Practices such as redlining left marginalized groups in more disaster-prone areas with poorer quality infrastructure − and more likely to experience prolonged power outages.
Turning off power is a last-ditch strategy for utilities to reduce the risk that their systems could spark wildfires. In most states, deciding whether to take that step is up to utilities.
Texas wasn’t prepared to keep the lights on during Winter Storm Uri, and it won’t be ready for future cold weather unless it starts thinking about energy demand as well as supply.
Security companies suggest that criminals take advantage of the fact that many home and business security systems get compromised during power outages.
Most households pay a flat rate 24/7 for electricity although the cost of generating it fluctuates through the day. Wireless technologies are changing that system.
Will Gorman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Galen Barbose, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
A study of real-world disasters shows home solar and storage could keep the lights on and the air conditioner running during many outages, but not all.
Hurricane Fiona will set back efforts to restore Puerto Rico that date back five years to Hurricane Maria. Two scholars explain how the island’s weak institutions worsen the impacts of disasters.
Most of the flooded communities are Indigenous and rely on subsistence hunting that residents would normally be doing right now. Recovering from the damage will make that harder.
Sometimes wind and solar power produce more electricity than the local grid can handle. Better energy storage and transmission could move extra energy to where it’s needed instead of shutting it off.
Bidirectional charging is the next big stage for electric vehicles. But storing power in your car and sending it back to your house involves more than flipping a switch.
Hurricane Ida left the entire city of New Orleans in the dark and renewed discussion of burying power lines. But there’s no way to completely protect the grid, above ground or below.
Jeanie Chin, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
In an era of climate change and extreme weather, a microgrid — a self-sufficient, energy-generating distribution and control system — puts communities on the path to self-reliance.
As rival factions vie for control over Venezuela, many of the country’s 31 million people are suffering prolonged power outages, food and water shortages, and limited access to medicine.