/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>14967521
Electricity's become such a trivial thing in our lives. The lights always come on when we flip a switch, and they don't when the weather's bad. For some reason, at least in America in particular, we don't like thinking where that electricity comes from, so we disguise our power poles, hide power lines underground, and make them sort of "blend in" so we don't give them much thought. I agree that power lines ruin really pretty landscapes, because it's a reminder that humans are constantly interfering with nature. We generate power from coal that disrupts the Earth's climate and that's all really bad.

The truth is though that electricity has advanced society a great deal, and I just have a deep respect for the feat of engineering that is the power grid. A ton of work went into the power lines and stations that allow us all to live a better life than our ancestors. These generating plants cost the same amount as like 100 disneylands, and they work 24 hours a day. Thousands of people work to make sure I can post on /jp/ about touhou or kancolle. It's *fundamental to society* that the electricity stays on so I can do that.

All I started doing was asking why engineers and linemen did what they did. Why is there a pole here or there? Where does it go? Where exactly does my power come from? I just took pictures of the stuff and just asked what it was. You can google every part of a substation, and all that stuff just interested me. Breaker schemes and all of that stuff is beyond me, I admit. Mechanical relays are totally nutso, if you ever google that. Now computers do it because it's obviously way more reliable.

I think what impresses me most is how BIG it all is. A lot of these generating stations cost more than 100 disneylands but I pay like $20 a month to draw power from it.