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Friday, August 07, 2009

Friday Shoot-out - Power (a teaser)

DSC08463 I have done some research and a lot of thinking about power in Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Nova Friburgo. This weeks theme is one that sparked my interest and my love of research. Power is something we Americans don't think much about unless we, 1) have a major storm that knocks it our for many days or 2) we don't pay our bill and it is turned off.
In Nova Friburgo we have a more constant reminders of how electrical power affects everyday life. There is a blip in the electrical service if now daily then at least once a week. It is affected by the wind that often blows across the mountain tops felling trees and tree branches, rain storms, auto accidents on the winding road up to the house, and wire overloads that blow the transformers. Just last week after hearing the transformers blowing, popping like gun shots in the night, the power company was down at the end of our lane putting up new poles, hopefully expanding the service upstream from us.
....... this was just a teaser, the shoot out topic will be completed next week when I am back in Friburgo.

18 comments:

  1. Power is something we take for granted here! I cant wait to hear more! Safe travels.

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  2. This is an awesome post. You are right about too many of us not thinking much about how we get our power until it goes out. We take it for granted. Nice photo. I look forward to seeing your full scope of power theme.

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  3. Great shot, GingerV. Looks like you were on the ball with that camera.

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  4. That must be pretty unnerving listening to trees coming down around you and transformers blowing!

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  5. There's a much power interruption in my country especially the city where I live. There were some typhoons these last few months that hit our country. But everything is fine now.

    I cant wait to see more of your power photos. Just take your time.

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  6. This was an excellent shot of the power guys, Ginger! In some places, they bury the power lines underground so the wind cannot knock the power out. It is more expensive in the short term but would probably save money over time. I am looking forward to seeing the rest.

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  7. That is very true - I never think about what a comfort it is to have power until it's gone. Ours was knocked out by a storm a few nights ago and even though it was time to go to bed, I was so freaked out by the idea of no lights, no TV, no noise that it was almost impossible to sleep :) Great picture with this one, too.

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  8. What a great teaser GingerV - can't wait for the rest!

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  9. You know we understand and you are worth the wait!
    Blessings.

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  10. Wonderful post - we do take for granted many things we have here!

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  11. A terrific post on the importance of power and the gratitude that I should have for the power in my home which has not gone out in over a year, and then for only a few hours. I'm also sorry for the loss of your friend (Aug 5th post)

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  12. Certainly we do take electricity for granted here ...it so rarely goes off, perhaps 3 or 4 times in the last twenty years!

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  13. I was seriously thinking about this last night when a storm hit and the cable was going in and out on a show I was watching...we are spoiled, unlike our for fathers who used candles and other means of power available...great teaser gingerv!

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  14. I agree with u about what u wrote

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  15. you are so right, where would we be without it?

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  16. We do take it for granted, don't we? And any time the computer goes down, it is a traumatic disaster. Now, back in the ol' days....

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  17. I admit it - I take power for granted! Thanks for the reminder that I shouldn't!

    Also, my condolences on the loss of your friend. Your words were very thought provoking.

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  18. Ginger,

    In Rhode Island we definitely don't take power for granted, I actually woke up with no electricity this morning, it took them all morning to restore power to our neighborhood.
    We still have 150 year old power plants that run on diesel and were originally powered by "whale oil", we also "import" electricity from Quebec, Canada, because we can't possibly produce enough for our needs.
    Our state has all kinds of credits and incentives for folks willing to implement power saving initiatives.


    Ray

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