down due to overload! So now we have two million people without power and no generators! This is called a blackout(because we have no lights and its pitch black duh!).
Now...almost all the power plants in the U.S.A are connected together in whats known as the electric grid.
This grid extends all the way from Cali, to N.Y and from Texas to Maine. Suppose the whole state of New York suddenly lost its power generators. The generators in N.J, Penn. will be giving N.Y power. But the generators in N.J., and Penn. have to work harder now! So they become overloaded and their circuit breakers will trip! Now...N.J, Phily, and N.Y have no power.
N.J borrow power from Conn. but Connecticuts generators cannot handle it either...so they start shutting down.
Other nearby states will become overloaded and will have their circuit breakers trip on their generators. Thus a chain reaction occurs!
What can be done to prevent overloads?
Obviously we put more power plants somewhere on the grid! And connect it! So if one generator fails, we got backups to prevent the whole grid from failing!
Whats the bad side of that?
More money on our electric bills. A new generator is not a cheap thing!!!!! It has to spin perfectly to match our voltage levels, it has to have overload protection. It has to have wires connected and a whole lot of engineering. Meaning more money!!!!!
So whats some ways to prevent a power outage or save up electricity?
A.) Use flourescent light bulbs. Regular incandescent light bulbs use approx 100watts of energy! Flourescent light bulbs give you the same amount of "brightness for less energy" Approx 30watts for the same amount of brightness. Yes flourescent bulbs are more expensive, but they last longer and they are more cheaper in the long run.
Math to prove it
Suppose we pay .10cents for a kilowatt hour.
And we have two bulbs one flourescent and one incadescent.
The incadescent uses 100watts, while the flourescent uses 50 watts. Now suppose we turned them on for about 1000 hours!
after 1000 hours.
Incadescent will cost (.100kilowatts)(1000hours)(.10cents/killowathour)=
10 dolars!!
the flourescent will cost(.050killwatts)(1000hourse)(.10cents/kilowatthour)=5 dollars!!!!
Almost half the cost! In the long run it is cheaper to use flourescent
B.) Cut down on the aircondition in our houses! Once you turn on the aircondition for a set amount of time. Turn it off for a little while. DO NOT OPEN WINDOWS BECAUSE YOU LOOSE COOL AIR. Instead use fans to recircuilate the cool air around.
This saves you lots of bucks!!!! Because fans use less energy than air conditioning!
My fan is approx 84 watts compared to my air conditioner at 1500 watts which is about 5100 BTU!!!! DAYUM!!!!!!! So...now whats that in dollars? Typical airconditions are more BTUS meaning more watts!
Fan: (.084kilowatts)*(.10cents/kilowattshr)*(1000hours)= $8.40
Aircond: (1.5kilowatts)*(.10cents/kilowatthr)*1000hours= $150
Thats a difference of almost 140 bucks!!! DAYUM Good enough to get something else!
Only use the aircondition if it is a must!
C.) Remember to shut off lights you are not using! This will save you lots of money in the long run as well!
D.) Always remember to conserve energy! Shut off things that you are not using. Like lights, fans, aircond etc! Don't waste energy. AS of now we don't have enough to give out!!!!!
Thanks for reading my little writeup. I hope you guys find it educational!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
Also,
Remenber some thigns drain power even when they are off.
Plus keep your PC's on timers (built in to the OS) so that they turn themselves off after a few minuts on non use (unless of course its a server, but then get a low power board anyway). A PC usually runs about 300+watts. A CRT has about 0 watts, and an LCD has about 25 watts. If, like me, you have more than 3 machines those computers use about as much elevrticity as a refrigerator (ok maybe not that much). Watch out fo power vampires.
I have no halogen or incandescent lighting in my apartment. They use less wattage, produce less heat, and need to be replaced less often. It saved me about a third in elevtricity bills.
Now...almost all the power plants in the U.S.A are connected together in whats known as the electric grid.
This grid extends all the way from Cali, to N.Y and from Texas to Maine.
I believe there are actually 3 grids in the US... east, west and most of texas is on their own grid..
Originally posted by myoung ummm not to be rude, but there is a hellva lot more of America than just the area where the power was out...
yeah, but still 50 million people without power is a tremendous amount. i just hope its back on by monday, i have to drive home to see family in cleveland. it would really suck if there is no power.
it may already be on, ive just been busy getting ready for this trip so i havent been able to keep up on current events, i think ill check now.
__________________
95 200sx timing advanced to 15*, custom cai, Stromung exaust (no cat), b&m short throw shifter, rusted out fenders, worn suspension, creaking balljoints, cracked windshield and bad cv axles. your regular hooptie that requires 92 octane.
Originally posted by myoung I believe there are actually 3 grids in the US... east, west and most of texas is on their own grid..
Your probably right mike...I didn't exactly know how many grids there were..or how many were connected. I just know that most of the plants are interconnected in some way or another.
According to yahoo it originated around 2:00p.m when a generator shut off in Ohio(I THINK) the article got taken off..Then another generator gor shut off at around 3:00p.m and another around 4:11 p.m..Thats when the overload happened!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
I read it all, but you seem way too excited. All those !! make your post really excited feeling and ghey.
__________________
Sun Burst 04 Spec-V: Gen II Nismo CAI - Megan Racing header - IM Pulley - JWT Cams - Motor Mount Inserts - HPA Downpipe - Apex'i WS2 - Faktion Gen2 Short Shifter - Custom Lip - Tinted Windows
Linear Mode
