Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
As the years go by we are seeing more and more power outages happening across the world, today Monday August 26 2024 we had a long one that lasted about five and a half hours or longer. Today according to Castanet there was a downed power pole. Although at the time of writing this the cause was not yet released it could have happened for many reasons. In the last ten years power outages have increased by about 78% or more. Wow! That is a huge amount. But let’s look at some of the reasons why we are having more power outages now than we ever had. There is of course a lot of infrastructure that is very outdated, some of them are over 50 years of age.
Almost everything now uses electricity, like our technology today, almost everyone has more than one TV in their homes, along with one or more cell phones that need to be plugged in and charged. We have washing machines and dryers, freezers, fridges, microwaves, electric cars and the list continues on increasing the demand for more power, which doesn’t help our aging power grids.
Sometimes the power outages are due to the fact that maintenance and upgrades to the grids are not always updated within a reasonable time.
Let’s not forget one of the top reasons why there are now so many more power outages than ever before: the most unpredictable reason is of course Mother Nature, for years we have been messing with her, and now it’s payback time.
The extreme weather that happens anywhere in the world is terrifying! When I watch the news and see all the horrible weather going on I literally shudder. The climates have changed drastically, with wildfires,hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, snowstorms, and everything else, they no longer are just in certain areas anymore but we are now seeing them in our province and other Canadian provinces.
Here are some things we can do to use so much energy: Energy -efficient appliances with the energy star label is a good place to start.
- Unplug or use a power bar to switch off items in your home when not using them, even when not in use if still plugged in a lot of electronics will suck up your power.
- Install programmable thermostats.
- Use LED bulbs, or natural light.
- Washing machines, dishwashers and dryers should be used at the off peak times.
- Sealing leaks in your home around windows, doors, making sure that everything is well insulated.
- Do regular maintenance on your heating and air conditioners.
- Use ceiling fans adjusting for summer and winter.
- Washing your clothes in cold water is a good thing to do, you don’t need to use hot water. They sell laundry soap especially made for cold water.
- Don’t wash your car in the driveway, take it to a car wash, that’s what they are there for.
- Here are some things to do during a power outage:
- Have an emergency kit already made up, it should contain items that you might need like flashlights, spare batteries, and a first aid kit, food that won’t go bad, lots of water, your medications and cash, as banks and ATM might be out of use as well.
- If you can get a generator for backup, or even a portable power unit to keep your necessary devices going, add some power banks to keep your cell phone, or tablets charged in case you need to call someone.
- You can sign up for alerts in your area, having a radio that is powered by batteries, there are still hand crank radios that you can still purchase.
- Some of you, or know someone that needs to have power for their medical devices, be sure to have some plans to keep them running.
- The use of power bars with surge protectors is great in many ways, they help your electronics from having power surges when the power is able to come back on. Power surge protection bars should be replaced every couple of years.
- Whichever season it is that the power goes out, be prepared with fans, blankets, warm clothing, cool packs will help to regulate your temperature if it is too hot that day.
If you have elderly neighbours or people you know of that have special needs of any kind, check on them to be sure they are alright.
Wherever you live, be safe, and let’s be more power smart.
