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Ever since moving to the UK, I have been struck by how grid-reliant we are. I get that we are not super-prone to natural disasters, but as this past year has shown, it is still possible to experience prolonged periods with no power.
What amazes me - and this is where I think a bit of a libertarian streak always helps - is just how much we assume that absolutely everything will work all the time for ever.
I suppose it is in reaction to this attitude, but being reliant on the grid is one of the reasons I'm suspicious of ebikes and (probably even moreso) electronic groupsets. I don't like the idea of "contaminating" a non-grid reliant object like a bike with heavy grid-reliant parts.
This was all reinforced in my mind when Eastern Canada went through its massive ice storm in 1998, and the entire power grid covering Montreal was knocked out for days. People ended up huddling together in the living rooms of neighbours who had fireplaces, because there was no heating. And when temperatures plummet to -25 deg celsius, no heating is not an option.
Anyway, I just came across this article on the CBC website, and thought there were some reasonable points.
Anyone feel the same? Or am I just paranoid?
I can't say it's crossed my mind but there is some risk I suppose.
Anyway I immediately thought of this.
Just wait until we have a massive solar storm that knocks everything out. That will be fun times...
End of October..GET PREPPING...
Civilisation is obviously a shallow veneer, London, famously, is supposedly 6 meals away from starvation at all times. and read up of the electrification of the Republic of Ireland's farming communities that was going on right up to the mid 80's (and maybe even later than that) But as you point out the power grid is reasonably robust and safe and dramatic power outages are few and far between to be remembered by most folk as "The great power-cut of blah-de-blah" where most folk have experienced it maybe once or twice in their lifetimes.
Yes we probably should be more self reliant, and I think more and more folk are looking at that option with solar power and ground/air source and so on. But I'm certainly worried about other stuff before my over reliance on the power grid.
Sometimes we beat ourselves up a bit about it. Usually weather related.
The famous 'Beast from the East' Winter, I heard scores of people saying "oh they survive just fine in [inset name of place where it always snows]" when the schools and roads closed. We had similar things said last year when we had a very hot, very long summer and people got ill.
It's complacency yes, but it's a very low-risk complacency. For the majority of Brits, we can rely on good fundamentals for life with 99.99% certainty. Light, Heat, Clean Water and Food, and less fundamental needs like transport, and niceties like TV, Radio, Internet and all that.
There's a big ot dangerous complacency of course, it's in our nature to be cyncial and moan from time to time, in fact there's a 'type' who do nothing else. Every 'bad' winter local councils will advise we pack Water, food, blankets etc in the car "just in case" and every timer they moan "Bloody hell, where do they think we are, the arctic? elf and safety gone mad" and then 200 people get stuck on the M6 over night.
We don't have things like back-up generators at home, local councils don't have fleets of snow ploughs at the ready and we don't stock-pile long-life food because it's not really efficient to do so.
It comes with a risk of course, if there was a huge disaster of so sort, enough to take out, our very robust grid/infrastructure we'd (the majority of Brits, not all of course) be lass able to adapt, but thankfully whilst we have very changeable weather in the UK, it's remarkably temperate most of the time. In Wales, the average low temps per month, never go below freezing, of course they do time to time, but in reality the average temp for winter is 4c - a decent jumper will do you.
Struggling to see the downsides. If there is a breakdown in any part of the grid it is very short term and very temporary so in the grand scheme of things a minor inconvenience especially considering how long every day some people are prepared to sit in traffic jams in their cars.
In the last 20 years or so I can count on the fingers of one hand the numbers of times the grid or part of the grid has failed. One or two power cuts for a few minutes.
I'm far more concerned about issues such as superbug's increasing resistance to antibiotics, which is by far one of the most, if not the most serious threat around us at the moment...even moreso than climate change i'd argue. I think worrying about the light not coming on when you flick the switch is one of the least serious concerns you should be investing any time worrying about right now. Plenty of other things to be worried about.
In the post apocalypse world where there's no way to charge an e-bike or di2 groupset, charging an e-bike or di2 groupset will I suspect be a long way down my list of priorities.
