What would the world be like if there was a power outage for one day?

Electric power industry - power outage without interruption

For power generation and power transmission and transformation companies in the power industry, a full-day power outage will not bring any

devastating blows, it is nothing more than burning less organic fuels and using less natural energy. The use of electric energy has a characteristic,

that is, the production, transmission and use of electric energy are continuous, and the amount of electric energy needed at each moment will be

correspondingly produced. Therefore, for the power industry, the global power outage for a whole day means that all power plants will not produce

for a whole day, and all power transmission and transformation equipment will not operate for a whole day. From the outside, it looks like a factory

shutdown for a holiday. , but within the power industry, it is a different scene.

First of all, when the power generation, transformation, transmission and distribution equipment is in operation, it is impossible to carry out

large-scale maintenance. If there is a power outage for one day, all power plants, power transmission and transformation companies, and urban

distribution network maintenance companies will make full use of this day to carry out equipment maintenance work to ensure that after the power

outage, the equipment will continue to run for as long as possible and improve the efficiency of power companies. After all The more electricity you sell,

the more money you can make.

Secondly, the start-up of each generator set requires a certain amount of preparation time. The power transmission and transformation network of the

overall power system gradually resumes operation, and even the rebalancing of all power consumption loads and power generation loads requires a series

of operations under power dispatching, and the large power grid completely returns to normal operation. The method may take several days, which means

that some people do not just have a power outage for one day.

However, all walks of life will not say much about the discomfort of power loss. If there is a sudden power outage, all walks of life, the government and even

ordinary people will get together to find the power supply company to understand the situation. get through. At that time, there will inevitably be a large

number of enterprises that will demand compensation from power supply enterprises due to sudden unplanned power outages.

Leaving aside the inconvenience caused by sudden power outages to electricity customers, power companies welcome power outages, as the saying goes,

"I will take the blame and send you to death":

During this power outage day, electric power and power grid companies are like boxers sitting in the corner of the arena wiping blood, replenishing water,

and rubbing their legs.

Originally, I have no desire for electricity——Optimistic resource exploration major
For resource exploration workers, a one-day power outage seems to have no effect at all. After all, hammers, compasses, and handbooks are the foundation

of their lives. As a geologist, do you rarely face power outages in the field? As long as you don’t live in the countryside, don’t you always have your own

generator, and even if you live in the countryside, transformers will often be destroyed by lightning in the mountains, so power outages don’t seem to be

a big problem.

However, if it is a global power outage, it will still have an impact on the exploration industry. After all, today's geological exploration field is completely

inseparable from the assistance of global positioning systems, and once the power is cut off, these positioning systems will no longer be able to function

effectively. Taking the reconnaissance stage as an example, it is rare to see the technology of running the line with a tape measure. With the popularization

of electronic devices such as GPS, direct positioning becomes possible. Before using the GPS positioning system, it was necessary to go to the work area for

calibration. In addition to the low accuracy of the handheld, the ability to withstand interference is also poor. Coupled with the limitation of exploration

accuracy in the United States, the elevation (the distance from a point to the absolute base along the plumb line) is basically a reference parameter.

However, as the coverage rate of my country's Beidou positioning system increases, the GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System) is promoted,

and the handheld device using the Beidou module has the function of automatically connecting to the reference station, and the single-point positioning

is also accurate, which makes us less stand-alone Locate this most troublesome correction problem. It is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult

to go from extravagant to frugal. Once you get used to the convenient tools, without the help of the positioning system, everyone would rather stop working

for a day than forcefully go to work.

When the work enters the stage of census, detailed investigation and exploration, it needs to be assisted by exploration engineering, and the workload of

exploration engineering is very huge. For example, in the past, trenching engineering could also use workers to manually excavate, and after digging into

the bedrock, manually engrave samples on the rock mass. Before engraving samples, it is a handicraft job. Generally, it is necessary to carve a sample tank

with a depth of 5cm and a width of 10cm perpendicular to the stratum for sampling. It is better to find a stonemason in the village; but after using a toothless

saw, this work becomes a task. It is a non-technical job that can be perfectly completed with only a little effort.

Not only that, at this stage, with a large number of farmers moving to work in cities, it is difficult for us to hire young and strong labor force, and the labor

cost has increased a lot. The solution is to use large-scale construction machinery instead of labor, half a day can do a month's work, or use drilling instead

of trenching, and use drilling machines to replace traditional manual or excavator digging to achieve green exploration.

And when it comes to drilling, it is completely inseparable from electricity, and most drilling rigs are driven by electricity. Compared with mechanical drive,

electric drive has a series of advantages such as good speed regulation characteristics, high economic performance, strong reliability, low failure rate, and

more convenient and flexible operation. Moreover, the matching drawworks, turntable, and drilling pump can use the same set of power system to meet the

drilling process requirements and greatly improve the work efficiency.

The drilling project is the core part of the exploration project. Both the workload and the budget are more than half of the entire exploration project.

