Things are a mess! No power at office yesterday morning, and the telephone equipment was hit by lightning and is not functional. Many traffic lights are off, so commuting is slow.
See: http://outagemap.georgiapower.com/external/default.html http://www.ajc.com/news/weather/forecasters-windy-morning-drive-but-diminished-cha/nfk3P/ As I have said, this illustrates the vulnerability of today's energy systems. Both electricity and gasoline depend on infrastructures that are easily disrupted. Natural gas is the least vulnerable because the infrastructure is underground. Disruptions can come from second or third order events, such as at the Fukushima reactor, where an earthquake caused a tsunami that destroyed the backup generator fuel supplies. Years ago I read about nuke in California that was shut down because a storm along the coastline stirred up the ocean, which broke off kelp, which clogged the cooling water inlet. I hope that cold fusion and other future technology can make power, telecom, and even transportation infrastructure less vulnerable to disruption. I hope that indoor agriculture and in vitro meat production will make food and water supplies with no link to natural conditions or weather. Colonization of the moon or Mars would help that about, as Arthur Clarke pointed out long ago. - Jed
