5th Anniversary of the Big 2003 Black Out – and where were you?

It was the 5th anniversary of the ‘great’ Ontario/US blackout yesterday, when 50 million people in Ontario the Eastern US went without power for several days. 

“Five years ago Thursday, some 50 million North Americans suddenly lost their power and briefly learned to live without light, television and all the other energy-sucking conveniences that have become staples of modern life.

Surprisingly, a great many found they loved living in the dark and vowed to change their lifestyles by unplugging more often — voluntarily — and doing their part to help protect the environment.

But experts say most of the good intentions born in backyards under starlight on Aug. 14, 2003 faded away before long, and the returning cacophony of air conditioners humming betrayed those promises at first opportunity. “

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/08/14/tto-blackout.html

Everyone has been talking about where they were during the black out.  I was near downtown Toronto, just north of the main downtown.   I was visiting a client at their home office, and the place went black and very, very quiet.  As time went on, we realized the lights were not going to come back on.  We looked out the front window which looked out onto a major street and saw a strange site – hundreds of people walking down the street.  

It all looked slightly apocalyptic, since no one really walks in that neighbourhood, except between the transit stops and even there, they are few and far between.    Fat people, old people, businessmen with bright red faces talking furiously on their cell phones, students with their backpacks, sad looking people dragging luggage.  No one was really talking, just more stolidly walking.  Some had business suits on, and had taken their high heels off!  We sat mesmerized by the window for a while, just watching the strangeness of it, and offering water to those that looked particularly pressed.  

It was quite ridiculous that we couldn’t locate a battery operated radio anywhere in the house.   But it was still daylight so we were not yet panicked.   My client and I spent quite a bit of time on our cell phones trying to locate both of our husbands who were working in the skyscrapers downtown.   I called and called, and started to feel slightly panicked that I couldn’t get any answer.  It took almost an hour to track my husband down.   

We were all quite convinced that there had been a terrorist attack on the downtown core.    We finally went out and sat in one of the cars, listening to the radio.  It took a while to establish that the cause of the blackout was a short in the power grid.  Again, we all still assumed terrorists were involved when it was identified as a short in the grid in the US, which had travelled to Toronto due to their purchase of US energy.  

I finally met up with my husband hours later at our friend’s house north of downtown.   It took him that long to drive a few kilometres, because he couldn’t get out of the parking garage as the surrounding streets were gridlocked, with volunteer citizens trying to direct traffic, during the super hot summer day.  When he arrived, I just wanted to hug him and not let go.  It was such an unsettling feeling to not have him at my side when the black out ‘hit’. 

We finally got home, to a fridge full of food we had just purchased the day before.  We opened the door sparingly, hoping the power would come back on any minute.  We sat with candles and had a quiet dinner, marvelling at the silence, after a frantic search for the non-electric can-opener.  We have boxes and boxes of candles, loads of flashlights, batteries and other emergency supplies.   My husband was a boyscout and is ALWAYS prepared. 

However, it was quite frightening when we realized that only one of our vehicles had a completely full tank of gas.  The line ups at the few working pumps in the city stretched for hours, which made no sense.    Your sense of personal security is altered, as well.  Would there be looting?   Were our elderly parents safe?  Our firm was in the midst of issuing a huge report, and we were dead in the water for those days. 

These were minor issues when looking at the bigger picture especially for those most at risk.    How could emergency services deal with any substantial issues?  What would happen if you were in the hospital – how long did the back up generators have?  Basically, the world was put on hold for us.   Eventually the power was restored, days later.   The noise returned, and our lives went back to normal.

Many of us had little sympathy for those that blamed the black out on our energy usage patterns.  We felt it had little to do with usage on that particular day, and more to do with an accident at that plant in Ohio(?), which can happen.   Yes, yes,  looking at the big picture, if we used less, we would not have to purchase US energy, but that’s another posting!   So did we reduce our energy usage as a result?  Not that I’m aware but we’re pretty good anyway.  We turn lights and applicances off in rooms that we aren’t in and aside from that, there’s not much else we can do in our fairly new home….   

