EMPs AND THE GRID
Next to cyber-attacks by hostile nations or terrorists, the greatest threat of catastrophe to America is from our own sun. Periodically, the sun flares up and produces coronal mass ejections, like plasma. These solar storms periodically hit the earth and are an inevitable part of the natural processes of the sun. The last time the sun spit out a direct hit on the earth was on Quebec in 1989. The last time the solar storm engulfed the whole earth was in 1859 and was called the Carrington Event. It was before electricity use was widespread for anything other than telegraph networks. America was still burning whale oil for light. The 1859 event burned out the telegraph wires, causing sparks and wildfires everywhere. What I find most creepy about this experience was that the transatlantic telegraph wires under miles of Ocean water, also were burned out.
Today it would be different. Our electric grid is very susceptible to a solar flare or an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear attack. We need to harden our electric grid and we need to do it now. I suggest social security could begin building a national hardened network and then leasing it out for a twelve per cent profit plus a ten per cent use tax. But that may take a while. Meanwhile we need to install circuit breakers to protect our transformers. If America were hit by a Carrington event, then all of our transformers would be burned out, triggering a nationwide blackout that would last for years. It takes a long time to replace all those transformers. And the big ones are custom-made ONLY made in Germany. In the whole world.
America also relies on our satellites. They would also be burned out. Do we have back-up satellites to replace them? I didn’t think so.
Lots of back-up electronics need to be stored in Faraday cages. Especially strategic assets like satellites. As for your own stuff, may I recommend you rethink throwing out your old micro-wave oven. That is the closest thing you have to a Faraday cage. Those microwaves are designed to keep the microwaves inside. They also keep them out. With an interior lined with aluminum foil, it just might work against a solar flare. I really like the old units which were so big and could hold so much.
First, write your Congressional representatives and Senators to require utilities to protect those transformers. Then add your thoughts to this blog on how we can use CAVEAT to protect America from solar flares and EMPs.