What Caused California’s Blackouts?

<p>Last week, short-term blackouts rolled across an overheated California after the grid operator said there was not enough power to meet demand.&nbsp;</p><p>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.&nbsp;</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.&nbsp;</p><p>Recommended reading:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/business/california-blackouts.html?action=click&amp;module=Latest&amp;pgtype=Homepage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New York Times</a>: Rolling Blackouts in California Have Power Experts Stumped</li><li><a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/western-heat-wave-tests-californias-clean-grid-transition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GTM</a>: Western Heat Wave Tests California’s Clean Grid Transition</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/eburgess/status/1295119915121221636" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a>: Ed Burgess Tesla Powerwall Thread</li><li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-coal/chinas-new-coal-projects-account-for-90-of-global-total-in-first-half-study-idUSKBN24Z00B" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reuters</a>: China's New Coal Projects Account for 90% of Global Total</li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/08/india-prime-ministe