Submitted by Dipsetallover90 t3_ztuyea in Connecticut
https://www.ctpost.com/business/article/Want-underground-power-lines-across-CT-It-could-15569605.php
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/rpt/2011-R-0338.htm
Good luck getting cheap-ass New Englanders who already bitch non-stop about their taxes to ever pay for something like that.
Yes but then what happens to all those jobs fixing broken lines?? 😑
Honestly the telecoms I don’t know why we don’t do that at least. CT has two major fiber optics production facilities that can probably crank out a load of fiber optics a day since it’s pretty easy fiber by comparison to active fiber. We should do that and in the process, just switch to locally made fiber.
The person who said problem areas though for power lines, right idea imo.
They’ll do it but underground now.
Couldn't agree more.
Often times people throw around these huge numbers to discourage forcing Eversource spending any of our money on upgrades.
Not all lines need to be buried, but we should as hell spend more than $0 to bury lines.
I feel like part of this answer is solar. Not every house is perfectly designed for solar but I feel this could help reduce some of the cost. I know solar panels aren’t exactly eco friendly given the fossil fuel costs it takes to produce them, but me thinks solar could help reduce some of the impacts of these storms with the right mixture of solar and home battery technology.
Disclaimer: I live on a street with buried lines and we still lost power today because somewhere down the line, a tree fell on a power line that was above ground so this isn’t 100% fool proof. I also have solar on my house and only pay the minimum amount per month to Eversource ($9.62) and my solar lease costs me $115 month.
And how much to trim the trees so they don't take down the lines when limbs falls?
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They don’t (or at least, Go Netspeed doesn’t) do fiber optic underground.
I’m not 100% sure the Frontier does as well - they installed fiber optic cables on all the main roads in town this summer (all have poles) but none have, that I know of, made it to any of the neighborhoods in town with buried cables (mind included!). This is tough for suburbs like mine that have seem lots of subdivision developments built in the 70’s and newer.
And we still lose power too sometimes. It all depends on what happens to the above ground lines that feed the neighborhood.
Which two?
Considering all the shit the government wastes money on, yes.
We will never see it in our lifetimes but hopefully our kids or grandkids don't need to deal with extended power outages.
These storms are going to keep getting worse over time.
That is only like 10% of the annual military budget.
They are going to have to upgrade the infrastructure anyways for all the electric cars that are coming so it would certainly make sense to address at least the big problem areas. I'd prefer to see some sort of solar design or something to make each property energy independent and eliminate utility companies once and for all though if the government is going to invest in it. Ultimately it would probably be best to go nuclear for generation though and to help reduce costs for us make them all public non-profit entities.
Agreed. Been watching Go Net Speed hang lines in my area for a while.
Alright, fair enough. I’m more on the production end of optics, so I stand corrected.
Coherent Nufern (Now Coherent Corporation) and OFS Fitel.
Stop with your logic! It’s too expensive so we must never upgrade!
I’m still waiting for the Nikola Tesla wireless power transmission, then evergrift would never do a dime.
They could do a massive tree cull. And none of this coming around and sawing down a limb shit…
I don’t trust them to bury the lines correctly… I expect them to spend the maximum while doing a shit job, and paying off their crony’s.
But this is just the cost for CT... 1% of the national population. Without even factoring the likely cost overruns, it would be $25,000 per resident in the state.
East Hartford is building an underground open fiber network where any provider can join. it will be complete next year.
That’s really cool, but no amount of fast, underground internet will get me to move to East Hartford.
Theoretically infinite money because, ya know… trees grow.
Never going to happen folks.
let’s just build more nuclear?
haha i have no idea why you’re being downvoted. “yankee ingenuity” is just cheapness
If it's just a certain trouble spot,just chop all the trees down there, it willbe a lot cheaper
Do you want your electric bills to double every year?
They're going to try & do that anyways, without any major improvement. So.... While they're at it, why not.
depends how much do we pay eversource. compare the prices and you'll see maybe we can bury lines ourselves.
Yes this is worth it
Instructions unclear, tore down all trees
maybe we actually get those nuclear plants back up.
the real issue is we bullshit ourselves by not using every means of green energy we can get our hands on like hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear.
CT suffers from corruption when it comes to big projects were too busy dealing with a different fire we never get look at the long run or the entire state has contracted it out to companies like Eversource whose main interest is to milk the state for as much money as possible. If it works for Wallingford it can work for the rest of us. Its a small state this shouldn't be that difficult.
i will say it again. energy should be taken over by the state and become state run. its easier to maintain, less money to run and less 'politics' involved. whether its 10 years of 30 it has to happen because every dollar were sending to these companies is not invested into the state.
already has lol. they've done nothing and its still double. what do we got to lose? my neighbor is complaining that hes worried about paying the bills and he'll have to sell the house because its too expensive to live in the state.
mans been living in the state for 88 years and hes gonna have to sell his house and move to Boston. all because hes afraid that eversource is gonna double his bills to the point he can afford it.
Listen we didn't start a war over too much taxes to have more placed on us!!
No
Digging up every road in CT? That would take hundreds of years at the rate local contractors work.
😆 the way the unionized utility /road workers operate we would need: person operating digger, person supervising the digging, foreman supervising both digger and supervisor, person taking mandatory break. And thats just for the digging 😂
‘An Eversource estimate.’
‘A million dollars a mile.’
There’s some fat profits right there
It would make more sense to install solar panels with a small battery to run essentials for 18hours until the repairs are made. Reduce grid consumption year round and still have heat and water during an outage. Burying lines would take years and cause traffic nightmares everywhere they are digging up roads.
People forget ground moisture is a thing in wet climates and is relentless on buried electric over the years.
It can actually be done with underground drilling and unbroken pipe runs. hey fixed my street underground electric last year, in a day, and no street damage. Can't be done everywhere, but it's possible. Still, coordination would be a cluster.
How about every one gets there own solar power plant
Take a trip to Germany. Rarely do you see poles.
Frontier has contractors installing fiber in underground neighborhoods. There have been issues with striking other utilities, taking out irrigation systems, etc.
>Eversource estimates
This is where I stopped reading
Back in 2020, the remnants of a hurricane hit my hometown and toppled old pine trees all over the place. My sister and I tried to drive home from my parents house, but we kept having to take detours because of downed power lines. A drive that should have taken 10 minutes turned into a half-hour maze. I don't want that kind of thing to happen again. Better to bury all the lines.
Yes
My Frontier fiber service is buried in my neighborhood. It was done about a year and a half ago. I have all underground services...sans street lights, of course.
Absolutely not!!
Just think Nicola Tesla wanted to have wireless energy transfer in 1900s but no profit in that
How about give out small contracts to several companies so they can compete, and the ones whose work gives the best bang for the buck get additional contracts.
Toybasher t1_j1fgqfq wrote
Maybe.
And it doesn't have to be burying 100% of the lines, it could only be burying small stretches of lines where problem areas are. (I.E. a certain spot where the lines get torn down very consistently for the past decade whenever there's a storm, and it's an area that connects to a substation so the entire town loses power at once when said line is downed.)