title: Maryland loses its cool over response to power outages link: /maryland-loses-its-cool-over-response-to-power-outages/ creator: matt description: post_id: 173 post_date: 2012-07-08 14:43:58 post_date_gmt: 2012-07-08 19:43:58 comment_status: open post_name: maryland-loses-its-cool-over-response-to-power-outages status: publish post_type: post
Over the past week, it's been routine to drive around Baltimore and find that either the building at your destination has no power (I'm looking at you, McDonald's on Falls Road), has power, but is overcrowded and hot because everyone in Baltimore is there, or is just closed because everyone is freaking out that they don't have power or A/C. Steven Salzberg, Hopkins's resident genomics expert and frequent Forbes columnist, makes some great points about the public vs. private costs of our failing infrastructure:
So yes, it is too expensive for the power company to put lines underground, so they will never, ever do it. Not on their own dime, that is. Local governments won’t solve it either: they are just too small and too poor. We need a national effort to put our valuable, all-too-vulnerable power and communications lines underground – everywhere.
If it would mean less future weeks without internet access or air conditioning, I would gladly pay a tax over the next decade to support the modernization of our electrical infrastructure. I know one person that had solar panels on his house before the storm hit. You would think that he was basking in high efficiency climate control during the day, but you would be wrong. Apparently, even solar power generated on your own roof ties in to the local power grid, meaning that he was unable to use any of the electricity his solar panels were generating. Edit: Also there's this.