Tree Cutting for the Coming Hurricane Season
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02. 2.06
Following eight hurricanes over the last two years, Florida residents are concerned about power shortages to come. According to the Tampa Tribune of 26 January 2006, citizens have "...prompted legislators and regulators to ask tough questions about how the state's power system can be "hurricane proofed." Utilities are being put on the hot seat to find answers -- especially with predictions of very active hurricane seasons for this year and beyond...Studies after the 2004 hurricanes showed most of the outages were caused by trees, either being blown into power lines or toppling onto and dragging down power lines. Although trimming trees might help keep the lights on during and after a hurricane, the long-term solution some public officials and customers are calling for is placing electric equipment underground. If regulators and politicians require existing lines to be buried, it could significantly increase the cost of electricity." By some estimates, the line burying cost could be thousands per customer.
It's easy to see why utilities could be reluctant to dig. There would be huge capital outlays over a short period. These would have to be recovered by a long term rate increase that is sure to make customers unhappy. And that means lower short term profits for utilities. Considering that the hurricane season comes back in just another six months, the demoralizing choice they face is to either cut the trees down fast and make TreeHuggers mad, or leave the trees up and get only small fraction of the burying done before the storms come back and make eveyone angry for lack of power.
The burying scenario certainly does have long term advantages. But so do trees. We see a third scenario with long term advantages: widespread use of distributed, renewable power generation. Can't be wind turbines of course. Solar photovoltaic power generation in the hurricane zone is an opportunity we looked into last year. Not for everyone of course; but, that rate increase is going to shorten the payback period for a solar investment where it makes sense. The arrival of innovative 12V appliances will make it even more attractive.
in our neighborhood in socal the utilities are being moved underground for aesthetic reasons to the tune of about $16k per household. in another nearby neighborhood, they're being charged $45k. ouch! personally i think it's useless here, but becoming more and more common.
I live in Wilmington, North Carolina and we have also had more than our fair share of hurricans over the last 10 years (Bonnie, Burtha, Fran, Floyd were some good ones). We lost power for up to a week sometimes. I remember that during one of the outages listening to a battery powered radio and a man from Europe was saying we needed to get a clue and put the wires underground like they do where he grew up. It makes sense, and is the $ above taking into consideration the cost of constantly rebuilding the lines as well as the cost of bussiness losses and at homes that have to throw all their food away?
Why isn't this done in new communities as they are built?
I agree with both of the previous posts and was about to post the same thing. Underground power lines are commonplace in Europe and that IS the solution. It isn't the trees' fault. It is the 20-50year lag of the "progressive" Americans. I've always heard that the Americans knew it better than the Europeans, but then 20 years later they just do what they Europeans had been doing forever. I've lived in Europe, in the US - on the East Coast, in New Orleans and now in SoCal. In the US, all are horrible and stupid, but above all ignorant and arrogant. Get a clue!
== author's response (to provocative comment) ==
There is something nice about not having to look at ugly poles and lines. That's advantage #1. Once buried you don't have to worry any longer about being exposed to electromagnetic fields, as emanate from junction boxes and transformers. That's #2. By averting poles entirely, you not only avoid the need to trim and cut trees in the wire path, you also obviate the need to cut trees to make the poles! That's #3. And you don't have to creosote (a very nasty wood preservative) the poles. That's #4. Storm-proofing is advantage #5. True...you'd need earth moving equipment to repair; but then you don't need cherry pickers any more so it's a wash.
I just want to make a note regarding, "Why so much?"
In Florida, the water table is very high. Meaning that if you dig down about 10 feet you just made a small pond! When it rains heavily in the summer, that can be more like 5 feet.
Because of this, utility companies need to install power lines in waterproof pipes with extra insulation around the wiring (can't just bury the existing wires). Also, working on the wires poses another problem. When a new customer needs power, it often requires a big hole to be dug not only at the customer's house, but a trench coming from the street (though they have to do that anyway to hook up water/sewer). This process would also require new equipment and retraining of the electrical workers.
It is probably a much larger undertaking that most people think.
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