On 18 Dec 99, at 10:41, Cyndi Norman wrote:
>
> And if you're hooked up to the grid you don't have to worry about having
> enough power for the starting load of your power tools. For some people,
> being on the grid at all is philosophically abhorant, but I don't have a
> problem with it.
Not philosophically abhorrant to me, but practically abhorant. Having
lived in an area where the big grid went down big time for a good
long time in parts of the region, my first priority if I am ever
fortunate enough to own property would be to take it off the grid. I
also support people who are agitating to shrink the grids to locally
produced energy sources. The image of the crumpled high tension
towers will stay with me for a long time. The knowledge that the
whole power supply to the National Capital of Canada depended for
several days on one sagging half capacity wire is pretty powerful.
The understanding that, that wire was all that was between
hundreds of thousands of people and no heat, no clean water, and
no energy for cooking is an amazing lesson that is being forgotten
all to quickly.
sph
Sandra P. Hoffman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.flora.org/sandra/
