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Aging Electrical Infrastructure:
A Formal Report by Brandon Masluk
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Contents
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
THE AGING INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE UNITED STATES ........................................................................................ 5
Modern Times, Outdated Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 5
Structural Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 7
Impact on Society ............................................................................................................................... 8
SOLUTIONS FOR A FAILING US INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................................... 8
Maintenance ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Construction & Reconstruction ..................................................................................................... 8
Re-envisioning United States Infrastructure ............................................................................ 9
THE IMPACT OF NEW INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................................................. 9
Capacity & Stability ........................................................................................................................... 9
Fault-Tolerance ................................................................................................................................. 10
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................. 10
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................. 11
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ABSTRACT
This formal report analyzes the current state of the United States’ aging electrical
infrastructure and suggests methods in which it can be improved. Key components
to our electrical infrastructure are 10 or more years past their rated life expectancy,
our power lines are running at maximum capacity, and our utility poles are weak to
many forms of damage and are costly to replace. Thus, I suggest that we increase
capacity both in the energy production and distribution sectors, increase
maintenance regulation and scheduling, and move to green energy sources to help
prevent further extreme weather events caused by global climate change. Through
adopting these measures, the country will benefit in that our electrical infrastructure
will be more fault tolerant, have increased capacity allowing for rate matching, and
increased stability for a guaranteed stable flow of electricity to all of our citizens.

THE AGING INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE UNITED STATES

Modern Times, Outdated Infrastructure
We live in a modern world, and in this modern world, the average citizen’s
dependence on the constant, stable flow of electricity cannot possibly be
understated. From our computers & phones to our kitchen & laundry appliances,
just about every functional piece of equipment in a household is reliant on the
availability of electricity. On the basis that the average citizen has such a necessity
for electricity, along with the fact that within our country resides 328.2 Million of
those citizens, one would imagine that our electrical infrastructure was not only
robust and modernized, but future-proof. After all, the need for electricity will only
grow as technology further advances and permeates society. However, routinely
being one to disappoint, the reality of the United States’ electrical infrastructure is
grim at best.

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 Figure 1 – ASCE Report Card Results Formatted: Font: 9 pt, Italic, Font color: Text 2
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There are many reports that cover American Infrastructure, but we’ll start our case
with the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, 2017’s iteration of a report published
every 4 years by the American Society of Civil Engineers. As early as the cover of
the report, any hope for good news is thoroughly dashed by the overall grade
posted in the center; a D+. By category, it’s awfully similar across the board, with
our highest grade being a B for our railway infrastructure. Our Electrical
Infrastructure, on the other hand, received the US average of D+. A big reason for
this grade is the fact that 640,000 Miles of US Power Lines have been running at full
capacity for an alarmingly long time (American Society, 2017). To go with that, the
ASCE reports that there were 3,571 total power outages in the first figure of their
energy report. If that’s not bad enough, with most of the United States’ electrical
infrastructure having been built in the 1950’s and 1960’s, that also means most of
what we have is past its rated life expectancy of 50 years by 10 years at a minimum
(American Society, 2017). To boil it down, our electrical infrastructure is comprised
of parts much older than they should be, a significant portion of which are running at
maximum capacity.

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Structural Weaknesses Formatted: Default Paragraph Font, Font: (Default)
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Our electrical infrastructure is old and at capacity, but that’s not the end of it. It’s
also exceptionally weak to the various forms of wear and tear present in Nature.
Any infrastructure will have weaknesses to nature, but this problem is exacerbated
by The United States’ reliance on overhead power lines. Overhead power lines are
open to being damaged or even destroyed by lightning, winds, and storms
(Wireless, 2012). This doesn’t even account for the dangers that living things
present, such as insects or beavers chewing down utility poles (Little, 2014). The
rotting wood of our aging utility poles is also becoming more prevalent of an issue,
as this makes the poles significantly weaker and can even cause the poles to fall
over entirely. Repairing or replacing these weak links as they appear in the utility
pole network is not just an active problem, but it’s also a money sink, costing
American taxpayers over 3 Billion Dollars per year (Lehtinen, 2019).

