What the fragg is up with the electricity system of the world. First North America had the largest blackout of a generation. Then London. Last week the larger parts of Sweden and parts of Denmark. And now Italy. All within a month and a half. Coinsidences my a**. Is it hackers? Al-Qaida? Or some sort of large scale big'buis whitemail (as opposed to blackmail) flexing their muscles towards the governements of democracy.

Anyone know about any newsgroup on this?

Ahhh ya gotta luv the conspiracy theorists !!!!  ;D

Cos of course power failures in Europe would have nothing to do with the fact that they have just been thru their biggest heatwave in many lifetimes - with a mere 16,000 dead, and the ancient power grids have been seriously overworked for the past 3 months with record sales and usage of airconditioners, ice makers, etc etc.

Worldwide - well perhaps people need to accept that power is not a resource of bottomless supply.  

My city has sporadic blackouts - like weekly - the last big one that covered the entire state was in 95 or 96.  And we have been threatened with rolling blackouts to conserve energy.  Similar to what Californians had to endure not so long ago.  

Remember - its a luxury that we have only had for a couple of hundred years.  Everyone got by without it for several thousand years before that !!

Argh but who would go back to SNAIL MAIL !!!!!!!!!   :D

just found this article from June that talks about Italys power problems.  (on the BBC website)

     
Last Updated: Thursday, 26 June, 2003, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK

Italy hit by power cuts
Temperatures have been high for the past weeks
A surge in demand following a heatwave has led Italian electricity firms to order the first country-wide power cuts for more than 20 years.

Soaring temperatures have led people to switch their air conditioners, fans and refrigerators on to full power.

The jump in demand has stretched the country's national grid to breaking point and utility firms cut power for up to one and half hours in major cities on Thursday.

The operator of Italy's national grid, GRTN, blamed the cuts on an unexpected cut in power imports from France.

Shortfall

Italy cannot meet all of its domestic power needs from its own power stations, and imports several thousand megawatts from other countries every day.

It normally imports 2,650 megawatts from France daily, but late on Wednesday the GRTN was told the power imports would be cut by 800 megawatts.

Italy's own power production has also been hit by the heatwave, with hydroelectric plants reducing output because of the lack of water.

The result was a wave of power cuts across the country - the first since 1981.

The blackouts trapped people in lifts and traffic lights were switched off.

Italy's Industry Minister Antonio Marzano called on Italians to cut back their use of energy.

"Our emergency plan has five levels. Right now we are only at level one," he said.

"What happens over the coming days depends entirely on the heat."

GRTN has already said that there is a risk of further power cuts on Friday.