353
Largest U.S. Grid May Cut Power to Data Centers to Prevent Blackouts (www.gadgetreview.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 3 months ago (7 children)

I don't know how it is in US but in Sweden there is a priority list when there is a risk of blackout. Hospitals is one of the highest priorities, if not the highest. Regular families is one of the lowest, it is expected that everyone should be prepared for losing power for a couple of hours. However, some big companies that uses lots of power have a deal with the grid owner that they can be disconnected/reduced power first when there is a risk of blackouts.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    same in the US - hospitals first, private homes last. the commenter above you is talking about a ventilator at home

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    I'm in California where the grid gets stressed out during the summer. Ocassionally, on high demand days, the power company woud perform rolling blackouts to keep up with demand.

    Lived close to a large hospital for a while. Our section of the grid never saw those blackouts.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    We had a vent for a bit in our house. Called pg&e and then our block (just 20 houses) got coded the same as the hospital in outages. I can't remember what kind of supporting documents we had to send in. We lost power last in rolling blackouts. They let us keep that for a good... year after dad died? So someone else on the street must have been on a vent too.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    Lived close to a large hospital for a while. Our section of the grid never saw those blackouts.

    Same except it we are right under a cell tower. It must be somewhere very high on the priority list - probably for emergency services. We are always the first to get power back after a storm too.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago*

    If you own your home, I know that seems to be shrinkingly rare in this state, a solar setup and battery backup/ grid controller is well worth it. Mine will pay for itself with the power I've sold to SDG&E, not to mention all the power I use, in another year or so. I installed my system in mid 2019, and we don't even know when there's a blackout/brownout until I text the ISP as to why the Internet is out. I should really get a meshnet node....

    My primary forms of transportation are my E-bike and the trolley. If I can't get there that way, or need additional cargo capacity, I have a Chevy Bolt, so I'm actually using a fail amount of electricity above and beyond the normal appliances.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    It sounded on him like it is a bidding over who will lose the electricity last. But the priority was decided a long time ago, when it was fewer billionaires and they didn't had that many billions. For now, it not normal people vs billionaires.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    In the US, when I was looking for a house, I favored any that were on the same grid as the local hospital. It ensured that after a hurricane or whatever, I would get power restored quickly.

    Just 1more perk

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent