Imagine the Electrification of Everything

Then Imagine the Effect of Lengthy Blackouts

above - an attempt by the Dept. of Homeland Security to figuratively illustrate a grid collapse from an electromagnetic pulse

testing an idea

One way to test an idea is to imagine it being carried to its logical conclusion. Let’s try that with the idea of electrifying everything- all vehicles, even earth-movers, tractors, planes and trains, and all homes, offices, and appliances. Everything.

Never mind the expense of building out all the possible alternative sources of energy and the elimination of all energy sources that emit CO2. Never mind the time and expense of expanding our electrical grid with thousands of new high voltage power lines and the supporting pylon towers – let’s not worry about the expense while we test this idea.

Never mind the amount of land that is co-opted for those new power line routes, wind farms, and solar farms – let’s assume we’ll still have enough good farmland left to produce enough food.

Now let’s test the idea. The big test is to imagine what it would be like if we were absolutely, totally dependent on electricity, and all CO2 emitting energy sources were banned. No gas engines, no wood stoves, no factories running on coal, oil, gasoline, natural gas, or propane – just electricity. No homes with natural gas or oil furnaces – just electric heat and heat pumps. By the way, we have a Mitsubishi heat pump for cool days when I don’t feel like building a fire in the wood stove - but heat pumps are very inefficient when the temp gets down to freezing - so good luck with that. I don’t even turn it on if it’s below 40 degrees out.

now imagine a lengthy blackout

It could be caused by an unusual weather pattern, with dark, rainy days and little wind. Or it could be caused by a failure of the software that controls the whole power grid. Or by a terrorist attack on our grid. Such an attack could be through hacking the computerized controls of the grid system, or by simply blowing up a number of substations, or by a nuclear attack that uses EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) waves to shut down the grid. Or it could be caused by an extensive solar flare episode that puts out such strong EMP waves that it cripples the grid. (This happened in the northeast in 1989, one of the 12 biggest blackouts in history.)

In case you think there’s no danger of an extensive blackout, here’s a report from the experts at ferv.gov that know all about it, with all there source papers - read the whole thing here  but I’ll give you a few sample paragraphs that should make your hair stand on end:

“The nation’s power grid is vulnerable to the effects of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a sudden burst of electromagnetic radiation resulting from a natural or man-made event. EMP events occur with little or no warning and can have catastrophic effects, including causing outages to major portions of the U.S. power grid possibly lasting for months or longer...

“Naturally occurring EMPs are produced as part of the normal cyclical activity of the sun while man-made EMPs, including Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI) devices and High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP), are produced by devices designed specifically to disrupt or destroy electronic equipment or by the detonation of a nuclear device high above the earth’s atmosphere. EMP threats have the potential to cause wide scale long-term losses with economic costs to the United States that vary with the magnitude of the event. The cost of damage from the most extreme solar event has been estimated at $1 to $2 trillion with a recovery time of four to ten years, while the average yearly cost of installing equipment to mitigate an EMP event is estimated at less than 20 cents per year (?) for the average residential customer… I don’t know where they got the 20 cents - but I did find a company, EMPshield.com, that sells EMP protectors for home and vehicle. The device for home connects to your electric panel. The cost is $389 each for home and vehicle. I’m not able to recommend this product - don’t know enough about it - do your own research and see what you think. Please let me know (leave a comment) if any of you readers have experience with this or other products. Basically this is a large capacity surge protector - it protects your equipment but you’re still dead in the water until the grid power is restored.

“EMP threats raise grave concerns about the ability of the modern U.S. power grid to successfully recover from the effects of a major geomagnetic event. Since the last occurrence of a major geomagnetic storm in 1921, the Nation’s high voltage (HV) and extra high voltage (EHV) systems have increased in size over tenfold. Longer transmission lines that span greater surface potentials act as conductors for the geomagnetically induced current (GIC) that can devastate the electrical grid. GIC poses the risk of catastrophic damage to EHV transformers and can lead to long-term outages of large portions of the grid…while writing this, I saw an MSN news article about a new bunch of sunspots,  saying “massive solar eruption slams into earth…The sunspot group is so large, it is affecting the way the whole sun vibrates… solar flares can trigger 'planet-wide radio blackouts' and long-lasting radiation storms.”   

“The two other types of electromagnetic threats to the power grid examined in this study are high altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) and intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI). While man-made, such threats can prove similarly devastating to the electrical infrastructure and produce similar harm to the power grid.

“HEMP is produced by a nuclear weapon detonated above the atmosphere. No blast, shock or radiation is felt at the Earth’s surface; however, electromagnetic fields do reach the surface. The technical reports that comprise this study summarize the early- time and late-time HEMP environments that can threaten the U.S. power grid. These reports consider a number of areas to be particularly vulnerable to HEMP: substation communications and control systems, power generation facilities, power control centers and certain distribution power equipment…

“IEMI is a term that is applied to the non-explosive, non-nuclear intentional generation of intense electromagnetic fields that are used to introduce signals into electronic equipment for the specific purpose of disrupting, confusing or damaging these electronics. IEMI devices are malicious in nature and are used for terrorist or criminal purposes. Many types of IEMI are commercially available and can be as compact as a briefcase in size. In many ways, the IEMI threat is similar to that of the early-time threat of high-altitude EMP and can be addressed in a similar fashion.”

Conclusion

The idea of electrification of everything fails the test when carried to its logical conclusion. We would be totally dependent on the electric power grid, which is definitely vulnerable to catastrophic failure – it’s just a matter of time.

what to do instead of electrifying everything

Actually, we need to do the opposite of making everything electric. We need alternates to electric power. We need dependable sources of energy that will be capable of helping us get through the extended grid blackouts that are bound to come in the future. Coal, natural gas, liquified natural gas (LNG), gasoline, nuclear power, and hydropower are dependable regardless of weather, and to some extent, coal, natural gas, propane, LNG, and gasoline can be used even when there’s no electricity, although even power plants like hydro and nuclear would be temporarily useless when the grid distribution system is down. Gasoline is a good thing to have as a standby, since electric vehicles couldn’t be recharged, but after a few days, most folks would be out of gasoline because the gas pumps run on electricity. Same with furnaces. Be prepared to get out your walking shoes, and keep a good supply of firewood for your wood stove, (or lots of blankets and winter clothes) and to communicate only face-to-face after all your battery driven equipment, including cell phones and computers run down and can’t be recharged.

bonus

Here’s a list of cooking options from an article on emergency cooking by the Provident Prepper

The electrification of everything is the real ‘existential threat’; not global warming.