I think I just hit enter at the wrong time, so the first part of this may have been posted.

At a local Y2K forum I got to talking with the V.P. of the local power company. He said we make 10% of our winter useage power from a local dam, and he was fairly confident that thye were compliant. The other 90% we get from a larger outfit to the north, and he was less confident about their ability to weather Y2K. Then we started talking about where the power should go if we only had 10% of normal.

His first reaction was of course the police and fire departments, then the hospitals, followed by the water treatment plants and the water pumping plants... Ok, I agree there. Then I started suggesting things he hadn't thought of. You might want to speak to your own local electric authorities about some of them.

First I should state that I am no power expert and I don't know how easy it is to turn on just part of a power grid, but given it is possible to pick and choose where the power goes (after all, they can turn on and off each house as it pays or doesn't pay it's bills,) then here are some other concerns:

Railroad switches. Probably not high on most people's immediate concern list, but how do you plan to get food and supplies to people without trains???

Local schools as gathering places for those without power. They have kitchens and heat, they are within walking distance of almost everybody. Got a better idea?

One or more local RADIO stations. Some have generators, but most are not geared to stay on the air by generators for long. We need ways to get news, and more people have battery-powered radios than TVs. If the power starts running low, have all of the stations tell people to tune to one station you will keep on the air after the rest lose their genterators so that people know where to listen.

Can you rotate electricity around the grids so that each house has it for an hour at a time twice a day? This could keep refrigerators going enough to keep food good. Here in western Oregon it won't likely be cold enough to keep food outside safely.

This si just what I get off the top of my head. Anyone else care to put in your two cents worth? If we plan how to use limmited resources we might just make it through. If we try to live off of generators the way we live now, it just wont work.

-- Tania Baildon (tbaildon@yahoo.com), September 08, 1999

Answers

Traffic lights.

(along with railroads) container unloading terminals.

nursing homes.

food processing plants.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 08, 1999.

Power up chemical plants and facilities containing hazardous chemical and biological materials. They don't need any problems. And we don't need the problems that they could cause if things get out of whack.

Power up some groceries stores (here and there) as they are all well equipped to store perishable foods. Of course, cooperation of the store management with emergency relief teams would have to be ironed out before the lights go out.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 08, 1999.

Dairies and climate controlled animal facilities. Otherwise, livestock will have to be put down under animal welfare considerations. If that happens, it will take a long time to rebuild herds, flocks, etc. and the food supply will be affected.

If homes had power a few hours a day, they could run generators and recharge a battery bank while doing laundry and cooling the refrig.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), September 09, 1999.

Marsh,

In thinking about recharging batteries, it seems like I need 24 hours to charge up many of my standard batteries (if you take portable phone, cellular phone, power tools, and Back UPS into consideration). Otherwise, they are not going to get much of a recharge or, worse, they will develop a memory for only holding a very minimal charge.

How long does it take to charge the run of the mill kind of batteries?

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 09, 1999.

I have a charger that takes 3 hours to charge 4 regular ni-cads. It was sold as a "fast charger" so I think most of them take longer.

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), September 09, 1999.

Your right Stan. I am topping off my battery bank right now and it is taking about a day for each deep cycle 12v. I also have minimal solar to help maintain a trickle charge.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), September 09, 1999.

" V.P. of the local power company... fairly confident(about 10% of power)... other 90% less confident... where the power should go if we only had 10% of normal... His first reaction was of course the police and fire departments, then the hospitals, followed by the water treatment plants and the water pumping plants... Ok, I agree there. Then I started suggesting he hadn't thought of.

113 days left.

I wonder how many other utitities have "contingency plans" as well thought out?

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 10, 1999.

Hi Marsh - My personal priority is a couple hours a week for laundry and vacuuming. LOL. Preferably not between 2 and 4 am.

I recall reading that, after emergency facilities, residential will have priority over commercial, and that many of the largest commercial facilities probably have agreements with the local utility to ration their power. However, the item went on to state that if the power were out long enough, residential use might start taking a backseat to commercial.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), September 10, 1999.

24 hour/day * 60 minutes/hour = 1440 minutes 1440 minutes of normal power is cut to 140 minutes via 90% reduction Everybody still requires, needs, wants some, so for the 74 necessary things listed on this page, you all get 2 minutes each per day, hey, save it up and have 14 minutes a week.

-- BH (silentvoice@pobox.com), September 10, 1999.

...party pooper...

Actually, this brings out a factor that is a real issue for our society. Do we have the discipline to sacrifice our immediate personal comforts for long term survival? Who makes those decisions?

I know animals always get put last. I am reminded of a friend who had an uncle who drove all his cattle into a pit and shot them during the Great Depression. He coud not afford to care for them and no one had the money to buy meat. If everyone did this, we would have a big food shortage when we got past reserves and did need milk and meat. These long term effects would prolong the damage and period it would take to recover.

