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The conversation about renewable resources, in particular electricity, is almost always about its use in the private sector. If there is a failure in the electrical grid there will also be a failure primarily in home heating, cooling, lighting, communication, etc. The same issues will also affect businesses. What we don't hear much about is the dependence on reliable electricity by the public sector.
The photograph above is an aerial night view of Los Angeles, CA. As can be seen much of the artificial light in this and all cities is used to illuminate public spaces, buildings,streets and freeways. Heating and cooling public buildings also depends on reliable electricity, as does water and sewer, elevators and other normal services.
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A NASA photo from space of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Incredibly, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, no statistics are kept that differentiate between private and public use of electricity for lighting or building applications.
The question is, in the event of not being able to supply all of electrical power needed at any given time, how will the available power be allotted? It's difficult to imagine that street and freeway illumination will be cut off, despite automobiles having their own source of light. Sure some public facilities, jails, hospitals, etc. are equipped with emergency generators but they won't supply enough power to keep various state legislatures running.
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