Potential for power blackouts in less than 3 years

[tonyreddevil]

how can you do that?

[damian_steele]

how can you do that?

Ignore him, Tony. He was being facetious.

[squern]

Not facetious - honest.
I'm doing what everybody else can to avoid the catastrophe of a failed power station. Precisely nothing!

My point was this: What is the point of "the authorities" putting this information out, and other people spreading it? We can't do anything about it, and it will just cause people to worry.

A cynic might think we are being tee-ed up to accept somthing nasty (prices), if we can be persuaded that the alternative is more awful.

[damian_steele]

My point was this: What is the point of "the authorities" putting this information out, and other people spreading it? We can't do anything about it, and it will just cause people to worry.

Can you stop a storm, a flood or an arctic cold snap? No, of course not. However, if you are aware they are coming you can make sensible preparations for their arrival.

It helps if you stop looking for the problems and start thinking about the solutions.

[squern]

The original post was about the shortage of power generation capacity, and the vulnerability to problems caused by power station breakdowns.
That was the post I replied to.

I am not looking for the problems - just the opposite; the "problems" as outlined by politicians and companies with vested interests, come to us.
And they always come with a solution which involves spending a lot of public money.

Of course, we should all take reasonable precautions against power shortages. Keep a stock of tinned food, candles, and so forth.
But that won't stop the power station breaking down, or the storm, or the cold snap. We will have to deal with them if and when they happen.

There is nothing that we can do as individuals to prevent the storm, or the power station breakdown.

We've had a lot of flooding in the East of England recently, people's homes have been flooded and some have collapsed into the sea.
My precaution, 30 years ago, was to buy a house that was not on a flood plain, and quite a bit above sea level. That would not have prevented the roof blowing off, but it was the extent of the precaution I could take.

[tonyreddevil]

wise move

[liverdodo]

Just like to thank Damian & everyone who posted on this thread.....Why ? because today my power supply was cut from 8.30am until 10.40pm due to an underground cable fault.

However today, I have been warm, able to make hot drinks & heat basic food, even had enough light to read by after dark. Because a few weeks ago I took advice from Damian's & several other posts here, and I made up a small emergency box, made a list of the National grid & suppliers etc. I also invested in a small camping stove, put new batteries in a torch & old radio, along with a jigsaw puzzle, book and candles etc.

Never thought I would ever use my little emergency box how wrong I was!

I must say after nearly 15 hours without gas or electric I was delighted to have it back on again.

Thank you all

[damian_steele]

Just like to thank Damian & everyone who posted on this thread.....Why ? because today my power supply was cut from 8.30am until 10.40pm due to an underground cable fault.

However today, I have been warm, able to make hot drinks & heat basic food, even had enough light to read by after dark. Because a few weeks ago I took advice from Damian's & several other posts here, and I made up a small emergency box, made a list of the National grid & suppliers etc. I also invested in a small camping stove, put new batteries in a torch & old radio, along with a jigsaw puzzle, book and candles etc.

Never thought I would ever use my little emergency box how wrong I was!

I must say after nearly 15 hours without gas or electric I was delighted to have it back on again.

Thank you all

I'm glad everything worked out for you.
It's good to know that someone has been helped by this thread. Thanks for posting your story.

[willothewisp]

From at least 1997/8 companies knew there was a problem with our national grid and the shortage of energy. I was also told that the size of 1 tonne of nuclear waste = 1 shoe box. Now they are now saying we might have powercuts - so what have they done in the last 16 years - definitely not invested in their infrastructure and no doubt, they will want the tax payer to pay for the repairs/infrastructure and rip us off with more increases in energy prices. Though there are problems with nuclear, but right now, as there are no alternatives that will supply us with enough energy, we do need to invest in it. The only problem is if there is a catastrophic accident a '50 mile' radius is a huge lump of our small country. I dont believe another country should invest in this - because if anything does go wrong its not on their land - and no cutbacks if they overspend as it is too important to take any risk.

[damian_steele]

Businesses will be paid to cut their energy use on winter evenings next year, highlighting the rising threat of blackouts as the UK’s ageing coal plants are closed.

The proposal comes amid repeated warnings from the energy regulator Ofgem about the increased risk of power shortages by the middle of the decade. These have stoked fears that Britain could soon be facing its first sustained wave of blackouts since the 1970s.

Energy has moved to the top of the political agenda after sharp price increases were announced by the big six utilities over the past two months. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has pledged to freeze household fuel bills if his party wins power in 2015.

The fear of rising energy costs comes as Britain prepares to close a fifth of its power-generating capacity in the coming years. The governing coalition is seeking to plug the gap with £110bn of investment in new energy infrastructure, much of it in offshore wind farms and nuclear power stations.

But there are fears the new plants will not come on line quickly enough to overcome the imminent dip in power supplies.

FULL STORY: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/88b6fb94-6...44feabdc0.html

Also: http://news.sky.com/story/1185275/na...tion-power-use