Blackout hits most Venezuelan states, Caracas

[phantom power]

CARACAS (Reuters) – Blackouts hit most of Venezuela on Thursday, affecting an oil refinery and the Caracas metro in a growing headache for President Hugo Chavez months after electricity rationing dented his popularity.

The 146,000 barrel-per-day El Palito refinery had to be restarted after the failure and the capital's metro transit system ground to a halt at the beginning of the evening rush hour, forcing thousands of commuters onto the streets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110407/wl_nm/us_venezuela_blackout

[dipsydoodle]

1. The main background to the shortages is drought

Venezuela is heavily reliant on hydroelectric power.

Perhaps some here would prefer Hugo to switch to nuclear power. :sarcasm:

[PATRICK]

2. The dilemma

of climate and energy is a good general issue. Suppose even an independent power supply for my house both with solar and wind. One huge snow storm stops both. Fossil fuel generator? Energy storage? Conservation and survival contingencies that are well thought out? Limited black outs seem an inevitable danger for any system. I think that- lacking clean fusion power- we are too big to succeed in real crises.

[txlibdem]

4. Unfortunately the future of hydroelectric power is at risk due to global climate change

Several parts of the world are heavily reliant on hydroelectric power. Changing weather patterns due to global climate change will cause more and longer droughts followed by more flooding than ever before. This makes hydro a far less attractive option in a post-climate change world.

And what has caused the climate to go haywire? Capitalist countries burning fossil fuels, maybe? So, once again, Capitalists are attacking Hugo Chavez. They're just doing it indirectly this time. Down with the Capitalist Pigs. Viva Che! Viva Chavez!

PS, I was only half kidding with that last bit.

[Peace Patriot]

3. I'm sure glad Rotters is covering this.

:sarcasm:

-----

I don't call them "Rotters" for nothing.

[XemaSab]

5. This would be where baseload comes in

n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Hydro IS baseload.

Particularly in the Pacific NW. Washington gets about 72% of it's power from hydroelectric.

[XemaSab]

7. A lot of the hydro plants here are run as peakers

:P

[AtheistCrusader]

8. I would think the major dams that don't have seasonal outages to maintain stream flow

probably all qualify as baseload.

Anything that runs out of liquid or is bypassed in the summer, peak absent when most needed.