Linemen Are Always Wired Up
I heard a noise last summer and looked around the corner to find a truck parked in my back yard.
A lot of the utility workers from around here are down in the southeast right now, trying to repair all the infrastructure damage done by Hurricane Michael. They're putting in some long, long hours, a long way from home.
On more normal days these are the guys who keep my computer and TV running, not to mention, oh, lights and heat. Speaking as a person who once, as a lad, tried to dig a piece of bread out of the toaster with a fork, I wouldn't take their job for love or money. (The toaster won.)
When do they finally understand that power lines need to be underground, at least the ones inside the urban areas?
Every time there is a storm its the same mess, and it takes days or weeks until the people have electricity again. At which point all your stuff in the freezer is spoiled, or in winter you got a pneumonia or something.
Also it wouldn't need the millions of transformers anymore, that get struck by lightning and catch fire every now and then.
I know its a huge task, but it would create jobs and prevent a lot of damage in the future. And while they are on it, they could lay high speed internet to all houses as well.
Apparently there are several reasons, but as usual the top one comes down to money:
https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-power-lines-be-underground
There is no reason why it cannot be done, you wont find any over ground power lines here being used for the distribution of power to houses. Well, may be some farm houses that are to far away from everything still have them, but not streets in towns.
We have, however, the high voltage overland lines on tall masts, but they dont get easily damaged by falling trees or debris, because they are much to high up. And they are talking of building new ones (needed for the wind and solar power distribution) also underground, because people are protesting that they get head ache from the high voltage lines.
Its always the same: they are all for renewable energy - just not anywhere near to their own house.
Of course I'm aware that it would be very expensive to put all the supply cables in the ground, and quiet annoying too, as it would mean years of road work. But on the long run it would be worth it. And it would create lots of jobs now and boost the economy.
Most houses here have overhead distribution lines. You can get an underground line installed, but you have to pay extra for it, and if something goes wrong it's a lot more expensive and time consuming to repair.
Just the same, I'm with you: I think in the long run it would be better to bury all the lines, even if it does mean trading some problems for some others. It might be a public works project they can do during the next recession, to bring people jobs and job training.
Thats a strange system somehow, that you have to pay the connection. I mean, its in the interest of the supplier to get you as a customer, isn't it.
Here, you only pay whats done on your property. Well, that could get expensive if you live in a place like Neverland, but for normal houses like yours its not that bad.
I hear all those worries about repairs of underground cables - that is just the joy of underground cables: the dont need repairs. I cannot remember when there was the last power outage in my street, may be 20 years ago perhaps, for 10 minutes or so. They are build very long lasting. The only danger is some overenthusiastic excavator driver perhaps.
Yeah, I hoped the USA would see some major infratructure program like Trump promised as a candidate. Hundreds of billions for roads, bridges, power lines and whatever, remember that?
Well, that didn't happen yet. Instead he is announcing plans for a space force and increases the defense budget...
That's what I mean by the connection: Once it's on your property, it's your responsibility. Getting the electricity to your property it totally the utility's cost.
Sadly, underground cables do indeed need repairs: From overenthusiastic excavators, water damage, ground settling, earthquakes, and of course old age. Once that damage happens it's much more expensive to repair than overhead lines, but it also happens much less often than fixing overhead lines, so it's a trade-off. Which one is actually more expensive in the long run, I don't know (I suspect underground is cheaper in the long run); but considering the wind damage we had around here yesterday, I'll bet a lot of the locals would be cool to start digging.
Well, in most cases the short piece from the side walk to the house is not such a big expense. With a modern cable laying machine you can do 50 or 60 yards per hour, with 2 people operating the thing. A distance like at your house is almost nothing. How far is that? Perhaps 50 ft?
And the durability... As I said, they last many decades. And earthquakes, really? If there is a earthquake strong enough to damage the cable in the ground, then the house doesn't need electricity anymore, I guess. :)
So you had a storm in Noble County as well? Or a tornado?
I hope nobody got hurt, like in the Hurricanes.
I think with the increasing number of such occurances, it would really make sense to introduce changes in traditional ways of doing things. Like underground cables, and building houses in a different way. It may cost more initially, but it could prove to be cheaper than coping with such extensive damage ever so often.
Earthquakes are notorious for damaging underground utilities, even when there's not much damage above ground. Settling and shifting problems ... it is the earth quaking, after all. Humans have a bad habit of building on landfill areas.
We had a straight line wind storm, accompanying one of those powerful cold fronts that come in from Canada (all too often, in winter). We had wind gusts up to around 60 mph. I didn't hear any report of the wind blowing utility lines down; but the wind blows down trees, which fall on utility lines, with the same results. Hey: Maybe we could bury the trees! :-) No, I suspect that solution would do more harm than good.