Valuetainment - The Truth About The Power Grid Outage Risk in America

00:00:00.000 By the way, before COVID, did you ever think that you and I were going to go through an epidemic or pandemic where we're going to be told that, you know, we're going to shut down everything, you're going to be working from home, you better quarantine, put the mask on, have gloves on when you're going out there, don't touch this, don't do that, kids stay home.

00:00:12.200 Did you think that, like, did that thought even cross your mind?

00:00:15.020 When 2019 was going into 2020 and you're preparing in December, did you say, honey, we better be ready for a potential pandemic to happen?

00:00:22.100 We did not think about it and then all of a sudden, boom, we were hit with it, right?

00:00:25.240 You know what's the one thing no one's talking about that is very likely that could happen?

00:00:29.020 A power outage.

00:00:30.500 So imagine power outage happens.

00:00:32.440 No light, no fridge, food is no longer good, no phone charger, phone is done, no internet.

00:00:38.460 What happens to your life?

00:00:39.880 FYI, come on, Pat, that would never happen to us.

00:00:42.500 Well, let me give you our score on how good we're doing with power energy system.

00:00:46.060 The American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave the U.S. energy system a C- on Great, on its 2021 infrastructure report card, said that the grid investment trends will eventually lead to a funding gap of almost $200 billion in 2029.

00:01:01.700 And also in 2021, threat assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have the capability to cause harm to the energy grid.

00:01:13.380 What?

00:01:13.660 Also at the same time, the Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, confirmed that America's adversaries possess the capability to shut down the grid.

00:01:23.600 What?

00:01:24.240 We're going to talk about that today.

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00:02:25.040 Okay, so if you get value out of this video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel.

00:02:28.040 Let's get right into it.

00:02:28.740 I'm going to give you some good news and some bad news.

00:02:30.260 Here's some good news for you.

00:02:30.980 The good news is the average U.S. electricity consumer experienced of interruptions annually

00:02:35.480 remained consistently at around two hours per year from 2013 to 2021.

00:02:39.720 We're lucky.

00:02:40.200 If you look at these charts here, this right here shows us the blue is with major events.

00:02:44.740 The navy blue is without major events.

00:02:46.820 Of course, 2017, 2020, 2021, maybe weather, maybe additional things that happen we experience a little bit,

00:02:52.780 but around two hours per year on average.

00:02:55.320 Now, here's the bad news.

00:02:56.100 The bad news is much of the U.S. electric grid was built in the 60s and the 70s.

00:03:03.840 We're talking 70 years ago is when it was built.

00:03:06.780 Currently, over 70% of the U.S. electricity grid is more than 25 years old, according to the White House.

00:03:13.040 So we've updated almost everything.

00:03:14.540 Yeah, let's upgrade this, upgrade that.

00:03:16.000 Our electricity grid, 70% of it hasn't been updated for more than 25 years.

00:03:20.820 What?

00:03:21.440 Really?

00:03:21.880 Maybe it's something no president's looking at, right?

00:03:23.980 They're like, well, it's not really a threat.

00:03:25.160 We shouldn't look at this here.

00:03:26.360 Now, you may say, come on, Pat.

00:03:27.220 Of course, the government's going to be paying attention to this kind of stuff because this is not on us.

00:03:30.280 This is not free market.

00:03:31.480 We don't do this right now.

00:03:32.660 Somebody else could maybe figure it out.

00:03:33.820 This is the government's responsibility.

00:03:35.400 And us taxpayers, we'll pay our taxes.

00:03:37.140 Yeah, I think they kind of know what they're doing in D.C., Pennsylvania, right?

00:03:40.080 I mean, they're smart people.

00:03:41.680 We elected them.

00:03:42.560 Watch this.

00:03:43.100 On October 18, 2023, Biden-Harris administration announced $3.5 billion for largest ever investment in America's electric grid.

00:03:51.280 You know what the budget was?

00:03:52.220 The deficit was at that time?

00:03:53.340 $1.7 trillion.

00:03:54.260 What is $3.5 billion?

00:03:56.180 Not a lot.

00:03:57.220 So now, where is our vulnerability?

00:03:59.300 Like, what are some areas we should be worried about?

00:04:01.120 Number one, extreme weather.

00:04:02.300 Abnormal heat or cold.

00:04:03.480 Tornadoes, hurricanes, flood or storms.

00:04:05.060 Major power outages from weather-related events in the U.S. increased by 67% since 2000.

00:04:10.100 Number two, cybersecurity.

00:04:11.420 The 2020 Homeland Threat Assessment from the Department of Homeland Security stated that China has the capability and possible intent to compromise the energy grid.

