November 6, 2013

Urban

Disaster preparedness is big business in the USA. The big banks all have shadow rooms, vast cavernous buildings on the edge of New York and Chicago where the entire dealing team cold decamp in the event of another 9/11 or another Sandy or a power outage caused by a solar flare – actually not the last one, because then everything would go phut.

The U.S. government maintains a series of deep underground bunkers. Their purpose is mostly to protect the president and top U.S. government officials from a catastrophic incident.

But very little is done to protect private citizens from the effects of global catastrophes. We will largely be left to fend for ourselves.

Until Now.…

November 6, 2013 1 Comment

Energy

UK National Grid “likely” to collapse this winter

A top Utility executive has embarrassed the company that runs Britain’s power supply – by exposing the high risk of power cuts this winter.

He says the risk of power shortages has been underestimated by ministers and the National Grid, with factory shutdowns and “politically unacceptable” price spikes more likely than had been feared, energy giant SSE has warned.
National Grid last month said that in a cold winter the UK’s electricity “margin” – the safety buffer between peak demand and supply – would fall to just 5pc, the lowest since 2007, as old power stations are switched off.
But Keith MacLean, SSE’s director of policy and research, warned: “We think that could easily flip to minus 5pc.”…

November 6, 2013 No Comments