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Electricity Dependency V's Solar Peak of 2013

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posted on May, 30 2009 @ 07:50 PM
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Hi all,

we have been hearing now for some time about Solar Storms, Sun Spots, CME's (coronial mass ejections) etc.

We have all read about the next Solar Storm Peak which is suppose to happen in the next few years, although the sun has been fairly quiet recently, although showing signs of activity now.

The most recent NASA document here tells us that MAY 2013 is going to be peak time for this Solar Cycle Peak, which is named "Solar Cycle 24".

science.nasa.gov...



An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots


So this says the peak will be in 2013 but with a below average amount of sunspots. No need to worry??? NO, not so fast..... even though this is below average there is still huge cause for concern here....




It is tempting to describe such a cycle as "weak" or "mild," but that could give the wrong impression




Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather," points out Biesecker. "The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we’re predicting for 2013


So if we get this storm which is equal to the great storm of 1859, surely we will be in a much worse situation than back then???!!!

We are totally dependent on electricity these days and without it, we really cant function. Lets face it, how many of us are really able to live off the grid??

To give you an idea of how crazy the 1859 storm was, here is a link to Newspaper reports from back then -

www.solarstorms.org...



The Superintendent of the Canadian Telegraph Company's line telegraphs as follows in relation to the effect of the Aurora Borealis last night: '…so completely were the wires under the influence of the Aurora Borealis, that it was found utterly impossible to communicate between the telegraph stations, and the line had to be closed.' The same difficulty prevailed as far South as Washington


So that was in 1859. In 2013 that will have been 154 years ago!!! We are in trouble!!

And not only was 1859 a bad year. Here is a link showing many of these solar storms over the years, -

www.solarstorms.org...

So how much do we really depend on electricity? Well, much more than 1859 thats for sure! Lets take the USA for example.... here is a diagram showing the Power Grid across the USA.

encarta.msn.com...

Thats where all the power flows across the USA. Imagine the effects of a severe solar storm on this flow of power!!!

So thats just the USA. what about other countries. well i found this table showing world electricity consumption broken down by country -




This list of countries by electricity consumption is mostly based on The World Factbook.[1] For informational purposes several non-sovereign entities are also included in this list. In addition, the per capita data for many countries may be slightly inaccurate as population data may not be for the same year that the consumption data are. Population data were obtained from the List of countries by population in 2005, except for years other than 2005, in which case they were obtained from the Wikipedia pages for the corresponding countries/territories


en.wikipedia.org...

So if this Solar Cycle 24 really affects our electricity and can knock it out i'm really starting to think now, we are totally screwed!!!




Like food, water and air, electricity has become one of life's necessities for much of the world. We have all too often taken the supply of high-quality electricity for granted, believing that it would just always be there--the signs of a true utility. Recent events now make this assumption much more precarious than ever before


findarticles.com...




The enormous electrical blackout on Thursday, August 14, 2003 shut down just about everything--including air conditioning, air and rail travel, cellular and telephone access, and Internet services--in what's been referred to as the largest power blackout in history to hit the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada


The more you look at electricity dependency, the more you find. The internet is just covered with articles about various power blackouts and how they affected us when they happened.

I imagine there would be utter chaos in the streets. Imagine if New York city was powerless for weeks or even months??!!!

I heard that during Londons snow storm last year (which was only a few inches) the city was only in supply of food for up to 3 or 4 days if it was cut off!!! CRAZY!!




These are just some of the effects -



The cycle's victims could include space satellites. The coming storms could heat the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand and exert drag on low-flying satellites -- perhaps enough drag to tug some of them back to Earth. Solar storms have been blamed for the U.S. Skylab space station's premature fall back to Earth in 1979





Air travelers could be affected, too. Since the end of the Cold War, to avoid headwinds, airlines have increasingly flown subpolar routes to get between the United States and other Northern Hemisphere continents quickly and cheaply. But during solar storms, they must avoid the poles and fly more southerly routes.




So these are a few effects. Think about it though. There would be so much more chaos than just what ive mentioned. How could this affect food supply, jobs, money.. health etc etc.

There is nothing we can do, apart from trying to be more self sufficient. Ensure you have a good store of food and water. Be prepared to go without power for many weeks.

