America's electrical grid is headed for a total meltdown

[NickB79]

https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-power-outages-more-common-climate-change-electric-grid-infrastructure-2023-3?amp

This might have been considered a once-in-a-lifetime event in the past, but mass blackouts are starting to become a more regular feature of modern American life. Power outages have increased 64% from the early 2000s, and weather-related outages — many driven by the worsening climate crisis — have increased 78%. But it's not just nature making our grid shakier: A system that was once largely controlled by localized public entities has been handed over to layers of regional authorities and private companies whose goal is maximizing profits — not reliability. As a result, our electrical system has been plagued by decreasing reliability, lagging maintenance, and soaring costs. All this has left America's energy system woefully unprepared to handle our uncertain future.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. evrything is about profit.

with some utility poles in front of my apartment that have date pins like 1909 or 1910 no wonder..

[DBoon]

2. Over 100 years ago, there was a movement for public ownership of critical utilities

That movement needs to be revived

https://bigthink.com/the-present/municipal-electricity-utility/

Municipal or community utilities are utilities that are owned and operated by the local government or another state body to provide a service to the public. It is common to see these in different parts of the country providing many services; among them electricity, water, gas, internet, telephone services, and garbage removal.

This isn’t a new idea; Los Angeles has had a publicly owned electric utility for over one hundred years. It also isn’t a fringe one, one in seven Americans are served by such a utility at the time of writing. However, as debates over our energy future take on ever-increasing importance and concerns over corporate power in American life come to the forefront, the idea is taking on a new life.

The American Public Power Association (APPA), the trade association for community-owned electric utilities, lays out the case for public power in straightforward terms. On their stats and facts page, they explain how “Not for profit, community-owned, locally controlled” utilities provide better service at lower rates than privately owned utilities while also providing revenue for their communities.

Examples of well-run municipal electric utilities that offer a clear alternative to the typical model abound. In Omaha, Nebraska, a state which is entirely powered by cooperatives and municipal utilities, voters elect the members of the utility board of directors. Meetings of the board are open to the public and televised. Each year, a portion of the profits made are given back to the city to be spent at the discretion of the city council.

[hunter]

3. All we need is an Elon Musk PowerWall for every man, woman, and child on earth...

... an infinite number of wind turbines, and a few million monkeys pounding furiously away on typewriters about energy resources measured in "households" or "Olympic size swimming pools."

Everything will be fine.