What Caused California’s Blackouts?

Last week, short-term blackouts rolled across an overheated California after the grid operator said there was not enough power to meet demand. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen again. Not after the Enron scandal. Not after 19 years of reforms. We have a very different grid now. 

Renewables skeptics, including President Trump, are seizing on the incident. What really happened? Where do we place blame? We explain the confluence of grid-management factors.

Then, coal power generation in the United States plunged 30% in just the first half of this year. But what Asia, where 80% of coal gets burned now? What hope is there for a coal decline there? We’ll look at China, Japan and India.

Finally, stunning public health research. What happens when you combine this up-to-date science with the new, low-cost renewable energy? You get a blockbuster picture, that’s what. We’ll examine new research that shows the health benefits alone pay for our energy transition. 

Recommended reading:

• New York Times: Rolling Blackouts in California Have Power Experts Stumped
• GTM: Western Heat Wave Tests California’s Clean Grid Transition
• Twitter: Ed Burgess Tesla Powerwall Thread
• Reuters: China's New Coal Projects Account for 90% of Global Total
• The Guardian: India Plans to Fell Ancient Forest to Create 40 New Coalfields
• New York times: Japan Races to Build New Coal-Burning Power Plants, Despite the Climate Risks
• Vox: Roberts: Air Pollution Is Much Worse Than We Thought
• Printed version of Dr. Shindell’s testimony

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