Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
In Steven Spielberg’s re-make of “War of the Worlds” movie, an EMP event knocks out power and reduces civilization to bands of hunter-gatherers, struggling to survive and, of course, avoid getting their blood sucked out by invading aliens from another planet.
The idea of an electromagnetic pulse weapon (alien or otherwise) that short circuits electronic equipment – computers, satellites, cell phones, ratios, etc – is the kind of dreadful thinking war college folks and science fiction writers relish.
It’s also the kind of “what-if” stuff the Marin County Civil Grand Jury thinks about. Earlier this summer, the Grand Jury issued a paper entitled “Electrical Resiliency – It’s Time To Do More.”
It raises the concept of inoculating Marin from the coming crisis of a time when state and PG&E will no longer be able to provide reliable power. Therefore, Marin should begin to create “Micro Grids” that could survive a sustained power outage. These Micro Grids, powered by green energy (like solar and wind farms) would kick in when PG&E’s grid is interrupted.
The Civil Grand Jury recommends we begin planning for Micro Grids and install them first in poor areas – Marin City, West Marin – to alleviate the areas most likely to produce the most suffering during an outage. Micro Grids could also be used to throw up a defense for hospitals and emergency operations. Theoretically, we could even throw up a Micro Grid around the entire county.
Here are key portions of the report:
“The increasing number of power outages, both planned and unplanned, makes it clear the county and all its communities must begin to envision and create new sources of alternative energy to improve their response to these threats to its residents. What’s required is the political will and motivation. As described below, Micro Grids can play a major role in providing a backup source of energy to critical infrastructure, disadvantaged communities, and neighborhoods…”
“Climate change and state legislation have created a new normal for energy supply in California. Marin residents have seen heat waves where temperatures have risen to over 110 degrees, atmospheric rivers that have produced record rainfall, and the result has been power outages. These planned and unplanned outages affect everyone in Marin, but especially disadvantaged communities. We define a disadvantaged community as ‘the areas throughout California which most suffer from a combination of economic, health, and environmental burdens.’”
It’s not as scary as the “War of the Worlds,” but it does raise a concerning scenario, especially in times of a natural disaster.
You can read the Grand Jury’s full report on its website. It recommends the Marin County Board of Supervisors fund a study on Micro Grids by the end of this year.
Leave a Reply