19 Aug 2003 | hurley #1 said...

Well, hopefully the sushi is delivered fresh daily; it doesn't have a long shelf life even when refrigerated.

As for the milk etc., I would think most major food distribution centers have backup generators to cover themselves in just this kind of situation. And there are reefer trucks that can act as portable refrigerators in an emergency.

One of the interesting things to come out of the blackout is that it has helped promote the concept of distributed generation, in which electricity is produced locally or on-site by small generators rather than big central power stations. Some businesses have been doing this for a while: at least one credit-card processing facility produces all its electricity on-site with fuel cells, because the cost of even a few minutes of lost electricity would run into the millions of dollars.

I've seen prototype ultra-efficient gas-fired microturbine units the size of a shoebox that could provide all the electricity, heat, and hot water for a four-bedroom house. Microturbines and fuel cells are still way too expensive for home use but businesses and agencies that need reliable uninterrupted power are starting to install them. The military is a big user of fuel cells for this purpose, and they've done a lot to develop and demonstrate the technology. Distributed generation is also giving a boost to solar, wind, biomass, and minihydro systems.

Quite a few states are working to promote distributed generation to improve the reliability and security of the electricity grid. There are interconnection kits now available that let you sell your excess power into the grid, and some states require "net metering," in which your electric meter is allowed to run backwards when you feed power from your home generator into the grid. Cool stuff.

19 Aug 2003 | randy said...

I am curious. For those who endured the blackout, did you have sex or even think about having sex?

19 Aug 2003 | Darrel said...

Isn't distributed generation, when using fossil fuels, much less effecient overall than having the central power plants?

I'm all for distributed generation, but not if it means we're burning yet more oil.

Again, the US should learn how to CONSERVE energy. Not continually try to figure out how to consume more and more.

But, I'm guessing the energy companies aren't too keen on that idea.

19 Aug 2003 | hurley #1 said...

Isn't distributed generation, when using fossil fuels, much less effecient overall than having the central power plants?

Nope, because most of the technologies used in distributed generation have much higher efficiencies than most central power plants, and also you don't have the transmission losses. The new generation of advanced natural-gas-fired power plants are much more efficient than coal plants (33% efficient), but the United States still generates more than half its power from coal.

The main exception is when people use diesel-fired backup generators, which are dirty and relatively inefficient compared with other distributed technologies and really weren't meant to be used for continuous power.

19 Aug 2003 | hurley #1 said...

Um, sorry, my first paragraph wasn't really clear: I'm saying that while it's true that the newer gas-fired power plants on are quite efficient, most distributed generation technologies will be more efficient than the average power plant in the United States.

If you live in a place where your power is generated mainly by hydro, then buying a fossil-fuel-fired generator is not going to help the environment any. But if you live in someplace like Illinois, where coal provides a lot of the baseload power, you'll be doing the earth a favor.

19 Aug 2003 | steve said...

For those who endured the blackout, did you have sex or even think about having sex?

Some people were thinking about other people having sex.

19 Aug 2003 | randy said...

Wow. Sorry for the off topic post.

19 Aug 2003 | Darrel said...

Hurley:

Thanks for the info!

19 Aug 2003 | hurley #1 said...

Well, on the subject of whether you should eat that sushi, I did just spot this piece in today's NY Times:

Diarrhea Cases Rise; Officials Fear Spoiled Food Is Cause

The number of people seeking treatment for diarrhea and related illnesses at hospital emergency rooms across New York City has risen since the blackout, the city's Health Department reported last night, prompting concerns about whether New Yorkers are eating spoiled food.

So maybe those concerns were well justified!

And Darrel, one other advantage I forgot to mention about distributed generation: many distributed technologies can be used to provide both heat and electricity, which boosts their efficiency even higher, up to the 90 percent range and better in some cases. The heat from central power plants is mostly wasted.

21 Aug 2003 | mike said...

"Where did it come from?"

While I regret to state the obvious here the answer is simple. The milk came from cows. While everyone was in the dark the cows continued to eat and produce milk. Most likely the dairy farms have backup generators because production dairy cows HAVE TO BE MILKED on a regular schedule otherwise they can suffer health problems. So when the power came back on the trucks delivered the milk daily as before. Even if the dairy's didn't have generators they would have started milking the cows ASAP and delivered the milk to the stores within 24 hours as usual.