Can Utility Companies Accommodate the Increased Demand for a Switch to EVs?
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I didn't mean anything against engineers, maybe I stated that wrong. Engineers a lot of the times do with possibilities, and there are often times circumstances which cannot be foreseen. I have been an arguments with engineers over this sort of thing and they're so out of it that their design was perfect they blame me for sabotaging it.
I wasn't even a glimmer in my parents eye in 1974. in my entire life I've never experienced this so it's a much more rare event. One I'm not really even worried about
It doesn't though. You're talking about an extremely rare event one so rare that people in their forties may never have even experienced it. It doesn't put it into perspective you're doing the what if thing.
Just for fun here is the NY Times write up of the 73 problem...
That was a political problem. Privatizing the grid, then isolating it from the rest of the US grid, and then letting the company that ran it fail to winterize the power plants (mostly the piping of the natural gas plants) even after being warned that they needed to 10 YEARS ago (by representatives from BOTH parties). The GOP then decided that it was more important to listen to the energy company's lobbyists than anyone else and let them get away with it.
EVs are not straining the grid here on the east coast. Most charge at night when power plants are normally ramped down and actually make the grid MORE efficient and provide less of a shock load than AC or electric heater loads during the day.
That was a political problem. Privatizing the grid, then isolating it from the rest of the US grid, and then letting the company that ran it fail to winterize the power plants (mostly the piping of the natural gas plants) even after being warned that they needed to 10 YEARS ago (by representatives from BOTH parties). The GOP then decided that it was more important to listen to the energy company's lobbyists than anyone else and let them get away with it.
EVs are not straining the grid here on the east coast. Most charge at night when power plants are normally ramped down and actually make the grid MORE efficient and provide less of a shock load than AC or electric heater loads during the day.
What is used to heat homes during the cold nights? As I well remember, when living in Northern NY years ago, the ambient temperature dropped after sunset, and more electricity was used to heat one's home. But a cloud cover had the opposite effect. In this case it would ge slightly warmer.
The same happens in the interior of Alaska during the winter months. The temperature drops the most on clear days and nights, but much more at night than during the day. Sometimes we have air inversions where it gets warmer a few hundred feet above the ground, and this warm air moves down while the cold air moves up.
What is used to heat homes during the cold nights? As I well remember, when living in Northern NY years ago, the ambient temperature dropped after sunset, and more electricity was used to heat one's home. But a cloud cover had the opposite effect. In this case it would ge slightly warmer.
A lot of northern homes are heated by oil, propane, NG, or heat pumps, so the electric load isn't quite as great. Modern heat pumps work down to -20 degrees, so they work in much of the CONUS. And they don't use much electricity (generally a dedicated 15 amp breaker). We're working on converting our propane heated house over to efficient heat pumps to save money and use less energy overall, since here in the Mid-Atlantic, we get down to 0F, but rarely below that.
Most of the grid load is still during the day, which is why solar is still a large part of the usage solution.
A lot of northern homes are heated by oil, propane, NG, or heat pumps, so the electric load isn't quite as great. Modern heat pumps work down to -20 degrees, so they work in much of the CONUS. And they don't use much electricity (generally a dedicated 15 amp breaker). We're working on converting our propane heated house over to efficient heat pumps to save money and use less energy overall, since here in the Mid-Atlantic, we get down to 0F, but rarely below that.
Most of the grid load is still during the day, which is why solar is still a large part of the usage solution.
In northern MA, a lot of us with older homes use natural gas, up in Maine where they don't have enough people-density to provide adequate return on providing natural gas infrastructure, most people run wood stoves, pellet stoves or oil heat. For quality new construction in MA, NH and ME - places that are fairly tight and well insulated, many new homes have a low temperature heat pump from Fujitsu or Mitsubishi - supposed to have the lowest operating cost besides a wood stove, plus you get cooling for the sticky days in summer too.
A lot of northern homes are heated by oil, propane, NG, or heat pumps, so the electric load isn't quite as great. Modern heat pumps work down to -20 degrees, so they work in much of the CONUS. And they don't use much electricity (generally a dedicated 15 amp breaker). We're working on converting our propane heated house over to efficient heat pumps to save money and use less energy overall, since here in the Mid-Atlantic, we get down to 0F, but rarely below that.
Most of the grid load is still during the day, which is why solar is still a large part of the usage solution.
When living in Northern NY, right next to the Canadian/US border, a great portion of the electricity came from Canada. The old homes were poorly insulated compared to the homes of today.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
