The power grid vs. climate change

Recode Daily

Recode

Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recent extreme temperature events, like snowstorms in Texas and heat waves in Oregon and California, have put the United States’ power grid to the test. Recode’s Rebecca Heilweil (@rebheilweil) reports the country’s energy infrastructure is facing significant challenges as climate change persists. References: Read Rebecca’s story here. Enjoyed this episode? Rate Recode Daily ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. What do you want to learn about on Recode Daily? Send your requests and questions to recodedaily@recode.net. We read every email! Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Recode Daily by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices This episode was made by: Host: Adam Clark Estes (@adamclarkestes) Producer: Alan Rodriguez Espinoza (@ardzes) Engineer: Paul Mounsey Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:39.8	The United States has witnessed several devastating weather events in the last few months. We've
0:44.6	had winter storms and Texas, record breaking heat on the west coast, and more recently, a tropical
0:49.8	storm hit Florida and the east coast. Extreme weather events like these have consequences,
0:54.5	like massive power outages, which have prompted governments to ask people to use less energy.
0:59.3	But this is only a temporary fix. The country's power grid is clearly struggling to keep up with
1:04.2	the energy demands of climate change. Rico's Rebecca Hyalwile is here to fill us in on how the
1:08.8	country's power system is doing and what change is maybe coming. Rebecca, hi, thanks for joining us.
1:13.1	Thanks for having me. So to start, what exactly is the power grid and how does it work?
1:18.5	So the power grid is essentially this giant engineering system that's full of these high and low
1:24.7	voltage wires, sensors and poles and transformers that all work together to bring electricity that's
1:31.8	generated across the grid and to your house. So on the broadest scale, the US actually has two main
1:38.6	interconnections, one on the east coast and one on the west coast. And then there are also these
1:42.2	minor connections like what you've probably heard about in Texas. Basically what's happening with
1:46.6	all these systems is that electricity after it's generated travels down these wires,
1:51.4	starting with high voltage ones and then carries at these long distances and then finally,
1:56.2	it's transferred to lower voltage lines and those eventually pass electricity to buildings and then
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