标题中指出的弱点是美国电网。并且肯定是德克萨斯州电网。在最近在德克萨斯州的一周内令人恐惧的一周，我对我来说很清楚，许多其他人在这个国家的发电和分销系统被日期，并且不再有能力处理未来。德克萨斯州的双丁。
I don’t usually comment on topics like this, but when I experienced the full brunt of not having electricity for a week, I felt I should chime in. As the brutal winter storms hit Texas, almost everyone experienced loss of power, some for a day or so, many others got rolling blackouts, and more than a few of us who were without power for a week. Without power means more problems for some than others.
In my case, loss of power means no heat and no water. The well will not pump without power. So, we endured for a few days sleeping in our clothes in 38- to 40-degree temperatures indoors. We finally gave up and moved to a hotel. By the way, finding a hotel with power and water wasn’t an easy task. Anyway, I will not dwell on it. But clearly the lack of sufficient power to serve the state was a major part of the misery.
有趣的是，德克萨斯州拥有自己的电网，大多数明显没有连接到另一个美国网格。所以，尽可能地，没有外面的帮助。德克萨斯州系统由德克萨斯州电力可靠性委员会（ERCOT）经营。这个非营利组织通常是可靠的。但像大多数德州人一样，埃尔科没有为罕见的寒风天气做好准备。ercot没有能力处理它，天气真的让州对网格进行了抬头。
One of the problems was failure of some of the alternative-energy generating sources. Texas in its efforts to become “greener” built out a huge wind system. Almost 25% of the state’s the generating capacity is wind. However, the weather really brought many of those generators down with ice.
One rumor I was unable to confirm is that despite the availability of winterizing and ice protection, this wasn’t purchased to save money. Besides, the general opinion of the powers-that-be was Texas could never get that cold. I also think that the deregulation of the electrical utilities not too long ago had a hand in it.
On top of that, what little solar ERCOT has available (3.8% of total capability) was also mostly unusable with snow covering the panels and other equipment frozen. Most of Texas uses natural gas. It’s cheap and reliable. So is coal, which is still used. As it turned out, Texas’s only nuclear plant was down for maintenance. So, many are rethinking the alternative-energy approach. We all love those alternate-energy sources, but they can never totally fulfill the power needs of our growing nation. We need all of our energy sources for greater reliability and independence.
Of course, everyone uses more electrical/electronic products each year. You EEs design for low power now, but the sheer volume of new electrical products overwhelms that effort. And we are on the path to more electric vehicles (EVs). These power-hungry mobile appliances will really test the electrical grids. If everyone is forced to have an EV and then plugs in to recharge at night, can the grids handle the load? Hopefully, someone has done the math on that. My guess is that we will be surprised at how much energy will be needed.
风和太阳能很大，每个人都批准。但是，他们永远不会完全供应我们现在使用的东西或增加的使用量。也许太阳能电池板或风力发电领域Wyoming的大小会这样做。
当然，真实的解决方案是核武器。但这永远不会发生。过多的反对和监管，不合理。现代核技术比20世纪70年代和20世纪80年代的旧工厂更好，更便宜，更安全。
Maybe a few more extreme weather experiences will help people and the governments to understand it all. It’s not that difficult. We have the technology to fix the problem with new and better generating sources and to fix our grids for increased reliability.
Finally, realize that our enemies see the possibility of conquering us by just bringing down the U.S. grid. Our over-a-century-old systems are vulnerable in multiple ways. A few years back, a California substation was brought down with a high-power rifle at a distance as it shot out a major transformer. Those transformers are mostly not protected. And replacing one is a major expense and delay. Not many of those transformers are available “off-the-shelf” the next day. Talk about vulnerable.
我应该提醒您，从核爆炸中的一个主要的太阳能事件或电磁脉冲（EMP）几乎不会关闭国家。幸运的是，地球的磁场主要保护我们免受太阳危险，但我们将被一个大EMP淹没。
Anyway, there’s more to it than just a bunch of us Texans sleeping and freezing in the dark for a week with no heat or water. It appears to be a national problem.
