[Maztarded]

I've been watching a lot of zombie movies recently because of all the free time I have, one thing I've noticed in mostly all the movies I have watched is the power always goes off!
Not many have given a reason as to why the power turns off, only the movie 'Dawn Of The Dead (the recent remake) gives a reason; which is because of a few zombies throw a human woman onto the main electricity supplier thing unintentionally and whilst getting electrocuted by the current it causes the power to go off- this scenario in my opinion isn't really likely to happen.

Also, if the electricity is inevitably going to go in a zombie apocalypse, how long would it last until the power completely turned off?
And how would you cope?!
OMG I'm a teenager and I seriously doubt I would last a week without my Blackberry, Twitter or Facebook and I am confident I speak for most teenagers!

(Oh and I did ask Glen Mazzara on Twitter and he replied ''because it's scary'' however that only explains why it happens in movies and not why it would happen in reality)

[Ansceniiiic]

Most power grids/plants require maintenance so that cities and buildings have electricity. A lot of these grids run off different resources like fuel to keep them running and of course, if there were to be a zombie apocalypse, there would be nobody to keep refuelling and thus overtime the power plants would begin to shut down.

Only the movie 'Dawn Of The Dead (the recent remake) gives a reason; which is because of a few zombies throw a human woman onto the main electricity supplier thing unintentionally and whilst getting electrocuted by the current it causes the power to go off- this scenario in my opinion isn't really likely to happen.

Wait......that happened? I thought the power went off because they were running on generators.

[Maztarded]

That seriously needs to be taken care of and sorted out so power grids are not reliant on humans to maintenance it!
I'm sure scientist are working on nuclear power and solar power etc.
Hopefully we'll soon be using more efficient and less human reliant sources of power!
I remember Jenner saying something about how stupid we all are, despite being so advanced we still rely on fossil fuels for a source of power.

Let's just all hope that before a major disaster strikes we at least have good stable power!!

[I_Follow_You_Axel]

That seriously needs to be taken care of and sorted out so power grids are not reliant on humans to maintenance it!
I'm sure scientist are working on nuclear power and solar power etc.
Hopefully we'll soon be using more efficient and less human reliant sources of power!
I remember Jenner saying something about how stupid we all are, despite being so advanced we still rely on fossil fuels for a source of power.

Let's just all hope that before a major disaster strikes we at least have good stable power!!

Nuclear plants and solar grids also need human maintenance to keep running. And in a zombie apocalypse, the Internet connections you need to use your Blackberry to post status updates on Facebook ("zomg, zombies!!1!" ) would eventually go down, as they too need human maintenance to keep running.

The way you cope is to find shelter with a generator (like Hershel's farm had) and siphon gas to keep it running. But in the zombie apocalypse, having lights on at all hours of the night really just puts a target on your place of refuge, to either zombie or human threats. Basically, you're screwed no matter what.

[theblackboxlies]

Speaking of Nuclear Power Plants, I'm surprised the issue of Meltdowns has never been brought up in The Walking Dead... or any Zombie flick for that matter. I mean, I don't know if there are safety mechanisms in place, but after a while without humans maintaining the fuel rods, there would eventually be meltdowns worldwide. It would be like Chernobyl x100. The fallout from that would certainly cause a lot of health problems on top of everything else that comes along with a Zpoc.

[DeadCave]

Nuclear plants and solar grids also need human maintenance to keep running. And in a zombie apocalypse, the Internet connections you need to use your Blackberry to post status updates on Facebook ("zomg, zombies!!1!" ) would eventually go down, as they too need human maintenance to keep running.

The way you cope is to find shelter with a generator (like Hershel's farm had) and siphon gas to keep it running. But in the zombie apocalypse, having lights on at all hours of the night really just puts a target on your place of refuge, to either zombie or human threats. Basically, you're screwed no matter what.

