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1.  

   In terms of what?

   

   dorpus, Sep 19th, 2005 @ 5:31pm

   
   

   Smaller cities in poorer areas get power outages regularly, developing countries enjoy their few hours of electricity per day. A more accurate statement would say that the media has talked about fewer high-profile power outages this year.
   

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2.  

   Article is questionable

   

   Mousky, Sep 19th, 2005 @ 6:43pm

   
   

   That article is a wee bit loose with the facts. It would have us believe that the 2003 blackout was caused by branches falling on power lines. It was sagging power lines falling on trees that caused one of the power lines to fail (the more juice that goes through a power line the heavier the power line gets). It was a combination of events that lead to the blackout: other power lines failing, the tripping of a generating plant, and the failure of an alarm system to warn of the problems with the transmission system and force the Midwest Independent System Operator to isolate the FirstEnergy's system.

   That same article also mentions that little has been done. Not much has been done on the Lake Erie Loop since the blackout. Additional transmission lines have not been added. I don't see how things have improved. Maybe in California, but here in the midwest/northeast US and central Canada, I have not seen any substantial improvements.

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3.  

   Chicago Decline

   

   Doug, Sep 20th, 2005 @ 10:59am

   
   

   ComEd, Chicago's power company, used to have outtages multiple times each summer. I've lived here for twenty plus years, and this summer (and the last) are the first in my memory that, despite being as hot (and AC hogging) as any other, have been pretty much outtage free. They're recent ad campaign claims they're getting better; guess it's not just propaganda.

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