New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. Ultimately, however, the issues raised by the blackout go far beyond that, which may be why doe took charge of the inquriy on 20 august. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. As a matter of fact, programming bugs can irritate, however, the defective programming can likewise be costly, humiliating, ruinous and savage. The report makes clear that this blackout could have been prevented and that immediate actions must be taken in both the united states and canada to ensure that our electric system is more reliable. The northeast blackout of 2003 wikipedia august 14, 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and ontario, canada on thursday, august. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days. After recent windows 10 updates, my laptop begins to black out for about 2 seconds then brings itself back. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and ontario, canada on thursday, august 14, 2003, just before 4. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. The map shows an entire state or province as red, when in some cases only a small portion e. We investigated mortality in new york, ny, during the largest blackout in us history august 1415, 2003. Compatibility issue of national geographic microsoft. More on the 2003 northeast blackout correction august 14, 20.
But it was quite alarming to watch the power outage spread across a map of the northeastern and great lakes states plus ontario in realtime, like some sort of creeping blob from a science fiction film. Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. Use the following link and check the application compatibility details to run on windows 8. This article claims that the chinese peoples liberation army was behind, among other things, the august 2003 blackout computer hackers in china, including those working on behalf of the chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of u. In the great northeast blackout of 1965, the largest in u. Ten years after the 2003 northeast blackout, much has changed tuesday, august, 20 at 8. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge by jeremy johnson and alex lefebvre 20 august 2003 the blackout that began last thursday, cutting. Just as in air traffic control in the early 1960s, the time for ad hoc fixes and. The glitch kept firstenergys control room operators in the dark while three. Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Great northeast power blackout of 2003 satellite imagery. An analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u.
New york subways resumed limited services around 8 p. Part one of a twopart series on the northeast blackout of 2003. The outage occurred after the market had closed and, for kingdon at least, only lasted about 12. Northeast blackout of 1965 or north america blackout of 1965. Random screen blackouts since windows 10 update possible.
Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. The problems appeared when people tried to start up their devices. However, as it turned out, the cause of the great 2003 northeast blackout was anything but. Pataki reluctantly recalled one of the two major blackouts of the last 40 years in the northeast the 1965 power failure, which left an 80,000squaremile stretch of the united states and. Nine years ago, a blackout crippled the american northeast for two days.
A map of the states and provinces affected by the w. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on an energy management computer in ohio. Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. It turned out to be a race condition with an opportunity window measured. Only one of these outages, july 2012 in india, was due to more electricity demand than could be supplied by existing resources. The department of energy and natural resources canada jointly commissioned a task force that. It became clear in the 1965 northeast blackout, when a failure in ontario. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Random screen blackouts since windows 10 update possible driver updates.
August 14, 2003 blackout investigation phase ii next steps. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 14, 2003, beginning just after 4. Many others did not get their power back until two days later. This software bug cost power customers an estimated six billion dollars. In the industrialized economies of north america and europe, we more often lose power due to a subtle and difficult challenge. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid by jr minkel on august, 2008. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. This greatly exaggerates the actual area of the blackout. A task force looking into the cause of the massive aug. Finally, on the third day of this blackout, 2,000 mw was the loss for 20 hours and.
Geckil, economist aeg working paper 20032 introduction on thursday, august 14, 2003, an electrical disruption caused a loss of electrical service to consumers and industry acro ss the northeast. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a. The relevant root cause information is included below. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. Article the software bug for the freeze was later isolated. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history.
The atlantic has put together a photo essay of the event and how it impacted new yorkers, including those stuck in the citys transit systems. What happens when you try run to national geographic topo. Northeast blackout of 2003 or north america blackout of 2003. Initial blackout timeline 1 august 14, 2003 outage sequence of events u. Investigators found several factorsalarm system issues, software bugs, and an overloaded ohioarea stationwere. The xa 21 isnt based on windows, so it couldnt have been infected by. Ten years after the 2003 northeast blackout, much has changed. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. Its cofounder, evgeny kaspersky, is one of the worlds. Remembering the 2003 northeast blackout photos wsj. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. The cascading blackout in 2003 was one of the largest power blackouts in north america 2 making it ripe for research and lessons learned.
The august 14, 2003 blackout was a wakeup call concerning. Mayor michael bloomberg advised residents to open their windows, drink. Blackout presents similar results when coupled with the emergent smart grid technology sgt. How and why the blackout began in ohio summary this chapter explains the major eventselectrical, computer, and humanthat occurred as the blackout evolved on august 14, 2003, and identifies the. A case study of the 2003 north american power outage key questions what were the main vulnerabilities and threats related to the electricity subsector of the energy sector at the time of the blackout. For more than five years, nerc has sought and failed to get. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just before 4. Edt most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Blackout broadcasting, a regulatory ban on the broadcasting of an event blackout fabric, a textile material that blocks light blackout wartime, the practice of minimizing outdoor lighting for protection from attack communications blackout, a halt to communication abilities or utilization. For more public eye satellite imagery, see the picture of the week gallery of satellite and other imagery of places in the news. Turns out after all the various speculation on reasons, the big northeast blackout from last summer was the result of a software bug that was only just discovered. How a smarter grid could have prevented the 2003 u.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just after 4. Nothing else crashes or stops working, its just the screen blacking out. Another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. In more remote areas it took nearly a week to restore power.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. In some respects, kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003. In view of operations closer to stability limits, the use of ict is. The northeast blackout of 2003 in august 2003, a massive power outage occurred in. Normally, the problem would have tripped an alarm in the control room of firstenergy corporation, an ohiobased utility company, but the alarm. Causes of the august 14th blackout in the united states and canada, u. The outage occurred after the market had closed and, for kingdon at least, only lasted about 12 hours. Canada power outage task force september 12, 2003 this is an outline of significant physical and electrical events that occurred in a narrow window of time, before and during the cascade that led to the blackout of august 14, 2003.
Northeast blackout of 2003first energy outage reports. The day after the august 14, 2003, blackout, president george w. Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003. Power outage, an intentional or unintentional loss of electric power.
Afternoon psc issues a press release urging michigan citizens to take all. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. Fortunately, my companys maryland offices were situated about 100 miles beyond the southernmost extent of the blackout.
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