Grid Down Power Up - The Movie

Grid failure is a real and imminent threat, a devastatingly deadly occurrence leading to life-threatening shortages of heat, food, and water. If protective measures are not taken, we will experience catastrophic failures leaving citizens in states of starvation, death, destruction, and darkness for months. Reports released from Texas’ 3-day “snowmageddon” indicate a minimum death toll of 246, with some estimates climbing as high as 702. An outage of 1-2 years would lead to 10,000,000+ deaths. One thing is evident: the clock is ticking, and if nothing changes, the power may go out for good. Dennis Quaid hosts an alarming look into the potential of life without power. A dynamic legion of energy, economic, national security, and infrastructure experts fearlessly expose our most critical global threat: the vulnerability of our nation’s power grids. Together they inform the public of imminent threats and the infinite horrors in store from prolonged power loss. Buckle down and power up with this series of shocking scenarios. The U.S. power grid is aging and already struggling to meet current demand. It faces a future with more people — people who drive more electric cars and heat homes with more electric furnaces. Our electric utility companies have not implemented sufficient precautions to protect our grid and are well aware of the dangers. Numerous readily available grid safety solutions exist. These viable innovations must be rapidly instituted to protect our grid against known threats and hazards. As the demand for grid protection expands, brilliant minds will undoubtedly develop even more innovative ideas to secure our grid and protect our power. Promising fortification concepts have been developed by wise executives and utility engineers who understand that strict guidelines and protection measures may (hopefully) become required by law. Consistent citizen pressure must continue to pass legislation requiring utility companies to implement existing protective protocols while encouraging them to forge further state-of-the-art safeguards. Our goal at ‘GDPU’ is to ensure the grid never goes down! We’ve taken the time to list examples of immediate/interim solutions and sensible steps to secure our existing grids while we push for developing reliable, resilient microgrids. Our state and federal officials understand the dangers of grid failure but haven’t successfully passed legislation to remedy the problem. Unfortunately, the current cybersecurity standards designed by “the industry” and “approved” by the federal government are dangerously insufficient. Their security standards lean towards negligence and apply only to the “bulk power system.” The current cybersecurity standards clearly state: companies are NOT required to seek detection, mitigation, or even removal of malware (like the virus Russia employed to terminate electricity in Ukraine and then implanted in our systems). Even more shocking: these standards do not protect against catastrophic cyber-physical threats such as “Aurora” and don’t apply to imperative systems that allow grid operators to control the flow of electricity. Federal regulators have long been warned about these severe deficiencies. We must continue to push and encourage the federal government, state legislators, and public service commissioners to mandate upgraded cybersecurity standards to protect our power grid. Recent attacks on substations in Washington and Carolina have put everyone on high alert as we have seen firsthand how easily and quickly things can go awry. The grid has become a popular news topic as many states, like California, have continued to report rolling blackouts during heat waves. In recent months, government officials and reporters alike have urged citizens to refrain from excessive usage, even suggesting people forgo charging electric vehicles to reduce stress on the grid.