Different_Ad7655 t1_jc7548p wrote on March 14, 2023 at 3:14 PM

It's called the absurd situation in America that we have never muscled up and spent the money to bury the power lines. It looks so goddamn third world after you come back from a place in Europe. There has always been all sorts of whining from the public service companies, and politicians in a zillion reasons why this or that can't be done, but of course it is done all over the place and everybody benefits. It's a very expensive process to do initially but not only are the lines more secure underground, but then the roads are a thousand times more beautiful without them polesand then the constant problem of downlines every time the weather farts. It's amazing how advanced and how incredibly awkward America is in some things

AMC4x4 t1_jc7bcfc wrote on March 14, 2023 at 3:55 PM

Europe is MUCH more dense than most places in America. I don't think many have a grip on just how massive this country is, and how spread out people are. Burying lines in NH is just untenable. My full-time residence is on Long Island, which is subject to hurricanes, and even though the population is VERY dense (almost 8 million) the cost here to bury lines is *still* prohibitive.

Overhead power lines run around $100K per mile, but burying them can cost ten times that. With NH's already crazy energy prices, I think most people will deal with getting a generator for the occasional outage vs. stomaching a dramatic increase in rates.

I would imagine Vehicle-to-Home will become more and more popular in rural areas, where you can get solar and if you have a storm, just use your solar and car to power your house and say "eff you" to Eversource.

Different_Ad7655 t1_jc7yd1e wrote on March 14, 2023 at 6:20 PM

Parts are dense and then there are sections that look just like New England only without utility lines lol. Of course even in the dentist areas we don't bother to bury the lines and it makes a tragic mess. I remember in Manchester during the ice storm , perhaps 2012 ? the city was out on one large part of the west side for two complete weeks because trees took down the lines. Not to mention how ugly they are. Anytime you go to a town center south of the border the difference is immediately apparent in the town center or the main roads where the lines are buried.. It's just a matter of will and appropriation, one little stretch at a time

besafenh t1_jc7om1t wrote on March 14, 2023 at 5:19 PM

France has a landmass similar to Texas. Belgium is 1/3 the size of Maine.

So the “OMG an ENTIRE COUNTRY can do this!!” argument for everything European is moot.

Different_Ad7655 t1_jc7xrcp wrote on March 14, 2023 at 6:16 PM

Oh my god but we're talking about New Hampshire and New England, nor do we do in Texas, or any other manageable location... and you do it one mile at a time. Perhaps where there's barely anybody it would be a lot cheaper to do , just as we built roadways or not do it at all. I'm driving the strip right now as we talk in Kansas.. much of Texas the same The wide open prairies the same with California. But we don't do it anywhere except every now and then in a part of a city center or here and there are village.. It's a cannot do attitude

It's this same mentality can't do can't do to expensive oh my God that has left it the way it's been since it's inception. Jesus Christ even Poland has most of its line buried when I go back to visit the family

It's simply takes a will and allocating the funds to do it. This is what Germany did after world war II 1 km at a time and the same could be done in New Hampshire but no no, always the scare tactic