Figure 2 - The Basic Structure of an Electrical System. (Marston, 2018) Formatted: Caption

Our electrical infrastructure is not just weak to the dangers of natural phenomena.
For instance, a vehicular collision with an electrical pole can be enough to tear the
entire thing down. One incident such as this could potentially knock out power to
entire neighborhoods due to the fault of careless individuals. Referring to Figure 1,
you can see who would be affected by an outage depending on where in the
infrastructure the outage occurs. Overhead power lines and utility poles are also
potential targets for criminal or terrorist acts, as they are highly important to society
and yet highly unprotected being out in the open (Wireless, 2012).

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Impact on Society
The impact of our aging electrical infrastructure will be felt by all of us, and in
increasing magnitude as time goes on. As our infrastructure begins to fail us,
American citizens will begin to experience more frequent outages that are longer in
duration (American Society, 2017). Should these inadequacies and instabilities be
allowed to pile up in our electrical infrastructure, we could potentially even see
entire areas brown-out for significant periods of time. Residences, Businesses, and
necessary public facilities such as Hospitals could lose power and endanger
peoples’ lives. Our only logical course of action as a nation is to fix our
infrastructure before we start having to face the consequences.
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SOLUTIONS FOR A FAILING US INFRASTRUCTURE

Maintenance
The first step to making sure that our infrastructure remains functional is to keep up
a routine maintenance schedule. While there are many maintenance schedules in
place across the various types of US infrastructure, there is evidence that would
show that in many cases it is not being adhered to. Take any of the utility poles that
have fallen due to rot or insect infestations as an example. Clearly, the maintenance
schedule is either not being followed or simply not thorough enough in these cases.
Proper maintenance regulation and adherence to scheduling will prevent the need
for costly utility pole replacement by simply bolstering the lifespan of our existing
poles.

Construction & Reconstruction

As mentioned previously and as reported in the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card,
640,000 Miles of power lines in the United States are running at maximum capacity
(American Society, 2017). This issue can easily be remedied by constructing
additional power lines for greater electrical bandwidth and ease of distribution.
Additional power lines can also supplement potential fault tolerance solutions,
allowing for an even more robust electrical infrastructure. Beyond new construction,
we must also consider completely reconstructing the portions of our electrical
infrastructure which are damaged or outdated to the point where routine
maintenance simply isn’t enough to produce the desired level of efficiency, stability
and throughput.

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Re-envisioning United States Infrastructure
The world is heating up, climates are changing, and weather patters are only going
to get more aggressive from here on unless we do something about it (Ocko, 2020).
With this in mind, the United States needs to not only maintain and add onto its
existing electrical infrastructure, but to re-envision how we obtain our electricity as
well. As it stands, renewable methods of generating electricity only accounts for
17% of all electricity generated in the United States (Government, 2020). For
contrast, renewables account for 48% of Germany’s overall electricity production
(Gardiner, 2019). The United States uses mostly overhead power lines, which
means we’re more susceptible to electrical complications resulting from e xtreme
weather than our European neighbors who use mostly underground power lines. As
such, it is in the United States’ best interest, both as a resident of the planet and as
a country that relies heavily on utility poles, to re-envision what we consider viable
electricity production methods and make a move towards renewables.

Utility poles are the root cause of a lot of expenses that the United States incurs
involving its electrical infrastructure. Typically, this expense is to replace the poles
after having been blown down or destroyed by an extreme weather event (Lehtinen,
2019). As such is the case, the United States may need to re-envision how we look
at distributing power in places where extreme weather events such as tornadoes
and hurricanes occur frequently. Specifically, we may want to consider underground
power lines. While they are more expensive to install and harder to fix if there ends
up being a problem, they are far more resilient against such weather events.
Underground power lines are also, as an added bonus, far more protected against
lightning strikes (Wireless, 2012).

