'In Case of Grid Meltdown, Break Glass': Britain Now Issuing Supply List

(Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

ALWAYS better safe that sorry, right?

RIGHT?

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This warning from the government wouldn’t have anything to do with the current, tenuous state of the country’s electric grid in the face of, oh, say, something like “winter,” would it?

Come to think of it, the Brits were having an awful touch and go time of it this weekend.

The UK will be reliant on gas for up to two-thirds of its electricity this weekend as global policymakers at COP28 are reminded of the importance of fossil fuels.

Freezing temperatures, resulting in a cold snap across the country, has seen demand soar, while outputs from windfarms have plunged.

The Chief Executive of Nation Gas says he expects demand from gas-fired power stations to be “maxed out” from today and throughout the weekend.

…”The more we build up our reliance on wind and solar power, which can be disrupted by the weather, the worse the risk becomes.”

…For the second time this week some consumers will be paid to not use energy during peak times on Friday evening.

The National Grid says people will be paid to reduce their usage between 4.30PM and 6PM on Friday in order to preserve power, after calling for the same measures on Wednesday.

The country is also expected to import electricity from other European countries to help deal with demand, despite already generating £2b worth of import bills this year.

Best to have those batteries and schmaybe a little Sterno on hand to warm up some water when the heat pump they’ve shoved down your throat can’t operate for lack of electricity. At least, that’s why I’m figuring they’ve issued this prep list – because they’ve botched up the national grid badly enough you can’t rely on it.

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But that’s not how they’re framing the warning at all. Not a peep about what’s missing on their end – just what might come down the pike. This is all about “cyber attacks,” sunspots, “phishing emails,” even “flooding and climate-related emergencies.”

Like cold?

Stock up on battery devices in case of grid meltdown, Britons told
Deputy prime minister urges public to imagine analogue era to prepare for digital or power blackouts

People must buy battery-powered radios, torches and candles to boost their “personal resilience” in the event of a national crisis wiping out digital network or power supplies, the government has said.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has given the first of what will be an annual update to MPs on the government’s national risk and resilience strategy.

Guidance to be issued next year will help people to prepare for different emergencies.

He said that members of the public needed to be more “personally resilient” as he suggested they have become too reliant on devices powered by the internet.

THINK ANALOG MODERN WEAKLINGS

Hilarious advice in a hysterical piece that never once mentions how deconstructed and compromised what used to be a given is that these very same geniuses now telling you to live like a pioneer with candles, chalk, and a slate have completely jacked up – a reliable, secure electrical grid. One that only was lost if something truly cataclysmic occurred, such as lines blown down, the London Blitz, or biblical inundation. And, even then, it wasn’t the generation of electricity that was compromised – it was the delivery. Lines were repaired and replaced, homes or business dried out and rewired, power back on. In the meantime, everyone else not in the affected area still had lights and heat.

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In today’s UK, thanks to their NetZero transition, the problem IS generating the power reliably. And when their vaunted renewables let them down – always at the worst possible juncture – they have cut themselves so far to the bone by eliminating instead of modernizing traditional power sources, they are in dire shape when back-up is needed. Like this past weekend.

So everyone gets to fret and “conserve” instead of seamlessly carry-on.

Buy batteries,” indeed.

Temperatures plunged last week across Europe and the wind stopped blowing for a number of days. Without gas- and coal-fired turbines coming immediately to the rescue, thousands of people could have perished in the bitter cold. Yet natural gas is being legislated out of existence as a source of electricity across the continent. The black lie at the heart of Net Zero energy fantasies is that there are workable back-ups for intermittent wind and solar. Apart from oil and gas, there are none. Once politicians remove them from the mix – if elected, the British Labour party plans this in barely 60 months – the old and the infirm will shiver and die when a windless electricity grid produces negligible amounts of crucial power.

Considering the lousy output from their available wind energy sector in the month of November…

Screencap GridWatch UK

…and the miserable performance when the sleet hit the fan here in the beginning of December, I hope the powers that be remember to add “matches” to their revised emergency list.

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Non-analog modern weaklings might not think of those when they purchase candles, and batteries won’t light wicks.

Add a manual can opener, too, for that last frozen can of beans or mushy peas you’ll all be sharing.

Better safe than sorry.

You’ve been warned.

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John Stossel 8:30 AM | December 22, 2024
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