Welcome to the 19th Century

[WeirdWilly]

This gentleman believes we have a problem with our power grid, as it now stands, going bye-bye and turning off the lights for millions of people.

Considering his credentials, I believe him!

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The Electric Infrastructure Security Council
Board Of Advisors

http://www.empcoalition.org/English/About/about_board.asp?boardId=67

John Kappenman
Member of the Advisory Board

John G. Kappenman is the Owner and Principal Consultant for Storm Analysis Consultants, located in Duluth MN. Mr. Kappenman is a 1976 graduate in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University, after graduation he joined Minnesota Power (1977-1998) holding a number of senior management and technical positions. From 1998-2008, he was with Metatech Corporation as the Manager of their Applied Power Solutions Division, which primarily focused on Space Weather and EMP impacts on electric power grids and other related technology and infrastructure systems. He has been an active researcher in power delivery technologies and his primary engineering contribution has been his research work on lightning and geomagnetic storms and their disruptive effects on electric power systems. His prior R&D activities include the principal investigator on EPRI projects for space weather/geomagnetic storm impacts to large electric power grids and mitigation of geomagnetic storm impacts, mitigation of lightning to transmission networks and on power electronics applications in high voltage transmission networks. He holds several US Patents.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaWE2zWMFKQ&NR=1

Protecting our grid is neither a matter of technology or economics ($5.00 per household). It's a matter of will. And it's a matter of recognition - of getting past "doomsday fatigue" and understanding how deadly serious and HIGHLY PROBABLE this crisis can potentially be.

[WeirdWilly]

As time goes on, it is inevitable that either a geomagnetic storm or an EMP weapon will hit us, if we don't take some ridiculously easy steps to protect ourselves

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4821/Overview#tab-Videos/08969_00

It appears that some people, including some congressfolk, are waking up and recognizing. Hopefully, the turf protectors and the obstructionists and the plain pure ignorant of the worlds of politics and the utilities themselves quit playing chicken with this and get the surge suppressors, updated insulators, and EHV transformer replacement capacity where it needs to be.

Straight up, if our grid goes down hard - it's not some garden variety storm blackout. The transportation system goes down because there is no fuel. No transportation,no food. No electricity for water pumps = no water. Unless you have a hand pump or live near clean water, you have NOTHING to drink. No Fiji water, no Evian, no Aquafina, no tap, no flushing toilets, nothing. For YEARS!

Cell phones, bank accounts, Pace Advantage, ADWs, all of it gone, lost to burned out microchips and burned out mega transformers.

The reason I am bringing this up is to try and get some pressure on Congress to do their job. I'm hoping beyond hope that maybe some general awareness and examination of the in-your-face evidence will get the people who can and must do it off their behinds and FIX THIS while it can still be fixed cheaply and efficiently.

Remember, EMPs and geomagnetic superstorms are not some theory. They've happened before, in far less vulnerable times (re: the telegraph system in 1859, the Starfish Prime airburst test in 1962, the Quebec blackout of 1989).

[prospector]

hope netflix and roku are working on this...

[boxcar]

hope netflix and roku are working on this...

Yeah...PA too. What in the world would I do without my PA fix? :D

Boxcar

[WeirdWilly]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/10/electronic-armageddon-solar-flares-disaster/

It a recently released report, NERC cited recent analysis by Metatech and Storm Analysis Consultants that suggests "the potential extremes of the geomagnetic threat environment may be much greater than previously anticipated. Geomagnetically induced currents on system infrastructure have the potential to result in widespread tripping of key transmission lines and irreversible physical damage to large transformers."

[WeirdWilly]

http://cabs4us.com/users/FIXEMPNOW/g/quebec2.jpg
Last word on the subject here. If anybody wants to keep the thread alive, good - the subject needs the awareness and attention of intelligent, analytical people. But I promise not to keep self-replying on this. I just hope a few people take a quick look, and then pass on the information. Then, hopefully, Senator So-And-So from the Great State of Procrastination, and Utility CEO Slowslug McFootdragger get off their no longer covered asses and FIX THIS!!!

I know this sounds "science fictiony" and "black helicopterish" - but in this case, it's there, and we've already been given enough warnings - we need to wake up to them.

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http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?APP=GAC&AID=1150&SiteID=-1

The US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ignored the unanimous bipartisan endorsement of the House of Representatives, two Congressional Commissions and the National Academy of Sciences and essentially threw out all electromagnetic pulse (EMP) language in the new energy bill. Instead the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources chose to focus only on cyber threats to the nation’s electrical grid.

The Senate committee’s amendments strip the House’s provisions that protected the electric grid from, nuclear and physical attacks and great geomagnetic storms. The Senate committee also chose to delete provisions to protect and the grid’s large transformers and require adequate backup inventory of the transformers. The committee also stripped FERC’s legal authority to mandate the owner/operators of the bulk electric grid to protect the system and address its vulnerabilities.

The nation’s electric grid is most vulnerable to an EMP attack due to its age a growing reliance on computer control systems (SCADA) and because of different methods of attacks. The grid is vulnerable from EMPs that are generated from direct hand held weapons, high altitude denotation of a nuclear bomb and the sun.

Contact your senator today and ask them to demand that Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Bingaman (D-NM) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and the U.S. Senate leadership to restore EMP protections in S.1462.

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$5.00 per American to keep our nation from being destroyed. WHO is blocking? WHY are they blocking?

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http://www.empactamerica.org/solar_emp.php

Natural Sources of EMP
EMP Caused by Geomagnetic Storm
Geomagnetic storms occur regularly and usually have effects at high northern latitudes however major storms have inflicted significant damage as in Canada in the 1980’s. A great geomagnetic storm, such as the 1859 Carrington effect, would have catastrophic consequences as the infrastructure has become more sensitive. It is widely believed that great storms are likely to occur every 100 years.
Occasionally plasma erupts from the surface of the sun which is a mass of moving, energy charged plasma. Solar flares or holes in the solar corona can also lead to emissions of an energy wave. The eruption travels through space as a solar wind and if aligned toward the earth the solar wind shock wave can hit the earth’s atmosphere which has magnetic properties. The shock typically occurs 24 to 36 hours after a solar event and magnetic storms usually last for 1 to 2 days but can last for many days. The solar wind will have a magnetic property or bursts of energy that can, in a large geomagnetic storm, rapidly change the magnetic field around the earth’s core leading to induced currents of energy in long metallic conductors (wires, rails, etc.). Transformers in the Grid used to step up or step down power voltages are connected to these wires and are subject to damage in the cores where wire copper windings can melt from the induction strong of strong magnetic fields in the transformers from the increased current in the wires caused by EMP. There are some 300 key transformers that are used in the initial segments of the U.S. Electric Grid. There are few spares and replacement manufacture can take over a year under normal conditions. Considering that these units are not manufactured in the U.S. replacements could take much longer to obtain, if ever.

[PaceAdvantage]

Do you honestly believe "the shadows that control the world" want the US to succumb to some sort of EMP attack where the power gets zapped for years?

How would the giant corporations make money? How would Big Oil make money when all the cars are zapped and electricity ceases to exist?

[WeirdWilly]

Do you honestly believe "the shadows that control the world" want the US to succumb to some sort of EMP attack where the power gets zapped for years?

How would the giant corporations make money? How would Big Oil make money when all the cars are zapped and electricity ceases to exist?

I suppose we could start with Ted Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7CP5jnXDUk&feature=related

Beyond that, I am not sure it relates as much to a malicious desire to kill millions and destroy the economy as much as a disbelief, or lack of understanding, of the problem and the solution.

[Steve 'StatMan']

I haven't read the article yet, but a (horribly) successful attack on the power grid would make the 9-11 attackers look like (horrible) underachievers.

[cj's dad]

I believe it is impossible to hit the entire grid in one fell swoop. A planned attack or geo-storm would hit a spot or spots along the grid.

There is an organization known as IEEE which has standards in place designed to protect equipment malfunction or at the very least to minmize same.

IEEE Section 241 "Overcurrent Protective Device Coordination" deals with fault currents and time intervals, Section IEEE 242 addresses "Short circuit Currents and "Coordination Time Intervals"while other sections deal with "Conductor Protection" - Maximum Inrush Currents" etc......

It is certainly not in anyone's interest to ignore this potential problem but I believe the protection is in place.

Also, consider that this could be a scare tactic to get the Feds to kick in funding to replace some very, very expensive equipment !!

Remember, if the meter stops spinning, the money stops flowing.

[WeirdWilly]

The following video (From National Geographic, not Alex Jones, Jeff Rense, or some dude in grandma's basement) explains it as best as I can understand it.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4821/Overview

There is a point that we could get hit regionally. That is more likely than a full blown bye bye North American power grid. Sure, it might not knock out the whole country, but it could cripple large parts of it, requiring draconian supply solutions (time to feed the generator, and pray no one steals it when you are out getting more gas).

As far as who pays for it, I don't care. For this, for the "keep millions of people from dying or being displaced fund", I'm cool with a dollar, even two or three a month, to modernize the most vital resource we have. This is National Defense, Homeland Security, keeping America alive.

As far as PA's question of who would want to destroy America - after all it would be bad for business.

Answer: Not for everybody. For some, it would be great.

And they all don't pray to Mecca, or talk like Boris Badanov or Jackie Chan. Of course, many of them do.

[Tom]

I was trapped at DTW airport the last time the grid had a problem.
It was pandemonium. Getting home was a real job and I was lucky to be sitting where I was when the group decide to grab up the last Hertz car.
Remember the scene of the helicopters leaving the embassy in Viet Nam.....the Hertz bus was hauntingly similar - one guy pulling me by the arms onto the bus as I kicked others off with my legs. Not pretty. :eek:

[WeirdWilly]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/26oct_solarshield/

Oct. 26, 2010: Every hundred years or so, a solar storm comes along so potent it fills the skies of Earth with blood-red auroras, makes compass needles point in the wrong direction, and sends electric currents coursing through the planet's topsoil. The most famous such storm, the Carrington Event of 1859, actually shocked telegraph operators and set some of their offices on fire. A 2008 report by the National Academy of Sciences warns that if such a storm occurred today, we could experience widespread power blackouts with permanent damage to many key transformers.

{ snip }
The troublemaker for power grids is the "GIC" – short for geomagnetically induced current. When a coronal mass ejection (a billion-ton solar storm cloud) hits Earth's magnetic field, the impact causes the field to shake and quiver. These magnetic vibrations induce currents almost everywhere, from Earth's upper atmosphere to the ground beneath our feet. Powerful GICs can overload circuits, trip breakers, and in extreme cases melt the windings of heavy-duty transformers.

This actually happened in Quebec on March 13, 1989, when a geomagnetic storm much less severe than the Carrington Event knocked out power across the entire province for more than nine hours. The storm damaged transformers in Quebec, New Jersey, and Great Britain, and caused more than 200 power anomalies across the USA from the eastern seaboard to the Pacific Northwest. A similar series of "Halloween storms" in October 2003 triggered a regional blackout in southern Sweden and may have damaged transformers in South Africa.

While many utilities have taken steps to fortify their grids, the overall situation has only gotten worse. A 2009 report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the US Department of Energy concluded that modern power systems have a "significantly enhance[d] vulnerability and exposure to effects of a severe geomagnetic storm."