Pepco's power grid failed again in the Westbard area of Bethesda early this morning. At 1:50 AM Monday, October 2, 2023, customers of the Exelon-owned electric utility lost power for about 40 seconds, residents report. There were no storms or notable winds in the area at the time of the outage. This was the latest in a series of blackouts and brownouts in the Westbard area over the last several years, none of which have been weather-related. The ongoing problems raise questions as to the ability of Pepco's system to absorb any additional service load in that area, which will add hundreds of new housing units along Westbard Avenue over the next two years.
20 comments:
Where's the big article about Regency missing the Sept 30th 11:59pm "deadline"?
Just wait until 2025 when the electric mandate for new construction takes place. Once again democrats think electricity comes from wall sockets and fail to see the forest from the trees.
@ 6:07 PM:
How much is electricity use going to increase because of the ban on gas stoves in new construction?
@6:10 It's not just gas stoves but ALL natural gas appliances, (including furnaces), in new construction. This along with the push to EV's, (most EV homeowners opting for Level 2 home chargers), and the 2025 ban on gas leaf blowers without a second thought of improving the electric grid is going to have consequences.
A couple of interesting things are going to happen. During the winter in the second half of this decade, people will be asked to reduce their use of electricity, (happened in TX when over-reliance on wind turbines failed to meet power consumption as well as CA where the governor asked EV owners to not charge their cars during a heat wave), of risk grid failure. The second is that Bethesda & Chevy Chase are going to look a lot more "lived-in" during the fall because electric blowers don't have the run time or power compared to a gas blower. DC is finding this out last fall when they had to get the gas blowers back out to finish leaf collection.
Liberals hate nuclear and think solar & wind are all they need. Perpetual motion machines stand a better chance but that's the lefts plan. Don't forget where Maryland gets most of their electricity: 37% Nuclear, 36% Natural Gas, 14% Coal For math challenged democrats, that's 50% FOSSIL FUELS to power your ZERO EMISSION vehicle not to mention the three stooges of battery production NICKLE, COBALT & LITHIUM which liberals think just shows up as a complete battery.
Lol @ 6:07. This isn't even the first time he's obsessed about new construction gas stoves. What a nut.
MoCo, with it anything goes for commercial developers, has done zero urban planning. Even Ehrlich’s appointed planning board doesn’t have any real experts in urban planning.
Triple the density of the whole region, Brooklyn south, with nothing done about the power grid - electric and gas, transportation, police, EMS fire and rescue, water and sewage…..
…. And so each is going to crash at some point in the next couple of years.
So 4:59 assumes gender? Not going to go well at your next therapy session.
You could provide the same information without the divisive finger pointing. The last think we need in this country is to be MORE divided. Thanks.
Yes, everyone knows MoCo is famously laissez faire and doesn't micromanage new construction at all. They definitely have "zero urban planning" - the thousand page planning docs for each neighborhood proves that!
I seriously wonder if the crybabies on here have spent even a day in MoCo in the last 40 years.
Omg! won't someone think about the electrical load of a leaf blower! You're ridiculous, 1:07. First off, new builds run single or dual zone heat pumps, not gas furnaces. It's not 1902 anymore. Second, it's completely nonsensical to think Washington Gas is able to properly size their residential utility lines and Pepco isn't.
Of course infrastructure upgrades will be needed over the next decades, just like they have literally every decade since the light bulb came along. Pepco is constantly expanding their capacity; it's how we keep adding population and buildings and - look at that! - still have electricity.
1:40 Is a true believer that their liberal government planners have figured out everything, (ignorance is truly bliss). One only needs to look at new construction projects to see that if natural gas is available, it's the preferred utility for heating air and water, identified by the white air intake/exhaust ports on the side.
Check prices lately of multi-stage heat-pumps or HWH, (which by the way last 40/50% less)? As usual the lowest income among us will suffer the most but the virtue signalling is priceless.