There are some great threads on this site for preparing for this type of thing and how to survive.

I guess things will start to get pretty interesting in the next few years. Lets hope our dependency on electricity will not lead to a catastrophic loss of life.

G.





posted on May, 30 2009 @ 07:56 PM
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I agree, it is a disaster waiting to happen. We are totally unprepared. Even in 1859, the "Carrington event" disrupted daily life dramatically, imagine what would happen now? It gives the creeps. Lets hope all goes well.

According to the ice core data, the carrington event type storms occur once in 500 years.


Ice cores show evidence that events of similar intensity recur at an average rate of approximately once per 500 years. Since 1859, less severe storms have occurred in 1921 and 1960, when widespread radio disruption was reported.


link

So, judging from the probability, we can hope that disasterous flares do not happen.



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 09:40 PM
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Michio Kaku has already warned us of this a few times, He was on Fox news and they treated him like he was a y2k nut. here is the link to the video, I can't get it to embed for some reason:

Dr. Michio Kaku, THeoretical Physicist warns of sever solar storms-VIDEO

I don't know about you guys, but when one of the smartest men on the planet says we need to be prepared for disaster, I tend to listen to him.

Hopefully he's wrong, but better to be safe than sorry.



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 09:47 PM
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reply to post by eightonefive
 


Agree on your opinion. Dr. Kaku is one of the greatest scientists the world has ever seen.But we are helpless when it happens, we cannot protect the satellites which are in the open and the electricity grids which have open over head lines. To protect the electrical systems, we would have to start from scratch, which is like civilization starting once again.



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 09:47 PM
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reply to post by eightonefive
 


yes, this guy is awesome. i have seen him on quite a few doco's and he is a smart guy for sure.

Its a shame that so many people are comparing this to 2000 when it really is in a different league.

Some people read all the warnings and just rubbish it, but this is actual proven physics thats happened before.

Y2k, was a 100%.... maybe and possibly.... the next solar peak is a certainty. Its a matter of, how well will our technology cope. And it has not faired well in the past against lesser storms.



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 09:54 PM
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People that are in the cities better be prepared to get the hell out of them. The american population can't go two days in darkness without riots, and civil unrest, what would it be like for months or years in darkness? We are talking about the complete unraveling of civilized society, bringing us back to the Dark ages-literally.

Storing food without refridgeration? I know how to do it, but how many others do?

No grocery stores, no gas pumps working, if you sitdown and really think about everything we would not have access to without electricity, and then think about the immediate panic that will happen it's truly frightening. I hope everyone here has guns and ammo to protect themselves and their families.

It will be nice to look into the sky for once and see the stars without any light pollution, the way our ancestors did. But it's a tough price just to be able to do that. If it happens it will take us a long time to recover, but perhaps it will bring us back to a simpler time. A time when neighbors were neighbors, and small communities flourished.

Or maybe it ill be like Mad Max. Who knows?

[edit on 30-5-2009 by eightonefive]



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 11:34 PM
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This is on the BBc news website at the moment. It says they have found a new method of predicitng solar storms which is more accurate.

I wonder how much this will really help during a solar peak??


news.bbc.co.uk...




This would provide more time to power down satellites and electrical grids, which can be damaged by these storms



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 11:37 PM
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I watched an interview with another scientist about this subject as well, I forget who he was or where I saw it, but he said that there is some kind of transformer shielding thing that is about the size of a washing machine that could be spliced into the power grid at ech and every transformer location that would protect our power grid from spikes, and would effectively save the US from losing powr period. He estimated that it would cost the US around 20 billion dollars and would take 2 years to implement. So there is hope if our government takes it seriously and starts working on it now.



posted on May, 30 2009 @ 11:39 PM
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reply to post by eightonefive
 


yeh, i have read something about this somewhere too. Can we really see this being implemented though in time and at this cost?

It would be a big ask for this to happen. I hope they do take it seriously.



posted on May, 31 2009 @ 04:38 PM
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www.spaceweather.com...

i see a new sunspot has emerged today. memeber of new solar cycle 24, which is the one that will do us all the harm at the peak of may 2013




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