Former Senator Sounds the Alarm on Grid Security

October 23, 2018 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Cynthia longhair Douglas @ Shutterstock.com

Kelly Ayotte, a former Senator from New Hampshire, used a column in The National Interest to highlight something that has been a regular touchstone for me on Yoursurvivalguy.com, grid security. To protect yourself from cyber-attacks, natural disasters, or anything that could take out your access to power, I’ve urged you to prepare. Water, communications, generators; these are all things you need to think about ahead of time. Don’t wait.

At the national level, there is much work to be done to improve the reliability and defense of the electric grid. In her column Ayotte discusses what steps are being taken to improve. She writes:

Fortunately, the Department of Energy is focused on the issue, having recently established the new Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) to elevate the focus on energy infrastructure protection and enable more coordinated preparedness and response to natural and man-made threats. The solutions won’t necessarily be simple, but we know some of the options that should be on the table.

Permitting for advanced energy must be streamlined so solutions can come online sooner. Comprehensive planning and decisionmaking must balance the situation-specific pros and cons of additional long-distance transmission versus local alternatives.

We must clear other regulatory hurdles to strengthening the grid. In particular, we need to encourage private investment and leverage free-market forces. This means allowing grid planners, utilities and customers to choose their electricity sources. Innovations in energy efficiency and energy storage, along with technology like cloud computing, are increasingly competitive and can help close the gaps in our grid.

The Department of Defense’s leading use of micro-grids, small modular nuclear reactors, and solar combined with storage is well documented to reduce the risk of fuel supply disruptions and assure on-site, autonomous generation . Islands like Hawaii and Puerto Rico are heading in the same direction having learned lessons over decades of importing costly, heavy polluting fuels.

Across the United States, diverse landscapes, natural resources and urban developments will mandate diverse solutions. A combination of micro generation, storage, and macro transmission will necessarily be a part of an all-of-the-above approach. In Washington, state capitals, and utility headquarters, this wide-ranging discussion is ongoing. At home, consumers are sometimes anxious.

We will all feel safer when our biggest concern is cell phone battery life. With thoughtful policies and market-based approach to deploying cost-effective solutions advanced energy technologies will bolster America’s critical energy infrastructure, and the widespread deployment of clean energy solutions will have us breathing easier too.

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

Do You Look Marvelous? See My Friend Marc - September 13, 2024
Kitten Update This Week - September 13, 2024
Dershowitz Decries “Hard Left” Hijacking of Democratic Party - September 13, 2024
September RAGE Gauge: Win Friends and Influence People - September 12, 2024
Stay Diversified My Friends - September 12, 2024

Do You Look Marvelous? See My Friend Marc

Your Survival Guy visited my friend Marc Streisand this week, owner/proprietor of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers, Custom Suits, and Imported Sportswear, to pick up my handmade, bespoke cashmere sport coat. It’s such a beautiful piece, I can’t wait to put it on when we hit Paris for three weeks in October. Every time I leave […]

Kitten Update This Week

Well, Fred (gray) and Phantom (black) haven’t settled down yet, especially at nap time. What’s funny is how much Fred outweighs his little sister Phantom and how she’s ruling the roost. He’s definitely bigger and stronger, but she leads the way. Investment Concerns? Save Money. Get My Friday Email. It’s Free Read more […]

Dershowitz Decries “Hard Left” Hijacking of Democratic Party

In The New York Sun, longtime Democrat Alan Dershowitz decries the party’s hijacking by the “hard left” and explains his reasons for leaving it after so many decades. He writes: I have been a loyal Democrat since the mid-1950s when I worked for local Democratic candidates at Brooklyn. Since 1960 I have voted for every […]

September RAGE Gauge: Win Friends and Influence People

Well, that was an interesting debate, wasn’t it? Not exactly a seminar on how to win friends and influence people. When I talk with you, you tell me it didn’t sway you one bit. And you feel the same way about the undecided voters—they weren’t compelled either way. When I think of Dale Carnegie’s classic […]

Stay Diversified My Friends

Investors are getting nervous about the stock market and are making moves to more traditionally defensive sectors of the market. Remember to stay diversified because it’s not what you invest in but how you invest that stirs the drink. Hardika Singh reports in The Wall Street Journal: Investors are playing defense ahead of the Federal […]

Microsoft Puts Shareholders Ahead of Gamers

Video game workers. Now, that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one. What’s noteworthy is the continued softening of sales post-pandemic. I like Microsoft’s positioning to reduce its video game workforce in the face of what might be a slowdown in demand. Sarah E. Needleman reports for The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft is laying off […]

A Word on the Trump/Harris Dystopian Debate

We knew going in that former President Donald Trump would not get a fair shake from ABC, but it felt like we were watching a trial from The Hunger Games without the costumes. Vice President Kamala Harris was treated like the incumbent and heir to the throne by the moderators. The primetime show was borderline […]

The Trump Tax Reforms and Biden/Harris Inflation

Americans miss the days when their wages were rising in real (inflation-adjusted) terms powered by the Trump tax cuts. For the last three years, they’ve been burdened by higher spending from the Biden-Harris administration, with the outcome being more Americans on the government dole for things like healthcare, rather than being able to afford it […]

Businesses Eager to Invest in Sunbelt

America’s sunbelt is attracting businesses eager to invest in the usually low-tax, low-regulatory states. Will Parker reports for The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. is experiencing a manufacturing revival. More property investors are eager to capitalize on it. American and overseas companies have committed nearly half a trillion dollars to build new factories for electric […]

You’re Ignorant, Learn to Know the Answers

When you invest in a passive index, is it passive? The idea behind “passive” is that the stock market is “efficient,” and that there are no real values to be had because of the wisdom of crowds. Tell that to Warren Buffett, who’s made a decent living for decades on investing against the ignorance and […]

“Revitalized” Oracle Reaps an AI Dividend

In The Wall Street Journal, Tom Dotan discusses the revitalization of Oracle, which “missed the tech industry’s move to cloud computing last decade and ended up an also-ran.” Dotan explains that the AI boom has given Oracle another shot, writing: The 47-year-old company that made its name on relational database software has emerged as an […]

Wealthy Young Americans Are Fleeing High Tax States

You know them as Your Survival Guy’s Escape States. These are states like California, Illinois, and New York, where income earners are treated like piggy banks to be withdrawn from in order to fund politicians’ ideological spending ideas. Residents aren’t treated like customers to be served by government, they’re expected to serve government through punitive […]

A Word on Stock Prices and Their Nephew

A word on stock market prices and their nephew past performance. When investors pile into the S&P 500 the way so many do—automatically with their 401(k) contributions—there’s a tremendous amount of money riding on the same stuff. Investors, knowingly or unknowingly, get piled into the same boat, hoping and praying to get to their retirement […]

In Your Retirement Life, This Matters the Most

Remember, it’s not what you invest in but how you invest that matters most. With the mini pullback in stocks, look at how well-balanced portfolios have done. In The Wall Street Journal, Jon Sindreau explains that the last few months have shown (once again) the value of a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds. He […]

Americans are Bullish on Stocks, Should You Be?

The stock market has minted millionaires this year, reports Gunjan Banjerji in The Wall Street Journal. That’s not bad, but Americans, as Banerji explains, “have rarely been this giddy about the stock market.” Banerji writes: U.S. households’ stock allocations have steadily inched up this year, according to JPMorgan estimates, and recently accounted for around 42% […]