Regarding leaf blowers, DC has an entire warehouse dedicated to charging those 80V batteries. Ever seen a battery in thermal runaway? Happens a lot more than you think, (poor choice of the word think for 1:40). Google EV or lithium battery fires.
@1:40 Most people in BCC have lawn services and those guys are going to suffer. I suppose they could add a 8-10KW gas generator to their trailers to charge the batteries...
The finger pointing is the point. Absolute power, (Rockville & Annapolis), corrupts absolutely. All you need to do is check which "green energy" companies are donors and there is a correlation between grants & policy. Remember how many green energy companies got federal grants under Obama? Look how many went bankrupt with no accounting. Republicans go to jail for that so it's good to be a Democrat.
1:40 proves 1:07's point. Sizing the supply lines isn't the problem. Getting adequate electricity generation is. So 1:40 does believe that electricity comes from wall sockets. Keep your day job with the administration because the real world requires an understanding that you don't possess.
"As usual the lowest income among us will suffer the most but the virtue signalling is priceless."
You're the one virtue signaling - pretending you care about poor people when obviously they're not buying new builds in MoCo either way. And anyone who is even remotely educated on this topic knows heat pumps are far more efficient and less costly to operate and maintain than gas furnaces, anyways. I have no idea what your fetish is with gas, but your comments are just complete gibberish. I do appreciate this truly moronic hill you're dying on re: the power consumption of an electric leaf blower, though. You better start hoarding gas blowers - those carcinogens aren't going to inhale themselves! Bye bye, buddy.
7:26 is comedy gold if it didn't show about incredible lack of understanding. Lower income people will suffer the most not because if new builds but because leftists will overload the grid causing power shortages. A large percentage of existing homes, like Germantown, Gaithersburg, are electric only and are simply along for the ride that Elrich and the Council have put us all on.
Also, do a little research on heat pumps and their longevity vs gas furnaces. In many homes there are units 25+ years. Not the most efficient now but you would be on your 3rd heat pump.
"Getting adequate electricity generation is." "overload the grid causing power shortages."
Some of y'all need to wake up from your apocalyptic fantasies and wet dreams about how "leftists" are going to steal your girl and leave you without electricity (or maybe it's just one guy who types here over and over and over again). Imagine building out electrical infrastructure and production capacity with the technology of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, while dealing with the local population doubling every decade, while per capita energy usage is simultaneously skyrocketing.
Fast forward to today and MoCo's growth rate is SLOWING, not increasing. Appliances are getting MORE EFFICENT, not less. Per capita energy usage is FALLING, not rising. Meeting local energy needs has never been easier for utility companies. There's a reason why power plants being shut down left and right and it's NOT because energy is hard to produce or is a scare resource, Einstein(s).
There's zero reason even a moderately intelligent person would think all the improvements to power reliability that we've seen for the past century+ would all of a sudden collapse because of electric leaf blowers and improvements to heat pump efficiency. Every time you're typing inane comments on your successfully-powered electronic device be sure and think back to this ridiculous thread.
9:09 might be on to something if it weren't for real world examples of over reliance on renewables causing grid problems. I realize that if you can't see it from your house it doesn't exist but in the real world there is cause and effect. The saddest, (would be funniest if only you were affected), thing is like most liberals, never accept responsibility for your own policies like crime, the border oh and the elephant in the room, inflation.
This thread proves once again that people who specialize in checkers shouldn't play chess.
Hey Norm, (9:09), best to take the L on this one. I'm not 9:43 but like this thread that you end up digging yourself deeper with every word.
Let's see, on one hand:
"it's how we keep adding population and buildings and - look at that! - still have electricity"
On the other hand:
"growth rate is SLOWING, not increasing. Appliances are getting MORE EFFICENT, not less. Per capita energy usage is FALLING, not rising. Meeting local energy needs has never been easier for utility companies"
So which is it? I get liberals are closing nuclear and coal power plants, just not for the reasons you've stated in your second paragraph. Your first paragraph is diametrically opposite to your second but a broken clock is right twice a day so perhaps that's what you're going for.
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