The construction period design of the entire project is also carried out around the drilling project. Once the drilling stops, the progress of the project

will inevitably be affected. Fortunately, one day without electricity will not cause serious troubles. After all, the generators supporting the drilling rigs

also shut down for cooking.

Underground mining industry suffers bloodbath

If the power goes out for a day, the blow to underground mining will be very serious. Taking the ventilation system that completely relies on electricity

as an example, the underground mining without ventilation equipment can basically not exceed 50 meters, and this is only the slant distance. The

ventilation conditions in coal mines are even more stringent. If the horizontal roadways that are not interconnected exceed 3 meters, it is necessary to

install air supply equipment to prevent gas accumulation. Once the ventilation equipment is stopped, the workers in the underground will suffer from

a flood accident, and the oxygen will be in short supply and the harmful gas will increase. The situation is extremely critical.

If a mining accident happens to happen at this time, once there is no power supply, workers will not even be able to find the location of the rescue capsule.

Even if the rescue capsule is found, it may not be able to exert 10% of its effectiveness due to lack of power supply, and can only wait helplessly in extreme

darkness alone.

The production capacity of large-scale mines plays a decisive role in the international market, and a one-day power outage will have a huge impact on the

international coal and precious metals market. The only consolation is that large-scale mines generally adopt a work system of 8 hours in three shifts or

6 hours in 4 shifts. In theory, only a small number of people will be affected by mining accidents.

 

Oil extraction industry - the Middle East said no pressure, my country is slightly troubled

Most of the oil wells that produce oil cannot be shut down, at least not for a long time, otherwise the wells will be scrapped. So what does a day of power

outage do to the well? In principle, oil wells will not be scrapped within one day, but a one-day shutdown will affect the rhythm of oil and gas transportation

in oil-bearing layers. Light oil and artesian oil wells in the Middle East may have no pressure on this, but it will have a greater impact on my country.

my country has a relatively high proportion of heavy oil fields and relatively rich heavy oil resources. More than 70 heavy oil fields have been discovered

in 12 basins. Therefore, heavy oil recovery technology has also attracted much attention in my country. In the 1980s, he focused on the research and

development of heavy oil resources. Among them, thermal recovery, steam injection, electric heating, chemical viscosity reduction and other technologies

in Shengli Oilfield, medium and deep heavy oil development in Liaohe Oilfield, chemical assisted sweet huff and puff technology in Dagang Oilfield,

shallow heavy oil area flooding technology in Xinjiang Oilfield, etc. are at the domestic leading level.

More than 90% of my country's heavy oil production relies on steam stimulation or steam drive, and the recovery rate can reach about 30%. Therefore,

once the power is cut off, the thermal extraction method will inevitably be interrupted. It will be reduced, and by extension, the oil price will inevitably

rise sharply on a global scale, and an oil shortage for a period of time is inevitable.

Correspondingly, the downstream factories that are refining oil and gas will also be suddenly affected, the refining of some products will be interrupted,

and the temperature of heavy oil will drop, resulting in blockage of pipelines. In extreme cases, the oil shortage may intensify, and strategic reserves may

even bottom out.

Manufacturing production line - a second of power outage is too long

Across all sectors of manufacturing, the stopping and starting of many production lines can be costly. Take the semiconductor manufacturing industry,

which can be called the apex of contemporary industrial civilization, as an example. It is extremely dependent on the continuity of power supply, and

the loss after power interruption is extremely heavy. Not to mention a one-day power outage, even if it is only a short-term power supply interruption,

or even just a momentary low voltage, it can cause a heavy blow to the semiconductor industry around the world.

In the early morning of December 8, 2010, Toshiba's Yokkaichi factory, which is responsible for the production of NAND flash memory, encountered

a power supply accident with instantaneous low voltage. According to the Central Japan Electric Power Company, at 5:21 on the same day, an instantaneous

voltage drop accident lasting 0.07 seconds occurred in western Aichi Prefecture, northern Mie Prefecture, and western Gifu Prefecture. However, in this

short seven-hundredth of a second, multiple pieces of equipment in the factory stopped operating. It was not until December 10 that the production line

was able to gradually restart. This incident had a severe impact on Toshiba's NAND production capacity, resulting in a nearly 20% drop in production

capacity in January 2011, and a direct economic loss of 20 billion yen.

At 11:30 am on March 9, 2018, a 40-minute power outage occurred at the Pyeongtaek plant of Samsung Electronics. Although the emergency power supply

system UPS started up in an emergency at the moment of power failure, the UPS stopped working in less than 20 minutes. In other words, the power supply

to the factory was completely cut off for at least 20 minutes.

The production line where the accident occurred is mainly responsible for the production of the most advanced 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory. In this

accident, Samsung Electronics lost a total of 30,000 to 60,000 300mm wafers. If calculated on the basis of 60,000 pieces, the accident caused the Pyeongtaek

factory to lose about two-thirds of its monthly output, accounting for 20% of Samsung Electronics' monthly 3D NAND production capacity. The direct economic

loss is more than 300 million yuan. Due to Samsung Electronics' overwhelming production capacity and technological advantages in the field of NAND flash

memory, 60,000 wafers have reached about 4% of the world's monthly NAND production capacity, and short-term price fluctuations in the world market will

inevitably occur.

