Florida may be well known for its sunshine, but its recent black out left millions without artificial light. A minor fire broke out in an electrical substation on the outskirts of Miami. A breaker the station down, just as it should have done. Unfortunately, it shut down a dozen other functional substations as well. Power demand soon overloaded the system, and three million Floridians suddenly found themselves without power. Many left work early, only to get hopelessly stuck in traffic, since many of Miami’s traffic lights were out as well.

Fortunately, this blackout occurred in the middle of the day in a balmy climate. History has many examples of blackouts at less convenient moments, such as the massive outage in the northeastern United States and Canada in August 2003, which left 40 million Americans without power. Our country’s electrical infrastructure is outdated and faulty. An article from Time Magazine yesterday highlighted research from scholars at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg showing that the average US electricity customer suffers 214 minutes of power outage each year. In comparison, the British only experience 70 minutes of blackout annually, while the Japanese experience only 6. The researchers report, “The U.S. ranks toward the bottom among developed nations in terms of reliability of its electricity service.”

It’s going to take a while to get the nation’s power systems up to speed. Until they are more reliable, it’s best to have reliable emergency kits in the car, home and office. Your kit should include bottled water, extra blankets, canned food, and a flashlight. Consider including an LED torch, as they are more efficient, durable, and reliable than traditional flashlights. The super-prepared should choose a waterproof flashlight, such as the Micro Power Chip Waterproof Torch. This may seem like overkill, but consider that you may need to dash outside in inclement weather, change a tire in a deluge, check a leaky pipe, or even just walk to the store in the rain. A high-quality waterproof light will be reliable and cost-effective for years to come.

For more information on practical uses of water resistant flashlights, click here.

Top photo by refractor.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 4:13 am and is filed under LED News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.