Agreed and with what Ansecniiic said. All the things that you teenagers take for granted, which is why it's important to learn how/why things work, particularly on a country's infrastructure.
I own a DVD of the Dawn of the Dead remake and I don't recall a lady being tossed into anything electrical. The power just went down because the genny's ran out of fuel.
Elsewhere on this forum there's a link to a video that shows what happens if people were to disappear all of the sudden. Buildings and bridges would collapse from lack of maintainence and so forth. The biggest worries are the dams that provide hydro-electric power to their respective cities. Without constant maintainence on the structure and release of water, eventually the dams would fail and anything downstream is going to get wiped out. Hoover Dam, one of the largest dams in the world would literally wipe Las Vegas off the map should it go.
Learning how to use and hook up generators is important because if you do it wrong you'll end up electrocuting yourself.
Life skills that are important to learn.

[Jon W]

Try reading Steven Kings "The Stand". It's a comparable situation (influenza apocalypse, rather than Zombie), but it does go into some of the issues that would happen.

[Jon W]

OMG I'm a teenager and I seriously doubt I would last a week without my Blackberry, Twitter or Facebook and I am confident I speak for most teenagers!

Imagine lasting a week without clean water or food that you can safely eat. Safe water is actually the most critical consideration in a situation like this. People can last a couple of weeks without food (they won't be happy, but they can live), but I think three days without water is the limit - you die of dehydration.

For What It's Worth: the Internet was *designed* to be a decentralized communication system in the event of a nuclear attack (seriously - look it up), so your e-mail might work for a while, assuming you could find a connection point, but I'd be surprised if Twitter and Facebook stayed viable for any length of time. Their data centers will have UIPS, but those only last so long.

[OMEN]

This thread is full lols.

[Ansceniiiic]

Elsewhere on this forum there's a link to a video that shows what happens if people were to disappear all of the sudden. Buildings and bridges would collapse from lack of maintainence and so forth. The biggest worries are the dams that provide hydro-electric power to their respective cities. Without constant maintainence on the structure and release of water, eventually the dams would fail and anything downstream is going to get wiped out. Hoover Dam, one of the largest dams in the world would literally wipe Las Vegas off the map should it go.

Apparently Hoover Dam could run on it's own for several years as it's power supply is the water itself and everything is in place to keep running. The video you were referring to http://www.youtube.c...cMND7fY#t=4m50s

[I_Follow_You_Axel]

Apparently Hoover Dam could run on it's own for several years as it's power supply is the water itself and everything is in place to keep running. The video you were referring to http://www.youtube.c...cMND7fY#t=4m50s

Does that estimate account for any weak spots in the dam or earthquakes?

[Kat]

Note to self *include portable generator in first post-apocalyptic looting trip*

(along with razors and late expiration condoms from another thread).

By the time this thing goes down, I'll have quite the list going. . .

[Trillian]

Note to self *include portable generator in first post-apocalyptic looting trip*

(along with razors and late expiration condoms from another thread).

By the time this thing goes down, I'll have quite the list going. . .

At this point, you'll just need to be one of the first looters. Or hope that previous looters hadn't been reading R&L.

[babywalker]

Infra-structure problems should pop up within the first month. The ones that are not properly maintained to begin with would be showing issues much sooner. With budget shortfalls, many municipalities do enough maintenance to keep things in running condition, not optimal conditions. The same goes with bridges and roadways. They may not fix a bridge, but they do enough, legally, so that it will not fall down. Put a bandage on it and get it fixed when the money is there. Remove the person applying the bandages, and it all breaks down. The series "Life After People" does a good job showing what happens when no one remains to take care of things.

Not to mention the daily traffic accidents that knock down poles and interrupt service. We have seen quite a few accidents in TWD. When lightning hits a transformer, power goes out in the surrounding areas. Winds during storm season. Ice during winter. With no one around to fix lines and restore power, many areas will be left without power before the power systems fail.

[Trillian]

Infra-structure problems should pop up within the first month. The ones that are not properly maintained to begin with would be showing issues much sooner. With budget shortfalls, many municipalities do enough maintenance to keep things in running condition, not optimal conditions. The same goes with bridges and roadways. They may not fix a bridge, but they do enough, legally, so that it will not fall down. Put a bandage on it and get it fixed when the money is there. Remove the person applying the bandages, and it all breaks down. The series "Life After People" does a good job showing what happens when no one remains to take care of things.