00:04:18.840 What would that look like?

00:04:19.940 Would China want to do that if they did?

00:04:22.020 Wouldn't they probably blame somebody else like they did with COVID when it came out from Wuhan and they said, no!

00:04:26.480 It probably came from some kind of a, you know, other place, but it's not us.

00:04:30.420 It's somebody else.

00:04:31.040 You think China would take responsibility for it?

00:04:33.000 Of course not.

00:04:33.820 They haven't for the recent one.

00:04:34.960 Do you think they're going to for this?

00:04:36.000 Number three is EMP, an electromagnetic pulse, also referred to as a transient electromagnetic disturbance, Ted.

00:04:43.580 It's a brief burst of electromagnetic energy.

00:04:46.100 The origin of EMP can be natural or artificial and can occur as an electromagnetic field.

00:04:51.040 There are two potential sources for an EMP.

00:04:53.040 The deliberate detonation of a nuclear device in the atmosphere above the Earth or a massive solar flare.

00:04:59.200 The consequences of either could range from a few days without power to life-changing.

00:05:02.880 Number four is actual physical attacks on power grid, which rose by 71% last year compared to 2021.

00:05:10.360 The Department of Energy's strategy does not include a complete assessment of all the cybersecurity risks to the grid.

00:05:15.520 By the way, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does not have a good understanding of the scale of the potential impacts from the impact.

00:05:21.540 And in the first eight months of 2022, the U.S. electrical grid was physically attacked 107 times.

00:05:28.680 So let's actually go through the process.

00:05:30.020 And by the way, this is not like a horror movie you're watching.

00:05:31.880 This is, you're probably listening to this saying, this is very possible.

00:05:35.040 And you and I, just like one day, you know, they say death and taxes are the two guarantees in life.

00:05:39.180 This is why you should own life insurance.

00:05:40.740 And this is why you should pay your taxes.

00:05:42.180 Because those two things we're going to have to do, right?

00:05:44.080 Watch this.

00:05:44.800 What would happen if the power grid actually did go down?

00:05:47.580 Number one, immediate disruption would be a loss of electricity in affected areas.

00:05:51.860 This would disrupt the normal functioning of various aspects of our daily life, including traffic lights, public transports, businesses, hospitals, communication networks, and more.

00:05:59.900 Number two, water supply.

00:06:01.360 Many water supply systems rely on electric pumps.

00:06:03.680 Without electricity, water treatment plants may not function, potentially leading to a lack of clean water and increased risk of waterborne diseases.

00:06:11.980 Number three, transportation.

00:06:13.760 Traffic lights would go out, leading to traffic jams and potentially accidents.

00:06:17.300 Electric trains and subway would halt.

00:06:19.180 Fuel stations might not be able to pump gas, leading to a shortage of fuel for vehicles.

00:06:22.880 Number four, communication.

00:06:24.180 Cell towers have backup generators, but they can run out of fuel if not replenished.

00:06:29.480 This could disrupt mobile phone service and the internet, hampering emergency response and communication among the public.

00:06:34.940 Number five, healthcare.

00:06:36.180 While hospitals have emergency generators, a prolonged outage could endanger patients, especially those in intensive care units or those dependent on powered medical devices.

00:06:46.000 Number six, food supply.

00:06:47.320 Refrigeration would be lost, leading to spoilage of perishable foods.

00:06:51.060 Without a functioning transportation system, the movement of goods would be hampered, leading to shortages in grocery stores.

00:06:57.960 By the way, we saw the food supply during COVID.

00:06:59.820 It's not like this is just 50 years ago.

00:07:02.120 This just happened two, three years ago.

00:07:03.600 Economic impact.

00:07:04.980 Prolonged outages could lead to a significant economic loss as businesses shut down and the cost of response and recovery mounts.

00:07:11.520 Again, this shouldn't be intimidating.

00:07:13.200 This just happened three years ago.

00:07:14.400 You know what happened to so many restaurants in America?

00:07:16.160 They had to shut down.

00:07:17.220 What happened to restaurants in California, in New York, in Illinois?

00:07:19.700 They're like, look, we can't make this happen.

00:07:21.460 What can we do with this?

00:07:22.400 They went out of business.

00:07:23.460 Next one, safety and security.

00:07:24.800 An increase in crime, especially looting, could be observed due to reduced surveillance, non-functioning alarm system, and dark streets.

00:07:32.260 Again, this civil unrest happened during COVID just a few years ago.

00:07:37.300 Dependency on backup power.

00:07:39.180 Entities with backup generators would need to rely on them, but fuel could run out if there's no quick resolution to the crisis.

