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PhilipGreenbriar OP t1_irb7g07 wrote

As more intense storms threaten the livability of places like coastal Florida, this community in Fort Meyers, FL is employing smart, sustainable solutions to weather what comes. I know several people who were personally affected by the recent hurricane and I hope that developers, utility companies, and the state and local governments can adapt to protect residents.

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IAmSixNine t1_irbev1s wrote

Which most businesses wont as it will cost more money to build and reduce profits.
Im in texas and look at our power grid. Massive black outs and lots of deaths with that winter storm, and the electric provider oncor has made massive profits but has not done anything to improve the grid conditions. Climate change is making storms stronger but yet companies wont improve infrastructure to match it.

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PhilipGreenbriar OP t1_irbi9bu wrote

You would think that at some point making significant repairs and dealing with outages is more expensive than improving infrastructure

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sleepypirate t1_irbky7k wrote

That requires thinking long term

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aequitssaint t1_irbnrhk wrote

And politicians that are willing to do things that won't directly affect them and their term.

They don't give a fuck if they can't claim responsibility for the improvements.

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CrockNBalls420 t1_irbprrs wrote

You say that like voters can think long term. No one votes for a candidate making intangible, long term promises.

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sumunsolicitedadvice t1_irblpv4 wrote

“That’s a problem for people in the future. Right now, we just care about our next quarterly earnings report.” -them, probably

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bufferedtoast t1_irbmw8d wrote

One would think that with any common sense, frankly insurance should only be paid out to people on the condition that they relocate away from hurricane prone areas.

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greenslam t1_irbuyzc wrote

or developed to current hurricane proof guidelines. Oh you don't have have the requirements met. Insurance denied.

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FishDawgX t1_irbmmdk wrote

The people who work for these utilities like the electric utilities in Texas profit from these repairs. The more repairs and upgrades needed, the more justification there is for their jobs. And a lot of the funding comes from the government. And if not, they have a monopoly anyway, so they can just raise rates.

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4rd_Prefect t1_irdv79h wrote

"somebody make massive profits" & that somebody is in charge of preventing that from happening?

Hmmm

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dungone t1_ire6gwt wrote

If you're in Texas look at everyone else's power grid: actually works. The idiot voters in Texas got exactly what they asked for.

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qestral t1_irc40im wrote

If only there was some sort of publicly-chosen authority that could require business to do the right thing for their constituents and the future of the state…

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Trikeree t1_irchyqs wrote

And now with this economy they're making even more with relatively little higher costs.

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alexgalt t1_irbmmzf wrote

That’s bs. It is capital cost vs repair cost. Once it becomes profitable all companies a will build like this.

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LuckyPlaze t1_irbiqmq wrote

Working for a utility company, the biggest difference for this community is the investment in underground. Poles and overhead infrastructure is what gets damage in most storms.

Of course, underground isn’t new. It’s just very expensive to install and difficult to maintain and work on during trouble scenarios.

All that said, I’m sure the solar is a nice backup to when your main delivery system from the grid goes down. But the big distribution lines rarely go down, so that’s not as critical.

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chill633 t1_irceti1 wrote

That's not quite an accurate way to put this. While you are right that the underground power lines certainly help things and eliminate poles that are susceptible to being blown over, for Babcock Ranch the solar is not a nice backup, it is the primary electric source. The adjacent 870 acres solar power facility that is run by Florida Power and Light, is the primary power for the town. It is essentially a micro grid, connected to the rest of Florida's grid. They get their juice from solar, and the excess goes to the greater grid. It isn't a backup. Some people have opted to put their own solar panels on their house, but that's not really part of the equation.

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LuckyPlaze t1_ircqlos wrote

But that’s not the primary reason why people had power after the hurricane. The distribution systems are usually intact post storm events, and they are built to do so with steel and metal poles.

It’s the overhead delivery to houses that gets the brunt of storm impacts. Our crews along with crews across the country are down there helping right now. That’s what has to be rebuilt to get power to these communities and that’s why this community never lost it.

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chill633 t1_irctgbx wrote

I was mostly quibbling with your description of the solar power as merely a nice backup, not disputing that distribution lines are very sturdy in storms and the bulk of electrical issues are with local delivery by pole.

I've been researching Babcock Ranch since the development was proposed, and what I'm saying is they included local power generation in their development plan -- the adjacent solar field. That local generation, combined with underground delivery, elevated home lots and roads designed to act as flood drainage, plus being 30 miles inland, played a part in their being one of the only areas to maintain power when 2.3 million other households around them lost it.

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luckymethod t1_irbj1s2 wrote

I think this is the wrong direction tbh. Instead of building the equivalent of a mars base to survive the elements it would be more appropriate to build in less weather prone places instead and maybe stop polluting do damn much so the weather stops going crazy.

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lostnspace2 t1_irblpke wrote

That ship my friend sailed a while ago. Anything we do now is too little and far too late

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Volvoflyer t1_irbjwjw wrote

Places such as?

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luckymethod t1_irbmhx4 wrote

Look at a map I'm sure you'll come up with something.

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Volvoflyer t1_irbnkgf wrote

North - massive snow storms

Midwest - tornados

West - earthquakes and flooding

South - hurricanes

Once again, places such as?

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luckymethod t1_irbqyz1 wrote

As a rule of thumb I try not to google info for morons but I made an exception here to show you how truly stupid you are:

https://amp.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/09/10/340082.htm

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Volvoflyer t1_irbyx0s wrote

So everyone moves to MI, which the report failed to include can be shut down for a week at a time multiple times per winter due to blizzards. Additionally MI spends on average 800mil clearing snow and 1bil repairing infastructure due to winter storms which your link fails to include.

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TheBudfalonian t1_irbo4vm wrote

When your busy looking at that map, why don't you notice that major cities are built near water? Coincidence? Lol

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