• Energy

Climate Change-Fueled Weather Increasing Power Outages

• blackout
• electric grid
• extreme weather
• heat
• microgrids

By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Last year, the average American household experienced eight hours without power, as storms hammered electrical systems built with less erratic climate conditions in mind. That average outage time is double what it was five years ago. But only looking at the average obscures the experience of people who lived […]

• Energy

China Struggles with Power Cuts, Sparking Debate Over Climate Goals

• blackout
• China
• coal

By Amy Lupica, ODP Daily Editor Following China’s announcement that it would cease all coal investments abroad, a series of power cuts have plagued the Chinese public. Power cuts are not uncommon in the country, but they’re being exacerbated by the pandemic, coal prices, and more this year. Now, a battle is brewing between economy-focused […]

• Health

Fed Creates Office for Climate, Health, and Equity

• blackout
• energy
• Environmental Justice
• hhs

By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer   The connection between public health and the climate crisis now has a specific home in the federal government. On Monday, the Biden administration announced the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, housed within the Department of Health and Human Services. This week’s announcement came as wildfires are creating hazardous air quality in […]

• Weather

Summer Heatwaves and Blackouts Put Millions at Risk of Heat Stroke, Exhaustion

• blackout
• California
• extreme heat

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Extreme weather and permanent droughts are sweeping across the Western U.S., and with them comes an increasing demand for A/C and power. But cooling buildings through increasingly severe heatwaves takes a significant toll on power grids, and a new study has found that a significant heatwave blackout in three major American cities […]

• People

PG&E Blackouts Affect Millions of Californians

• Bay Area
• blackout
• California
• PG&E
• power

Early yesterday morning, California’s largest utility, PG&E preemptively cut off power to over 500,000 customers in an effort to avoid power lines sparking fires.

What This Means: Prolonged power outages disrupt lives and harm businesses. The shutoff created sheer chaos through much of the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Energy

CA May Go Dark On Windy Days

• battery
• blackout
• energy
• generators
• PG&E
• resilience
• Solar
• wildfire

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that California’s largest utility, PG&E, has a plan to cut off power on high-wind days during the onrushing wildfire season because it the main cause of wildfires last year was power lines that were knocked down by high winds and the sparks from the live wires. And most residents don’t know and/or are not ready for the debilitating impacts.  Governor Newsome is so concerned about the impacts of the blackouts that he has created a fund to help communities prepare.