Fact of the day: The ability to move electricity from power
plants to end users will also be threatened by climate change,
since electrical transmission lines lose 7 to 8 percent of their
transmitting capacity in high temperatures--just when demand for
power rises.This from a study on the effects of climate change
on California's grid. Another little bit of knowledge to stew
over: The warmer climate will decrease hydropower generation in
the summer months when it is needed most, the report said. High-
elevation hydropower plants, which supply about 75 percent of
the state's hydropower, are especially at risk, since the small
size of their reservoirs allows little flexibility to cope with
reduced snowpack.This is apropos of the crisis this week in
India, where a massive blackout left 670 million people in the
dark. That's roughly ten percent of the population of the world.
Most of the power is back on today, but rolling blackouts and
"power holidays" will continue to be a fact of life. (Revkin's
roundups here a