90 seconds from catastrophe

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
This came up in a different form a couple years ago - we were discussing what happens if the economy breaks, etc. (Still a somewhat scary consideration based on how everything is going)

http://www.newscientist.com/article...rt-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html?full=true

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/06may_carringtonflare.htm


I LOVE sci-fi and read a recent series about a series of pulses that essentially knock out the grid / all working electrical parts similar to a EMP strike. This too was based on the solar flares and such events.

It was a great read - interesting to see how we would re-adapt and all the skills we have lost.

Then was reading the above and thought it was pretty interesting report, especially considering this is a "fairly normal" event for the sun. (Considering it happened in the late 1800s that is pretty recent!)

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Makes ya think... anyone made any long term changes since we last talked about this? Bought any parts, pieces, tools, etc , "just in case?"


Since the last time I have bought more fishing equipment, and a nice bow & arrow, etc. [A good muzzle loader too, yeah LOTS of ammo out there but muzzle loaders are pretty fool proof and caps are CHEAP]

Other plans are to plant an orchard at our new property / cleaning up the space now and a garden.

Finally - the new property has a creek with lots of water flow. I am planning on building a small dam or two on it to create deeper pools, etc.

I would like to build a spring house too / use the water for irrigation, etc. (Mechanical pumps might be a good idea as backup)


Just wondered if any of us has been thinking about this stuff with the economy going south, etc?

2012 appears to be the next major sun cycle based on history but they actually range in increments of 9-14 years.
 
2012=
Zombies
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+
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I plan on building a bomb shelter type home. (yes crazy I know) I want to buy some property with a good flowing stream on it and have a home hydro plant w/ EMP insulation. The home will have a 2 story "basement" w/ blast doors, overpressure protection, and a air filtration system. Hopefully this dream will come true before the US gets attacked or a solar flair that shuts the world down
 
Anyone got a good used 50 cal torrent gun for sale? I could mount it on the back of the bronco. Need about 10000 rounds to go with it also.
 
I want to read and research more of this, but quickly one error jumps off the page.

"Back-up generators would run at pivotal sites - but only until their fuel ran out. For hospitals, that would mean about 72 hours of running a bare-bones, essential care only, service. After that, no more modern healthcare."

Code requires 72 hours of fuel with the gens running at 100% rated capacity. Generally these are sized in either an N+1 configuration or at wost with a 20% over size. So the 72 hour bare bones is a bit misleading.
 
Also they totally gloss over hydro powered electric plants(which would be unaffected by a lack of fuel or other grip electricity) , which if I am not mistaken still make up more than 50% of the US power
 
Ill also debate that a given utility company has 1 or 2 crews trained to replace transformers.
 
SkyHiK5 said:
Also they totally gloss over hydro powered electric plants(which would be unaffected by a lack of fuel or other grip electricity) , which if I am not mistaken still make up more than 50% of the US power
Click to expand...

ive already got a dam with two fully functional water turbines, i wonder how much $$ it would take to swap them from turning mill stones to turning generators? :huggy:
 
SkyHiK5 said:
Also they totally gloss over hydro powered electric plants(which would be unaffected by a lack of fuel or other grip electricity) , which if I am not mistaken still make up more than 50% of the US power
Click to expand...

I believe the issue is where the system is overloaded, current is magnified many times over and thus burning out the engines themselves? In other words the "generator" (I realize my terms may be off) that is turned by the water itself, would get burned out / overloaded by the sudden surge?)

Wikipedia - "Worldwide, hydroelectricity supplied an estimated 715,000 MWe in 2005. This was approximately 19% of the world's electricity (up from 16% in 2003"

Later in the article it shows that only 5.74% of US electricity is provided by hydro?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity
 
the turbine/generator would disconnect itself from the grid before it did any harm to itself. i am a turbine/generator mech. for progress energy, but not an expert by any means
 
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