Food
Shelter
Fighting off the barbarian hordes
Brexit
How to watch porn without the internet
Developing recipes for cooking rat
All more important than charging the gears on a bike so i can go on a sunday clubrun.
I think worrying about the light not coming on when you flick the switch is one of the least serious concerns you should be investing any time worrying about right now. Plenty of other things to be worried about.
I get what you mean, but I am thinking broader than the lights of course.
Power goes out, and we lose refrigeration (affecting a good number of foods), light, any electricity-dependent transport (and should refined fuel run out, other forms as well), communication...
That's an armaggedon-style scenario, I know, but I am not sure the Bahamians or Canadians or various others see it as all that distant a possibility.
Then again, I am probably influenced by my Canadian upbringing, where we made sure that our cars had survival equipment in winter, I was given a nicely-equipped tool kit for my 16th birthday so that I could learn to fix my own stuff, and we had a fireplace in case the heating broke down...
Plenty of other things to be worried about
Absolutely ..
My shed this morning 😉
Then again, I am probably influenced by my Canadian upbringing, where we made sure that our cars had survival equipment in winter, I was given a nicely-equipped tool kit for my 16th birthday so that I could learn to fix my own stuff, and we had a fireplace in case the heating broke down…
In your head you see this as McMoonter levels of skill and ingenuity combined with the survival instincts or Ray Meres.
The reality is youre the average middle class Stwer with some bikepacking kit and a woodburner, your friends like the woodburner but think sleeping in a ditch for fun is a bit wierd.
We'd move in to the van, it has cooking facilities, 60 litres of water underneath it and heating. It would just be like a holiday (of unknown length).
I wouldn't, I'd stay at home and light the wood burner. The power will be back on in a day or 2.
Log burner ✔
Wood✔
Shit loads of bottled water✔ (get it free)
Fresh water reservoir 200m behind house✔
Pasta/rice/sauce/countless tinned stuff (it would seem we buy waaaay too much)✔
Generator✔
Petrol ✔
Jetboil✔
Many normal bikes✔
Battery tools✔
Cows in field behind house✔
Camp stove✔
Big gas bottle✔
All stuff available at home so I reckon the kids would make at least 1 day.
nothing to worry about, use the grid its what its there for!
Canadians aren't that self sufficient either really. Imagine if supples of petrol or diesel were interrupted?
Few people in a modern urbanised society are insulated from this kind of thing. It's just not practical to build such a society otherwise.
We're probably more resilient than ancient civilisations - how many of them went to the wall because their climate shifted or some disaster happened? The inhabitants of say Tenochtitlan were just as dependent on the local agricultural supply chain and economy as we are. But they wouldn't get outside aid in the event of a famine or disaster as we probably would.
I think Canada only appears to be more resilient because 'the grid' is less pervasive due to the large areas of wilderness and the larger numbers of people who live in it.
And there's the North American fetishisation of the wilderness which goes back to the romantics in early modern NA literature like Henry David Thoreau, after the Eastern US had become urbane and people started to miss the identity that exploration and the conquering of nature had given them....
We have had a couple of multiple day winter power cuts in my time at current house due to trees.
We have had neighbours who have no form of heating or cooking in these situations.
On site well, but no pump
Generator, but only the half empty lawn mower petrol.
Wood burner, but system requires a pump to rads and hot water....
@molgrips: I agree with every word you've written. There is, however, still a necessity beyond the more civilised Eastern Seaboard, to be prepared.
The main figure in that article says as much.
My dad was a farmer from Southern Manitoba who instilled in us a sense of the importance of being able to function in a self-reliant way, but even if he hadn't, some Native former colleagues of mine were in a pick-up truck that broke down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter. They survived because they knew what to do for 24 hours in the most hostile possible conditions.
It's still real.
There is, however, still a necessity beyond the more civilised Eastern Seaboard, to be prepared.
Of course, and it is context-specific. So if you live in Toronto you're likely to be looked after, whereas those in a cabin in the middle of NW Territory won't be reached for much longer for obvious logistical reasons. But they are probably the ones most prepared already because it's already the most likely that they'll lose utilities if they even have them at all.
