What are the arguments against underground power lines?

[Amerikan Melanin]

the coli.com

where the power company makes money from repairing their infrastructure instead of the power they deliver. i'm sure they eat off that downtime

Worked in infrastructure for 10 yrs. I’m telling you that they don’t give a shyt if the power goes out. The workers don’t care either we make a killing in OT. All the cost gets pushed onto the consumer.

If they were concerned about downtime they’d bury the lines.

I worked on a project at the jersey shore where all telephone poles and lines had to be raised due to hurricane sandy. Every single pole and line. You know how many billions that cost?! They pushed the cost off to the residents.

 

[Elim Garak]

Cost and logistics.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Worked in infrastructure for 10 yrs. I’m telling you that they don’t give a shyt if the power goes out. The workers don’t care either we make a killing in OT. All the cost gets pushed onto the consumer.

If they were concerned about downtime they’d bury the lines.

I worked on a project at the jersey shore where all telephone poles and lines had to be raised due to hurricane sandy. Every single pole and line. You know how many billions that cost?! They pushed the cost off to the residents.

it's not up to the power company... they don't make more than power delivery by doing infrastructure repair YOU DO...

they push the cost to the city but it still has to be competitive not a profit driven task. those contracts are highly regulated in most places and you have to keep costs low to even be the major supplier. otherwise a lot of places make their shyt a public business and infrastructure public. nobody trying to pay above cost for repairs that's not where the business is. it's not a business strategy because YOU eat of the OT.

 

[SadimirPutin]

Whenever people talk about upfront cost for infrastructure I always ponder if they look at the cost they spend keeping and repairing old decrepit shyt

The point of investment is that the cost/benefit is amortized over time

Doing the right thing or at least the generally better thing(there are pros and cons to most things in life) is usually a cheaper long term calculus

 

[African_brehda]

Cost, cost, cost.

My job has mentioned underground power/network lines and a generator... none of it happened cause it cost too much...

But my boss had the audacity to ask about a UPS big enough to last 24 hours

Not to mention the odds of them being accidentally cut are likely too, which increases cost to provide it.

Breh. The stress and cost involved in even laying 1km of fiber underground is sickening. I can’t even begin to imagine for power lines

 

[KBtheKey]

There's often pushback in some neighborhoods due to the inconvenience brought on by traffic and construction.

Bring that shyt to Houston. There's always random unnecessary traffic and construction anyway. 1 intersection i know right now getting worked on is causing 1+ mile long traffic even outside of peak hours. Mfs be on the phone all the time, some of the road signs and paint aren't accurate, we got all kinds of shyt. 1 intersection no left turn lights, but also no left turn yield sign anywhere nearby so people be on some "fuk it I'ma just go" shyt. They keep changing light sequences to cause more traffic or for police to get their numbers up. Etc

Just give us the underground electricity. I'll drive with all curb lanes closed for a year if it means i prolly ain't gotta think about outages during the worst times. shyt a drunk driver can hit a transformer and knock the blocks lights off in a split second. No drunk man should have all that power

Crazy i completely forgot this was even a thing until right now lol

 

[Yapdatfool]

Breh. The stress and cost involved in even laying 1km of fiber underground is sickening. I can’t even begin to imagine for power lines

If it outweighs the cost of multiple power and network outages per day or week (that you have 0 control over) then so be it.

 

[CopiousX]

It doesn't make sense to me that in the 21st century there are still cities out here without underground power. Storm comes down: power outage. Someone backs up into a power pole and nocks it down: Power outage. Debris gets tangled in the lines and snaps them: power outage.

Power line comes down, wire exposed and touches water? nearby animals and people are in danger.

I don't even know if cost can really be an argument against under ground power because doesn't it cost MORE to fix that shyt every time it comes down than to just install the power underground and be done with it.

That's a great idea! Will you pay for it?



Nah, but in all seriousness it costs less to just fix severed power infrastructure after a storm than it does to build a whole new network, so most municipalities take the easy route .

 

[Lamar Givens]

Believe it or not your power can still go out during a storm even if the power lines are under the ground.

Most people don’t realize that dependent on how a city or county’s power grid connects, the city will often shut down power in an effort to protect the overall integrity of the grid.

 

[Chrishaune]

Infrastructure costs.
Earthquakes.
I can't get my local political representative to get potholes taken care of much less powerlines in the district.
Blame the bad people you voted into office.

Democrats sending $billions to Ukraine right now. But it's who "other" people voted into office.....

 

[skyrunner1]

This will get sorted out when skynet AI comes online fully..

 

[Amo Husserl]

Democrats sending $billions to Ukraine right now. But it's who "other" people voted into office.....

You are saying there is money to fix the problem.

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

If it ain't already, funding for underground power lines should be in that infrastructure bill.

This the kind of shyt that can make or break a municipal election too. It's why people shouldn't be sleeping on local politics cause that money is there. They just ain't trying to spend it on us.

 

[CopiousX]

Do we know that for a fact tho or is that just cap so they don't pay for it.

"It's too expensive" always been used to shut down shyt people actually use but money magically shows up when someone wants aircraft carriers

These storms ain't going away. Climate change is just getting started, isn't it cheaper to get ahead of things now.

I recall NPR did a story on this after the last Puerto Rico hurricane.


This was the response their new island power company gave. Id assume that if its cost prohibitive for that semi-country with cheap labor and perpetual category 4 hurricanes, then it should be even more expensive for us in the mainland united states with inflated labor, restrictive property rights, and sparse power outages.

 

[Elim Garak]

Whenever people talk about upfront cost for infrastructure I always ponder if they look at the cost they spend keeping and repairing old decrepit shyt

The point of investment is that the cost/benefit is amortized over time

Doing the right thing or at least the generally better thing(there are pros and cons to most things in life) is usually a cheaper long term calculus

This is true but government don't work like this if it did we would have universal healthcare.