Advice for Europeans: Bundle Up and Get Ready for Outages
As temperatures drop amid an energy crisis, governments say power blackouts may be necessary to conserve electricity.
Life in some European cities may soon look like this: Staggered electricity outages to save energy. Temporary cuts in mobile phone and internet service. Schools closed for a lack of lighting and heat. Even traffic lights could briefly be powered down.
Europe has spent months preparing for a winter without Russian gas, stockpiling fuel and pushing conservation measures in hopes of maintaining enough energy to keep power grids running.
But as an unseasonable streak of mild weather gives way to freezing temperatures, governments are starting to brace people for the possibility of controlled power cuts in the event that energy supplies are stretched — with a wide-ranging impact on daily life.
The French government last week started instructing officials around the country to plan for potential rolling electricity outages as soon as next month. Britain’s National Grid operator has warned households of possible blackouts from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. if gas used to produce electricity runs short. Electric car owners in Finland are being advised not to heat their plugged-in vehicles on freezing mornings to avoid straining the grid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/busin...tages.html
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And in Germany, the country that has been most dependent on Russian gas, people are taking no chances: Sales of candles have soared.
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Still, the prospect of homes, schools, businesses and even trains that rely on power and electric signals going dark, however briefly, will be Europe’s first major test of resilience as it turns away from Russian fuel.
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Germany has issued advisories on what to expect in a blackout. “The telephone is dead, the heating doesn’t come on, there is no warm water, the computer goes on strike, the coffee machine stays off, there is no light,” the Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance said on its website.
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The office urges households to stock up on battery-powered flashlights and candles, and even suggests camp stoves to prepare small meals. “Warm clothing can be used as a substitute for heating for a while,” the agency said, but advised households to think about installing alternative heating sources.
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In Switzerland, which has long depended on French nuclear power for its winters, citizens have been urged to prepare for outages lasting up to several hours. The Federal Electricity Commission urged people to have enough firewood, flashlights and batteries.
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While emergency sites would continue to receive power, plenty of other places won’t. Schools would not be spared: students will be instructed to stay home on mornings when classes are canceled because of lack of heat and light, and return in the afternoon. (The internet won’t work, either, making remote schooling difficult.)
Even trains could come to a standstill for a couple of hours in affected areas, because power needed to work signals would be shut off. The government said it would warn drivers to “limit their movements as much as possible” because traffic lights could be “inoperative.”
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Cellphone towers will also stop working in areas where power is paused. Christel Heydemann, the chief executive of Orange, France’s top telecom operator, warned last week that emergency phone calls may not be possible if mobile networks lose electricity. The government said people could still dial 112, the Europe-wide number for emergencies.