Ever since moving to the UK, I have been struck by how grid-reliant we are.
Yeap, I notice that too.
OP you have just reminded me I need to go to Waitrose to buy their discounted charcoal £1.39 for 5kg.
I have charcoal outdoor cooker so in the event of major ice storm I can bbq and survive.
Actually I have been wanting some kerosene or portable gas heater for a while now ...
I’m far more concerned about issues such as superbug’s increasing resistance to antibiotics, which is by far one of the most, if not the most serious threat around us at the moment…
Nah, read up on Bacteriophage. We tend to over use antibiotics as they're cheap and multipurpose, but they're not the best "weapon" against virus' by a long way...
We’re probably more resilient than ancient civilisations – how many of them went to the wall because their climate shifted or some disaster happened?
If you're talking about pre-agrarian states: then 99% were probably destroyed by infectious disease.
What amazes me – and this is where I think a bit of a libertarian streak always helps – is just how much we assume that absolutely everything will work all the time for ever.
I suppose it is in reaction to this attitude, but being reliant on the grid is one of the reasons I’m suspicious of ebikes and (probably even moreso) electronic groupsets.
1. You don't seem to understand what the word "libertarian" means.
2. If the power grid went down, charging your e-bike would be the least of your worries.
1. You don’t seem to understand what the word “libertarian” means.
Sorry. I know its political/social/philosophical meaning. It can also be used to refer to the practical ways in which a social libertarianism is lived out. In other words, if you believe in individual freedom and independence, you might also live in practical ways to reflect that.
In other words, if you believe in individual freedom and independence, you might also live in practical ways to reflect that.
It has no practical connection to the implications of the power grid failing. If you believe libertarian ideology, you would believe that rational individuals would contract to create a power grid, even in the absence of state regulation. In fact, libertarian ideologues would also believe that the resulting power grid would be better and more reliable (because regulation is inherently inefficient). If the libertarian power grid failed, you'd be just as screwed as if the fascist/socialist/liberal one failed.
We had an 11 1/2 hour power cut last week (6.30pm through to 6am Croydon, South London).
I ended up grilling dinner outside and getting the Decathlon usb/wind up camping lanterns from the van.
Was a bit irritating and short enough for no food in the fridge or freezer to spoil but it really brought home just how reliant we are on electricity. We were lucky enough to have a load of camping gear to use but one of the neighbours didn't even own a torch!
Couldn't imagine going though an off-grid winter. Grim!
Couldn’t imagine going though an off-grid winter. Grim!
Duck fat, greaseproof paper and string.
Sorted.
My parents live in a cul de sac of 10 bungalows, and at 80, they are at the younger end of the spectrum there.
A power cut in the night took out the electrics a couple of weeks ago. My mum was the only one in the close with a gas hob to boil water, and was making flasks of tea and coffee for her neighbours so they had a warm drink for their breakfast. Power was back on just before lunch, but it caused a fuss 🙄
I agree with all of the above points, but it's not just disaster avoidance, we should be building better homes to reduce the reliance on gas and grid electricity for climate change reasons.
Road transport needs investment too - the tarmac in the UK is permanently knackered because everyone drives because of a lack of bike and public transport provision.
we should be building better homes to reduce the reliance on gas and grid electricity for climate change reasons.
^^This,a million times this.
any electricity-dependent transport
Petrol pumps are electric, so are the tills and the card machines. And the thing that goes 'beepboop' when you open the door.
we should be building better homes to reduce the reliance on gas and grid electricity
People still have to be able to cook food. You can survive without heating, but not without cooking.
Reading with interest as I am one of the many folk charged with thinking about grid resilience.
The power network people do think about this sort of thing, but it is always interesting to hear you good people’s (customers,end-users) views. Ultimately we are after all here only to serve you guys.
And if you have specifics you don’t want to put on here, feel free to PM me.
I’m far more concerned about issues such as superbug’s increasing resistance to antibiotics, which is by far one of the most, if not the most serious threat around us at the moment…
^This
We are rapidly moving into a post-antibiotic world. That scares me much more than grid reliance.
I can't remember the last time we had a power cut. These candles will be past their best by date if we don't get one soon.