The other day, someone asked me what the most surprising thing was that I learned while writing Before the Lights Go Out, my book about America’s electric infrastructure and the future of energy. That’s easy. The most surprising thing was definitely my realization of just how precarious our all-important grid system actually is.
There are two key things here. First, the grid doesn’t have any storage. (At least, none to speak of.) Second, the grid has to operate within a very narrow window of technical specifications. At any given moment, there must be almost exactly as much electricity being produced as there is being consumed. If that balance is thrown off, by even a fraction of a percent, you start heading toward blackouts. There are people working 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, making sure that balance is maintained on a minute-by-minute basis.
That’s a long way of explaining why I find Blackout Tracker so fascinating. Put together by Eaton, a company that makes products that help utilities manage different parts of the electric grid, this little web app shows you where the electric grid has recently failed, and why. The Blackout Tracker doesn’t claim to include all blackouts, but it gives you an idea of the number of blackouts that happen, and the wide range of causes blackouts can have. For instance, in the picture above, you can see that Wichita, Kansas, had a blackout earlier this week that was related to a heatwave—hot weather meant more people turned on their air conditioners in the middle of the day, and, for whatever reason, there wasn’t enough electrical supply available to meet that demand. The result: Blackout.
One major flaw: Most of the time Blackout Tracker can’t tell you how long a blackout lasted. But that’s probably got more to do with what information the utility companies are willing to release than anything. Still, I think this program is a nice primer for people who aren’t aware of all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure electricity remains flowing, nice and steady.
Check out Blackout Tracker (Also available for the UK, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand)
Learn more about how the grid works (and doesn’t work) in my book, Before the Lights Go Out.
I don’t remember where I picked this link up from, so if you’re the one who sent it to me, please give me a little tap and I’ll make sure you are properly thanked!