U.S. power shutdowns presage an 'epidemic' of permanent blackouts
Predicted by expert!
Dear What Matters list members,
With the news just out of major power blackouts from Toronto
to New York city (See PS), let me refer you to this from a talk
given in November 2000, by Richard C. Duncan at a Pardee
Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America, in
Reno, Nevada:
". . . any number of factors could be cited as the 'causes' of [energy
supply] collapse. I believe, however, that the collapse will be
strongly correlated with an 'epidemic' of permanent blackouts of
high-voltage electric power networks - worldwide. Briefly
explained: "When the electricity goes out, you are back in the
Dark Age. And the Stone Age is just around the corner."
Richard Duncan told delegates at the symposium that he anticipated
Permanent blackouts occurring worldwide from 2012. "first there
are waves of brownouts and temporary blackouts, then finally the
electric power networks themselves expire." I presume he meant by
'brownouts' temporary blackouts such as is being experienced in the
U.S. right now. In any event, Duncan may be shown to have been
conservative rather than sensationalist in his prognosis.
For the rest of what he told the energy experts four years ago, go
to
http://dieoff.com/page224.htm
There are other articles of utmost
importance at the dieoff.com website managed by Jay Hansom.
This is how Hansom introduces a list of telling articles on the
unfolding global energy crisis.
"Petroleum geologists have known for 50 years that global oil
production would 'peak' and begin its inevitable decline within a
decade of the year 2000. Moreover, no renewable energy systems
have the potential to generate more than a tiny fraction of the power
now being generated by fossil fuels.
In short, the end of oil signals the end of civilization, as we know it."
'If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst.'"
-- Thomas Hardy
In friendship,
Boudewijn Wegerif
http://www.whatmatters.nu
PS - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A New York State official said
the Niagara Mohawk power grid overloaded on Thursday, causing
a massive power outage, CNN reported, and New York Major
Michael Bloomberg said it was likely a natural occurrence.
"It may be well into the evening before power comes back on,"
Bloomberg told the U.S. cable television network. He said smoke
from a Consolidated Edison Inc. plant in the city was due to the
plant's automatic shutdown, not to a fire, as had been reported.
He said, "I can tell you 100 percent sure that there is no evidence
as of this moment whatsoever of any terrorism."
A massive power outage swept across swaths of the eastern United
States and Canada on Thursday, leaving sections of New York,
Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto without electricity.
