Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I used to be employed with an electricity provider. The reasons underground lines are not more common is the cost to place lines underground is on average 3-5 times higher, the lifespan of a line placed underground is shorter due to insulation degradation, underground lines must be located and more care must be exercised during digging and construction, and when there is a problem with an underground line the downtime is longer.
Those costs are passed on to the consumer. There are neighborhoods here with underground, but overhead is more common.
All of the newer neighborhoods and suburbs in my area have underground power lines. I live in a established neighborhood with overhead power lines, and I think they are ugly.
coming into canada the first thing that struck me were the overhead powerlines. honestly it looked a little backwards. im from netherlands.
I don't know why it would look "backwards" to you. Overhead powerlines can be found everywhere, even the Netherlands. That has already been shown on this thread when the OP made ridiculous statements in one of his MANY, many names he has used here.
Theyre fine, they work fine and are probably easier to maintain. Only I guess it didn't fit into my idea of modern infrastructuring. Also, something commonplace can still be old-fashioned. Actually it's probably the minority of things in the world that can be considered modern. The overhead powerlines over here are solely long distance lines and out of sight from the towns and cities.
I live in an old neighborhood, developed in the 20s & 30s. We have overhead power lines along the alleys, behind the houses, and few of the east-west streets have overhead lines along them. Most houses in my n'hood are on north-south blocks, so that means few houses have power lines in the street in front of them. The streetlights are pedestals with underground wiring. The utility will bury your power line from the pole in the alley to the house, but for a fee. Not worth it to me.
The good thing about them are that the power in these areas rarely go out. The main reason for a power outage is a tree falling on them or lighting. If they're underground that threat is gone. Several areas in Orlando with underground powerlines have made it through small hurricanes without loosing power.
And to me over head power lines are an eye sore. especially on wood posts. In orlando they have started to replace the low lying power lines on wood posts with thicker cement posts that are about 2 or 3 times taller (above tree level) (seen here: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...2.41,,0,-17.37 ) so you dont have see so many power lines hanging so low on both sides of the street.
Last edited by GLS2010; 11-11-2010 at 09:21 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