I wonder if in the immediate cry for survival or urban whine for comfort, whether long term infrastructure and economic issues will be brushed aside and come back later with a vengence to haunt us. It really concerns me that resource allocation decisions may be based on immediate market factors of who has the wealth or political clout or ahining masses, instead of the bigger picture.

You could extend this to manufacturing too. Would beanie babies come before canning jars because the beanie baby company was willing to pay more for its electricity or because yuppie children just couldn't live without their beanie babies?

Do we have the self discipline (maturity) as a society, as a generation, as a nationality to sacrifice immediate gratification for the greater or longer term interests of "the community?" (My personal feeling is that ALMOST EVERY VALUE this nation, society, generation exhibits is against this sacrifice/maturity materializing.)

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), September 10, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

Gas Stations

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), September 10, 1999.

*For Educational Purposes Only*

Boot Camp Week 89: We're talking current affairs. Don't interrupt!

We take the mains for granted, but if it fails when you are using your PC the results could be disastrous. Rick Maybury explains how you can filter out those fluctuating voltages

SO you think you are ready for the end of the Millennium? Your computer's internal clock and operating system passed the "rollover" test, you've purged all non-compliant software, downloaded the latest upgrades and patches and laid in a stock of tinned food. January 1 comes and goes and your PC appears to be working normally, confidence is high, and you're halfway through saving a large and important file when phut - the mains cuts out.

It may have nothing to do with millennium "bugs" in power company computers. Electricity supplies can fail for any number of reasons, but the chances will be higher than usual during the first few weeks of January, especially if we have a hard winter. But whatever the cause, even a brief interruption lasting no more than a split second can be enough to cause the files and data you are working on to be lost, or worse! Important system files can be corrupted and leave you with an inoperable PC.

We have become accustomed to a reliable mains supply in this country. For most of us in towns and cities, blackouts and "brownouts" have been a comparatively rare in recent years and this has given us a false sense of security.

Power supply modules inside desktop machines have improved enormously in the past few years and they can iron out minor variations in mains voltage and even cope with small spikes and surges, but a complete power loss can cause considerable damage. There is only one solution - other than using a battery-powered laptop - and that's a box of tricks called an UPS, or uninterruptible power supply.

A UPS connects between the mains socket and your computer. Inside there's a re-chargeable battery, a battery charger and a circuit called an inverter. Its job is to convert the low voltage DC from the battery into 240 volts AC. When the mains fails the UPS switches automatically to the battery supply, maintaining the supply to the computer. Depending on the size of the battery, the backup power supply can last from a few minutes to an hour or more, which should be long enough for you to save files, close programs and carry out a safe shut down.

Broadly speaking there are two types of UPS: online and standby. Online models operate all of the time by keeping the battery constantly charged and supplying power to the inverter, which powers the computer. In this case the battery acts as a buffer between the computer and the mains, eliminating any irregularities in the mains voltage.

Standby models kick in the instant the supply fails, taking between two and 10 milliseconds to restore power. The interruption is too brief to upset most modern computers, though it could cause problems on some older machines. Incidentally, standby UPS tend to be a little cheaper than online types. Some more recent UPS designs are in effect hybrids, using what's known as a double conversion process, which lightens the load on the battery and provides a constant supply.

Most UPS modules are supplied with operating software that flashes up an on-screen warning when the mains supply fails. Some programs will carry out an automatic save and shut-down routine for you, in case you are not there to do it yourself. UPS management programs can also monitor the health of the battery, indicating when it needs replacing (usually every two to three years) and continually check the condition of the mains supply, logging trends and predicting possible failures. Most models now have a "hot-swap" facility that allows the battery to be exchanged while the unit is operating. Additionally all UPS devices filter and "condition" the mains voltage, removing potentially harmful spikes and surges, maintaining a steady, smooth supply.

It all sounds terribly complicated and expensive but surprisingly it's not. UPS units designed to protect stand-alone Windows desktop PCs costs from as little #65, which is a very small sum to pay when you consider how much your data, or even your computer is worth. UPS systems are normally rated by capacity quoted as volt-amperes or "VA" (see Jargon Filter). The typical range is from 200 to 1,500VA. Heavy-duty UPS systems for servers and networks, fed from high-power circuits, go from 2,000VA upwards. However for most home computer users UPS modules in the range 200 to 500VA are usually more than adequate, providing between five and 15 minutes worth of power, depending on the computer, size of monitor and any peripherals.

Jargon filter

Brownout A large reduction in the mains supply voltage, causing lights to dim and electronic devices like computers to stop working.

Spikes, surges & transients Brief increases in mains voltage, varying from a few volts to several thousand volts, caused by lightning strikes, grid switching and other devices connected to the supply.

VA Volt-Ampere, a measure of electricity supply and generation. You can work out the required capacity of a UPS by adding up the power consumption figures (RMS values measured in watts) of your PC, monitor etc, into a VA figure by multiplying it by 1.414.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 15, 1999.