From Iowa to New England, tens of thousands of people are without power in yet another catastrophic failure of centralized power.

Snowfall affected a large region, but the worst of the ice storm _ and resulting power outages _ was in a band across northern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Power companies reported 60,000 customers in Illinois without service Friday, more than 35,000 in Ohio, and a whopping 180,000 in Indiana, where the area around Fort Wayne was particularly hard-hit.

“When you combine ice, which is an electric utility’s nightmare, with wind, you’ve got some serious issues,” said Indiana Michigan Power spokesman Mark Brian.

Not exactly profound words given history has proven this again and again and again. Around the world, other countries are working actively to avert these types of crises through distributed energy systems.