In the 132-page report, experts detailed what might happen to our modern, high-tech society in the event of a "super solar flare" followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. They found that almost nothing is immune from space weather—not even the water in your bathroom.
The problem begins with the electric power grid. "Electric power is modern society's cornerstone technology on which virtually all other infrastructures and services depend," the report notes. Yet it is particularly vulnerable to bad space weather. Ground currents induced during geomagnetic storms can actually melt the copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution systems. Sprawling power lines act like antennas, picking up the currents and spreading the problem over a wide area. The most famous geomagnetic power outage happened during a space storm in March 1989 when six million people in Quebec lost power for 9 hours: image.
According to the report, power grids may be more vulnerable than ever. The problem is interconnectedness. In recent years, utilities have joined grids together to allow long-distance transmission of low-cost power to areas of sudden demand. On a hot summer day in California, for instance, people in Los Angeles might be running their air conditioners on power routed from Oregon. It makes economic sense—but not necessarily geomagnetic sense. Interconnectedness makes the system susceptible to wide-ranging "cascade failures."
To estimate the scale of such a failure, report co-author John Kappenmann of the Metatech Corporation looked at the great geomagnetic storm of May 1921, which produced ground currents as much as ten times stronger than the 1989 Quebec storm, and modeled its effect on the modern power grid. He found more than 350 transformers at risk of permanent damage and 130 million people without power. The loss of electricity would ripple across the social infrastructure with "water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on."
"The concept of interdependency," the report notes, ...

Originally posted by Lil Drummerboy
reply to post by Kandinsky

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Nice Pic, I have seen similar on internal inspections. as for those whom want to know what to have for preparedness. Yeah lets hope it won't happen in the winter. I have a wood stove and a back up source for water. and the food is another issue. unless you were stocked up you would be S.O.L. for myself Ive stocked up for a year for my whole family. this may sound like allot but think about it. If you loose power, there are allot of issues that trickle down from there. Everybody starts to head to the store, panic, look at Katrina. NO Thanks. and besides we rotate our stock(food) so it is always good to go. call us crazy, I am ok with that, this is not fearmongering, just thinking ahead. There has been just too much written and too much coincidence in current events to simply be ignorant.

The Obama administration, solar cycle 24 and new energy Though lessening the risk of probability of solar storms in solar cycle 24 (2009-2020), the conclusions of the April 1, 2009 Examiner.com article as to the vulnerability of the high-power electrical grid system still stand. “The Obama administration and most modern governmental energy departments in the 192 U.N. member nations have focused on reducing dependence on conventional energy grids (petroleum, coal or nuclear power) by introducing renewable energy sources such as wind, geo-thermal, and tidal power. These alternative sources are thought to supply about 10% of current energy needs. For example, the Obama policy with regard to the electrical energy grid is stated its official energy and the environment agenda on the White House website: ‘Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.’ “This policy, which replicates energy grid policy in many advanced industrialized nations, is not adequate for the challenges of 2012 solar flares. The policy does not promote new fuel-less non-polluting energy sources now sequestered in secret, national security and black budget projects, and which have been developed using U.S. tax-payer funds. These included reported anti-gravitic technology and free energy technologies, based on Tesla technology. “So here is a key question: Is human society being set up to fail and suffer an effective systems collapse with great loss of life and property if 2012-13 solar flares materialize in the worst case scenario?”