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Grid Addiction

In this episode - Grid Addiction . . .

Last week I asked you to walk out your front door and find the electric meter for your home. While you were out there, did you examine the power lines that link you to the electric grid (the grid)? You may live in a neighborhood like ours where all you see are the street light poles - no distribution lines because they're all underground. But one thing is for sure, we all rely on the electricity that connects us to the vast infrastructure called the grid.

Let's consider the obvious first; you have a smartphone. You carry a charger and a cord connecting you to power to keep that device functioning. It could be a USB cord these days that plugs into your car's charging port. For all we know, the electricity that charged your phone may have been generated miles from your home. Anyway, you get the picture you're reliant in some way to get power for that device. Without it - there's panic!

As I learn more about the challenges and benefits of renewable energy, I'm convinced that too many people today take electricity for granted - they are addicted. It's not "Where's the beef" It's - "Where's the Power?" They don't consider - or care - how they charge their devices but are hell-bent on plugging in wherever they find that ubiquitous outlet.

For example, when was the last time you were in an airport? If you've had to wait to board your flight, stop looking at the screen of your phone and look at the people around you. You may catch a glimpse of what appears to be the hind end of a hog rooting for truffles - expecting to claim the nearest free power outlet before someone else does. Why didn't they charge their device before leaving home? Who knows.

Anyway, let's begin the day again. It's 5:30 a.m. your opportunity clock goes off and rattles you out of bed. You stumble to the bathroom and flip on the light. If that light is incandescent, it converts about five percent of the electric energy to light the rest dissipates as heat. All the while, your refrigerator, heater, air conditioner, TV, WiFi router, home computer, Smart Assistant, water heater, and for some, electric cars are plugged in and drawing current from the grid. Do you start the day with coffee? If so, when you turn on the brew, it draws power. What about the toast you had for breakfast, lights in the kitchen, opening that refrigerator door a few times, and hearing it kick on? More Power draw!

And let's consider this for a moment - most households' needs are small potatoes. What about Hospitals, local businesses that provide services, Supermarkets with refrigeration, gas stations, restaurants, huge Cloud-Based server farms, office buildings, and, let's not forget, the Internet and cellular 5-G infrastructure? All this power generation and consumption happens magically for millions of folks concurrently without consideration or thought on your part. This is a daily occurrence that you expect or demand, provided you pay your electric bills.

But what happens if the power goes out? With technology today, thanks to a smarter grid, it's usually a brief outage in most urban areas unless a tornado or natural disaster takes out the power lines.

"What going on?" You ask, Damn utility company! We must have blown a fuse or a circuit breaker tripped, not so - and what about the folks that have solar? Well, their power is out, too; why? Because their PV system, connected to the grid, is designed to shut down during a power outage so your solar and everyone else's do not overload the grid (unless you have battery backup). Remember, all this is part of a delicately balanced network we call the grid that cannot be overloaded or out of balance.

My listening friends, we walk a precarious balance with electricity. By now, you get my drift - we are all "addicted" to electricity, like it or not. On second thought, maybe addicted is not the right word - dependent!

Indeed, the charger is your final connection to the grid. Always carry that wire - your umbilical cord - to avoid the dead phone jitters. 

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

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