08-17-2003, 03:02 AM
Just a little update on the power failure news: it wasn't caused by heat wave, it wasn't hot enough. THe report of lightening strike was also false as is the fire in New York. They did notice that the power transmission that runs around Lake Erie between Michigan and New York had strange behavior just before the blackout hit. Before, there were about 300 Megawatts flowing from west to east but then suddenly the flow reversed direction and reached 500 Mw. Something happened on the west end of Lake Erie (Michigan and Ohio) that caused the unusually heavy drain on the power lines. No one has any idea why that happened.
Complicating the matter are those transmission lines were new when black & white TV were in use. Today, almost every house has big color TV, computer (sometimes more thna one) and other power guzzline appliances but those power lines were virtually unchanged. So until the power lines are upgraded to handle higher capacity, more blackout like this one can still happen.
Complicating the matter are those transmission lines were new when black & white TV were in use. Today, almost every house has big color TV, computer (sometimes more thna one) and other power guzzline appliances but those power lines were virtually unchanged. So until the power lines are upgraded to handle higher capacity, more blackout like this one can still happen.