Why are semiconductor factories so afraid of power outages? This is because the dust-free environment in the ultra-clean room of a semiconductor factory is

heavily dependent on the power supply. Once there is a problem with the power supply, the dust in the environment will quickly contaminate the online products.

At the same time, the very critical vapor deposition and magnetron sputtering processes in the semiconductor manufacturing process also have the characteristics

that once started, they must continue until the coating process is completely completed. This is because, if interrupted, the continuously growing film will break,

which can be catastrophic to product performance.

 

The communication industry - not yet completely paralyzed, at least we still have a local area network

We all know that the modern communication industry is completely a derivative industry after the large-scale application of electricity, so if the power goes out

for a day, the communication will basically be paralyzed, but it will not completely stop. First of all, the landline phone has completely lost its meaning, but the

mobile phone itself can still be used, but because the base station loses power, the mobile phone cannot make calls or surf the Internet, but you can play

stand-alone games or enjoy downloaded videos and music.

 

At this time, you should turn on the mobile phone's flight mode, because if the mobile phone cannot detect the network signal of the base station, the system will

think that the surrounding base stations are far away or the signal is not good. A phone that can't be charged will run out of battery faster. And if you turn on the

flight mode, the phone's network-related functions will be turned off, allowing the phone to be used longer than usual.

 

At the same time, you should try to choose a slightly darker place to play with your mobile phone, so that you can lower the brightness of the mobile phone screen

and further extend the use time. Also try not to play large-scale 3D games (there are basically no 3D games to play when there is no Internet), because 3D games

require chips to work at high power, and the power consumption is too fast.

Similar to mobile phones, laptops can continue to be used, but because routers and switches are powered off, they can only be used stand-alone. Fortunately,

if you know some professional knowledge or have corresponding software, you can use a notebook as a router to connect to other notebooks, and you can

play LAN games.

 

Biomedical laboratory - all furious, graduation on schedule depends on character

In biomedical laboratories, if there is no electricity at all, scientific research will basically stagnate. The seriousness of the consequences depends on whether

there is a plan for the power outage.

1. Scenario 1: Planned power outage

20 days before: email notification, oral notification of the meeting.

20 days to 7 days ago: Everyone adjusted the experimental arrangement, and 37? Cell lines in a cell culture incubator in a C/5% carbon dioxide environment were

cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen, and primary cells that would not be used before the power outage were no longer cultured. Order dry ice.

1 day ago: Dry ice arrived, stuffed from 4? C to -80? C The appropriate location of various refrigerators and freezers, try to maintain the original temperature

without too much fluctuation. Replenish the liquid nitrogen in the liquid nitrogen tank. The cell culture chamber should now be empty.

On the day of the power outage: all refrigerators are prohibited from being opened, and if it is winter, all windows must be opened to maintain the low

temperature in the room.

End of power outage (regardless of time): Restart refrigerator, check temperature, if abnormal need to salvage samples, move them to proper temperature.

At this time, there will be high temperature alarms of various refrigerators one after another, and it is necessary to run to turn off the alarms from time to time.

Day after power outage: Start cell incubator, check all other instruments, restart cell culture, gradually get back on track.

2. Scenario 2: Unexpected power outage

7 a.m.: The first people to arrive at the lab discover that the infrared automatic door does not open automatically. Change to a door that requires a card swipe,

and find that the card reader does not respond. In the process of continuing to search for other doors and security guards, more and more people gathered

downstairs in the laboratory, blocked from the door, and howling.

 

Wail 1: The cell line revived the day before yesterday was in vain... Fortunately, it was frozen in the liquid nitrogen tank.

Wailing 2: The primary cells that had been raised for two weeks were abolished... Fortunately, the mouse was still alive.

Fortunately three: The E. coli that was shaken last night should be able to be rescued...

Heartbroken N: 4? C/-30? C/-80? In C, there are xxx samples collected for several years/kits purchased with huge sums of money...

The power outage is over: All kinds of refrigerators have heated up to varying degrees, and whether the samples in them can still be used can only depend on

prayer. Most of the cells in the cell culture incubator are dying, and a very small number of strong cancer cell lines are still alive, but because the change of

culture conditions cannot guarantee the authenticity of the data, they were discarded. E. coli just grew a little slower. The mouse room was very smelly

because the air conditioner was on strike, so we had to wait half a day before going in for inspection.

Sudden power outages are enough to cause headaches, and if it were to go down for a day, all the biological dogs would go into a frenzy. Whether all kinds

of students postpone their graduation because of this depends on their accumulated character. Of course, there is still hope for you to develop good operating

habits in daily life to save you from danger.

 

The examples in the article tell us that if a power outage takes less than one second, the loss of a semiconductor factory can reach billions. If there is a global

power outage for one day, then this picture will be too bloody and shocking. From this point of view, the entire human society needs to bear the subsequent

impact after a day of power outage. Then it may not be an exaggeration to say that one day of power outage will cause a year of pain.