Not to mention the daily traffic accidents that knock down poles and interrupt service. We have seen quite a few accidents in TWD. When lightning hits a transformer, power goes out in the surrounding areas. Winds during storm season. Ice during winter. With no one around to fix lines and restore power, many areas will be left without power before the power systems fail.

Maybe we could teach the zombies to fix things.

[Maztarded]

Speaking of Nuclear Power Plants, I'm surprised the issue of Meltdowns has never been brought up in The Walking Dead... or any Zombie flick for that matter. I mean, I don't know if there are safety mechanisms in place, but after a while without humans maintaining the fuel rods, there would eventually be meltdowns worldwide. It would be like Chernobyl x100. The fallout from that would certainly cause a lot of health problems on top of everything else that comes along with a Zpoc.

I did come across one zombie movie that brought up the issue of nuclear power plants that were nearly about to explode, and if i say how they reacted to that then I give away the ending.
This movie was really good! I liked it
If you want to watch it then it's called 'Extinction The G.M.O Chronicles'

[Maztarded]

OH MY BAD!! IT WAS DAY OF THE DEAD!
Where they give a reason for the power going out!

[DeadCave]

Maybe we could teach the zombies to fix things.

Nah... Shawn of the Dead showed the extent of the usefulness of a domesticated zombie. You still have to watch out for them so not to get bitten.

[Major Tom]

The source of power might last a good while in some cases. Distribution of the power would be the bigger problem.

Fires, storms, overloads, would all go unchecked and/or unrepaired.

Power companies don't employ hundreds of trucks and linemen to go out and fix something once or twice a year. The distribution system requires daily maintenance. Some areas could luck out and have power for a few weeks, but there is a domino effect involved with failure of the transformers and lines. All this would happen perhaps months before the source fails.

The government has plans to shut down any nuclear power in any situation that would leave the plants untended. If they fail to shut them down and assuming there are no fail safe auto-shutdown procedures in place, meltdowns would be likely.

[Trillian]

Nah... Shawn of the Dead showed the extent of the usefulness of a domesticated zombie. You still have to watch out for them so not to get bitten.

We have seen that you can remove the lower jaw to prevent biting.

However, if you remove the arms, they won't be able to use tools.

[EXE.DMG]

When society and local governments collapse things like electricity become unattended to and become unreliable or cease existing.

[BeardedOne]

That seriously needs to be taken care of and sorted out so power grids are not reliant on humans to maintenance it!
I'm sure scientist are working on nuclear power and solar power etc.
Hopefully we'll soon be using more efficient and less human reliant sources of power!
I remember Jenner saying something about how stupid we all are, despite being so advanced we still rely on fossil fuels for a source of power.

Let's just all hope that before a major disaster strikes we at least have good stable power!!

Human beings lived for thousands of years without electricity, and many still do today.

Electricity falls into the "nice to have" category, but by no means is it necessary.

[Zeus....DAMMIT!]

You cant have something like a an eletrical infrastructure be totally self reliant.....from a resource stand point (making it automated kills the majority of the jobs and even then...that automated process has to be maintained.

or it could be an area thing...a car runs into a transformer...or something like that., but that wouldnt affect the whle power grid.

[Juggy]

Facebook wouldn't be all that good in a ZA anyway, everyone's status' would be "braaaiiinnnsss"

[NewJeffCT]

There was a show on a few years back that supposed what would happen if all humans suddenly disappeared - how long would various things last without humans to maintain them.

The show was called "Life After People" on History.

However, without somebody to maintain it, the power would go out in most places within a matter of days. Things like the Lincoln & Holland tunnels in NYC would be flooded as well - they have pumps constantly running to empty it of water. Big Ben in London would stop within a few days as well... it was surprising and somewhat depressing to see how much requires constant human maintenance to keep running - the Brooklyn Bridge, if I recall, has a full time crew of iron workers & painters that maintain just that bridge - and how quickly things would fall apart without maintenance. (the bridge wouldn't collapse right away... but, a lot of other things would go pretty quickly.)

http://www.history.c...fe-after-people