00:07:46.180 Next, cooling and heating.

00:07:47.620 Depending on the season, lack of electricity could result in the inability to heat homes in winter or cool them in the summer, posing health risks to vulnerable populations.

00:07:57.420 Next, environmental concerns.

00:07:58.920 In some cases, power outages could lead to uncontrolled releases from industrial sites affecting air and water quality.

00:08:05.540 Next, long-term impact.

00:08:07.060 If the attack damages critical infrastructure components, it could take weeks or even months to repair, especially if custom components are required.

00:08:14.620 Social implications.

00:08:15.740 A long-term outage could lead to social unrest, decreased trust in government and institutions, and psychological impacts due to the stress of prolonged disruption.

00:08:24.160 By the way, social implications.

00:08:25.400 Have we experienced this?

00:08:26.580 Prolonged disruption.

00:08:28.180 Psychological impacts to our kids who were forced to stay home.

00:08:31.480 Imagine what happened to marriages, husband and wife. 0.99

00:08:33.840 It was a very messy situation, but a couple things to be thinking about.

00:08:37.120 So what's the solution?

00:08:38.160 Well, we got a few things to be thinking about.

00:08:39.920 There's three things that comes to my mind.

00:08:41.400 Number one is we have to vote better leaders.

00:08:44.120 And we, our job is to bring this issue to the top of who we elect and ask the question in interviews.

00:08:49.820 If you go to a town hall, ask the question, what are you going to do with the power grid in the U.S.?

00:08:55.080 We were not prepared for COVID, are you?

00:08:57.080 If you're able to go online and ask the question, pose it to other people.

00:09:00.780 Ask it from your elected officials, your congressman, your senator, your governor, your president, everybody.

00:09:06.480 Because this should be local to your mayor as well, because the mayor is your city.

00:09:09.420 What are they going to be doing about it in your city?

00:09:11.580 So that's the government level.

00:09:12.620 Number two, business, the company you're working for, ask the question, are we protected?

00:09:16.180 What do we have?

00:09:17.080 What are we looking at with our software?

00:09:18.820 What do we have to be protected against cybersecurity attacks?

00:09:21.780 Are we protected?

00:09:22.720 Is there a department in the company that invests into that?

00:09:25.280 These are conversations that anybody can bring up in the next leadership meeting.

00:09:28.900 You could be one person that sparks this conversation, say, I watch this video.

00:09:31.780 Do you know what we're going through?

00:09:32.560 How are we protected against this?

00:09:34.040 And last but not least, personal.

00:09:35.360 What can you do about it for your family?

00:09:37.080 Is it generator?

00:09:37.960 Is it getting the right insurance policies to protect against identity theft, against somebody stealing your information?

00:09:43.420 All of these things are very realistic, the deep fake.

00:09:45.980 There's so many different ways they're getting people to destroy their lives.

00:09:49.100 But the reality of it is, those three things, you control more of it the lower you go.

00:09:53.960 You control less with the government, less with the company, but you definitely control what you do with your family.

00:09:58.480 So the preparation and the responsibility goes to you and I when it comes to personal, what we can do for us.

00:10:04.000 By the way, to me, these types of conversations, sometimes people watch it like, oh my God, babe, the end of the world.

00:10:10.120 What am I going to be doing?

00:10:11.040 No, the whole idea is to be overly prepared.

00:10:13.980 Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

00:10:17.800 We had a conversation earlier about a script for a movie.

00:10:19.920 I said, we got to be hard on the script.

00:10:21.400 We got to be hard on the content.

00:10:22.760 We got to be, the more prepared we are up front for a party, the more we can enjoy the party.

00:10:27.400 The less prepared you are for a party, you're going to have a miserable party because nothing's going right.

00:10:31.540 So you can't even enjoy your own party.

00:10:33.080 Make sense?

00:10:33.580 So the more prepared we are, yeah, guess what?

00:10:36.700 Future looks bright.

00:10:37.620 If you're not, guess what?

00:10:38.600 It doesn't look bright for those that are not prepared.

00:10:41.580 So do take the time to be prepared for you and your family.

00:10:44.380 If you do that, you don't have a lot to worry about.

00:10:46.680 Having said that, if you got value out of this video, give it a thumbs up.

00:10:49.360 Subscribe to the channel.

00:10:50.400 And I got another video I want you to watch.

00:10:51.800 We did a video on food shortages.

00:10:53.480 If you've never seen that before, click here to watch.

00:10:55.480 I'll take care, everybody.

00:10:56.220 Bye-bye, bye-bye.

00:11:01.540 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - December 12, 2023

The Truth About The Power Grid Outage Risk in America

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