We refuse to switch to those low energy bulbs ever since we saw a local news cast where the ladies’ ceiling caught fire from using those bulbs.   I’m sure the environmentalists will chastise me for this.  Can’t help you.  See, we have a particular fear of fire that no one will argue us out of.  In our old house (which was an OLD house), the basement ceiling DID catch fire at 2 a.m.  when we were sound asleep.  We awoke to the sound of small explosions -normal-style fluorescent lighting had been improperly wired by the previous owner – the lights had exploded and the ceiling tiles went up in flames.    My husband threw buckets of water up in the air while I called 911.  The firefighters, God bless them, arrived in 3 minutes, and the disaster was averted. 

The firemen knew our house would have burned to ground (with all our pets in it) if we had not been home.  The lead firefighter pulled me aside and remarked, “You folks have one heck of a guardian angel.  Even if you’re not religious, you might want to think about that, and also whether you want to stay in this house.” 

Fire experts say that you should not use the low energy fluorescent bulbs where there is not good air flow (i.e. ceilings) or with dimmer switches.  Since they contain mercury, you shouldn’t use them where they can be knocked over. Sorry folks, with two spastic dogs in our house, you have now eliminated any possible uses for the bulbs!!

I can’t find our local fire, but as an example, over in New Zealand -

“Concerns that energy-saving light bulbs can short-circuit and melt are warranted but need to be taken with a degree of caution, fire safety experts say.  Dunedin woman Sandra Mann was shocked after an energy-saving bulb in the kitchen of her home, caught fire, damaging the ceiling and light fitting.  However the Energy Safety Service, part of the Ministry for Economic Development, said it had no reported instances where the bulbs had caught fire, and all bulbs were subject to strict safety requirements.  Mrs Mann said after checking on her three children in bed one night recently, she noticed a strong smell of burning plastic as she walked back to the kitchen. She and her husband tracked down the smell to a bulb which was burning, and dropping molten material on the floor.”

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/16316/energy-saver-bulb-fire-worries-family

Lots of folks seem to be having similar sort of scary experiences.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/16555/readers-recount-eco-bulb-woes

About the fire hazards, from Canadian sources:

http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/english/Publications/Communiques/2005/2005-20.asp

http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/Publications/Communiques/2006/2006-08.asp

On mercury poisoning:

“The lights use about 1 percent of the mercury found in old thermometers, or 1 to 30 milligrams, but some amounts can be vaporized into the air if the lights break, posing a health risk. All fluorescent lights use mercury to produce light. Many states require that the energy-saving lights be recycled or disposed of as hazardous waste. Massachusetts is expected to ban disposal of the lights in the trash this spring.

Consumers were cautioned to avoid using the energy-saving bulbs on tables or in other places where they can be easily broken. Even so, the reports said, the bulbs, which use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, are still the best way for homeowners to try to save on electricity, adding that the benefits of using them outweigh the risks.  “The bulb lasts 10 times as long. It uses a fraction of the energy,” said Gary Katz, of Harvey’s Hardware Store.  Sales of the fluorescent bulbs have leaped in the U.S. and a new law requiring all bulbs to be more energy efficient will go into effect in 2012. The U.S. Energy Department said millions in energy costs could be saved if more Americans used the energy-saving bulbs.”

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/15411553/detail.html

Lightbulbs aside, what has changed for us over the past few years? 

• We make a point of lecturing merchants that leave their front doors open with their air conditioning running and then buy nothing from them if they don’t close the door while we are standing there. 
• We openly mock our neighbours that are too lazy to turn off their electronic sprinklers when its RAINING. 
• We are now willing to fully participate in the municipal recycling program which now takes food wastes, paper napkins, etc. separately from other waste.  At first, it was a serious hassle and change in our behaviour.  Compliance in our area was low.  However, when the municipality pushed back and reduced garbage collection (charging for extra bags), we reluctantly complied. As a result, we have now reduced our non-recyclable waste from 4 large garbage bags every week, to two bags every OTHER week, essentially a 75% reduction. 

We are pretty proud of ourselves for that last one.

The Northerngardener

(Copyright 2008 by the Northerngardener.  Go ahead and link to me, just don’t copy me. )