THE IMPACT OF NEW INFRASTRUCTURE

Capacity & Stability
With new additions to our electrical infrastructure paired with a more rigorous
maintenance schedule, our production capacity and distribution stability will both
increase. The impact of these changes, ideally, will have no visible impact on
citizens’ day to day lives. After all, infrastructure of any kind is working most
optimally when you don’t notice it’s there. Increased capacity will simply allow for
more growth via a newfound scalability, and increased stability will allow for citizens
to go about their day with little to no interruption in the flow of electricity demanded.
Electricity production and consumption will ultimately remain a seamless process for
the end user, but our infrastructure will be more prepared for growth and better
protected against hazards.

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Fault-Tolerance
With increased Capacity and Stability, Fault-Tolerance will also increase. For those
not familiar, Fault-Tolerance is the ability of a system to continue functioning despite
a failure in one or more of its parts. With a high enough production capacity, you
can achieve a level of scalability that allows for rate matching the production
demanded, even in the face of generator failure. For instance, only turn on the
generators we need to meet demand, and if one fails, activate one of the idle
generators to continue meeting demand while we repair the generator that failed. In
being able to implement such fault-tolerance measures, the production and
consumption of electricity can remain a seamless process even in times of extreme
weather conditions and component failure.

CONCLUSION
The key takeaways here are rather simple. The United States’ electrical
infrastructure is lacking. It’s outdated, and in many areas it is running at maximum
capacity. Utility poles and overhead power lines are susceptible to many different
forms of damage, and they are costly to replace when they fall. In light of all of this,
my suggestion is to move to underground wiring where possible, generally increase
our production and distribution capacity, while simultaneously making a move
towards green renewable energy sources to combat the rise of extreme weather
events resulting from climate change. By adopting these measures, US energy
production and consumption can remain a seamless experience for its citizens.

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REFERENCES
American Society, of Civil Engineers. “Energy.” ASCE's 2017 Infrastructure Report Card,
American Society of Civil Engineers, 2017, www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-
item/energy/.

Gardiner, Beth. “Renewables Generated a Record 65 Percent of Germany's Electricity Last

Week.” Yale E360, Yale School of the Environment, 13 Mar. 2019,
e360.yale.edu/digest/renewables-generated-a-record-65-percent-of-germanys-electricity-
last-week.

Government, US. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA), US Energy Information Administration, 6 May 2020,
www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=92.

Lehtinen, Hannu. “Case Study: A Trick up the Sleeve Protection Improves Pole Performance.”
POWERGrid International, Rovakaira Networks Construction Ltd, 3 Sept. 2019,
www.power-grid.com/2016/05/19/case-study-a-trick-up-the-sleeve-protection-improves-
pole-performance/.

Little, Ashley. “Tall and Skinny and Full of Problems: What Is Eating Your Utility Poles?”
Infrastructure Asset Management Blog, Alden Systems, 10 Oct. 2014,
info.aldensys.com/joint-use/tall-and-skinny-and-full-of-problems-what-is-eating-your-
utility-poles-.

Marston, Theodore. “The US Electric Power System Infrastructure and Its Vulnerabilities.” NAE
Website, National Academy of Engineering, 15 June 2018, www.nae.edu/183133/The-US-
Electric-Power-System-Infrastructure-and-Its-Vulnerabilities.

Ocko, Ilisa. “Extreme Weather Gets a Boost from Climate Change.” Environmental Defense
Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, 2020, www.edf.org/climate/climate-change-and-
extreme-weather.

Wireless, RF. “Advantages Disadvantages of Underground & Overhead Transmission.”

Advantages Disadvantages Underground and Overhead Transmission, RF Wireless, 2012,
www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Underground-
and-Overhead-transmission.html.

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