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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Electricity Blackouts in Iran Increasing |
| 2008-08-11 |
| For average Iranians, recent electricity cuts are a reminder of the severe energy shortages they endured for almost a decade after the 1979 Islamic revolution... In the 1980s [during the Iraq-Iran war], power cuts were accepted as part of daily life, but now Iranians question how record oil revenues, which amounted to $54bn for the first half of this year, can have such little impact on their living standards... The government [which owns and operates all electrical plants] blames drought as the main reason for the power shortages, but experts reject this claim and argue that 90 per cent of about 38,000MW of electricity [some of these plants operate only sporadically because of lack of parts, execution of managers by mullahs, etc.] is generated in thermal power plants, not hydro-electric ones. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #8 And I'm pretty sure modern methods are much more efficient. |
| Posted by: James 2008-08-11 21:50 |
| #7 Moose: Do you have a reference for that statement? I find it unbelievable. |
| Posted by: KBK 2008-08-11 20:42 |
| #6 "about half of US electricity production was used to enrich uranium." If we built some fast neutron reactors (as India is doing) we wouldn't need to enrich uranium AND we could recycle spent fuel rods. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-08-11 13:06 |
| #5 It is sorta happening. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-11 12:16 |
| #4 If Allan wanted them to have electricity, wouldn't it just kinda sorta happen? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-08-11 11:02 |
| #3 Drought can cause low water levels in rivers that are used for power plant condenser cooling, thus requiring capacity reduction. But it's more likely a case of mismanagement. Any country that rich in natural gas should never lack electricity. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2008-08-11 10:50 |
| #2 It's hard to believe that countries can develop nuclear weapons when their people still wipe their asses with their hands. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-11 10:43 |
| #1 In the 1950s and 1960s, about half of US electricity production was used to enrich uranium. It is that energy consumptive. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-08-11 10:15 |