P.S. - Here's a link to First Energy. http://www.firstenergycorp.com/engine?s=com.firstenergycorp.www.Home&p=%2FCorporate+Profile%2FIndex
Jack Unger wrote: > There's been a bit of speculation lately that somehow WiFi > was the mechanism used to cause the recent power grid blackout > in the Northwest. I'm very interested in understanding the cause of > this blackout and I'm continuing to search the Net for detailed and > authoritative information. If you've got any, please post it (although it > may be off-topic for this list) or email it to me privately. > There's a lot of mass-market media crapola > out there right now and I think it's important that the real cause be > uncovered. Here's a link to one (good) recent New York Times > article that attributes the cause to "human error". > > http://nytimes.com/2003/08/27/national/27POWE.html?ex=1062648000&en=2f2f5042c00981be&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE > > Coincidentally, I just happened to be working on-site for a client in the midwest > last > week that just happened to be an electric power company. Over lunch, > I gently inquired if they knew what caused the problem. > They confessed that they too were "in the dark" as to the cause. > Bravely (or perhaps, foolishly) I plunged ahead. I asked "Would it be > possible that the blackout could have been intentionally triggered by > a power company itself?" > > NOTE: I not positive what motivated me to ask this question - perhaps > it was the multi-billion dollar ripoff by the electric power industry (Enron > and friends) that resulted in California rollling up the massive multi-billion > dollar deficits from the "power crisis" of 2001. The California budget > may never again (in my lifetime, anyway) be in balance. > > My power company/client hosts kindly provided the following answer: > Well Jack...electric companies practice for many different kinds of power > flow scenarios so that they can respond to these situations appropriately > and therefore keep the power on, even when supply and demand fluctuate. > In fact they use computer software to simulate all of these different power-flow > scenarios. They can see in advance what the loss of different transmissions lines > or generators will do to these power flows. > > At that point, I decided not to press for further information. > I concluded that an electric company could, if it wanted, use the simulation > software to determine in advance how to either preserve the flow of electric power > or how to disrupt it. > > CAUTION: The following paragraphs contain full-frontal speculation. > > Am I saying that "First Energy" or some other power company intentionally > disrupted the power grid for business reasons of their own? No - I'm not > saying that and I have no proof of that. Am I saying that "First Energy" had > the ability to figure out in advance how to disrupt the electrical grid? Well, it > seems probable that they at least have the software that would allow them to > know how to disrupt the grid and cause the blackout, if they chose to do so. > > 1. Is First Energy guilty? - No. > 2. Is some other utility company guilty? - No. > 3. Was the blackout an accident? - Probably not. > 4. Am I speculating? - Yes, I am. > 5. Am I acting responsibly? - Yes, I am. > 6. Was the blackout caused by WiFi hacking? - Probably not. > 7. Will the truth ever really emerge? - Probably not. (The Energy Department > is conducting the investigation, in other words, the Energy Industry is > investigating itself) > 8. Is the Energy Department controlled by the energy industry itself? - Yes. > 9. Would First Energy make more profit if the Energy Department spent > 50 to 100 billion TAXPAYER DOLLARS to upgrade the electrical grid in > the United States? - Yes. > > I suggest that we all watch to see who is going to be paying (in other words, > whose electrical rates are going to go up) to upgrade the electrical grid and > which companies are going to profit the most from this money-spending. > > If we all keep digging, maybe (just maybe) we'll eventually understand why > this blackout took place. > > jack > > -- > Jack Unger - President, Wireless InfoNet Inc. > Author of the WISP Handbook - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs" > http://www.ask-wi.com/book.html > True Vendor-Neutral WISP Training-Troubleshooting-Consulting > http://www.ask-wi.com/services.html > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (818)227-4220 -- Jack Unger - President, Wireless InfoNet Inc. Author of the WISP Handbook - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs" http://www.ask-wi.com/book.html True Vendor-Neutral WISP Training-Troubleshooting-Consulting http://www.ask-wi.com/services.html Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (818)227-4220
