California is no stranger to warm weather—but with record-breaking heat waves plaguing the Golden State, the risk of rolling blackouts is at an all-time high. Dr. Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier, who serves as senior advisor to CIEE’s Electric Grid program, shares her expertise with the SF Chronicle regarding this state of emergency.
Regarding California’s voluntary power cuts, von Meier says: “It’s very much a choice between: Do we want to do this gracefully with everybody chipping in and being responsible, or does it have to come to the rolling blackouts, which is really an inelegant way to forcibly reduce our demand? It’s really a matter of, ‘Let’s not point fingers with blame.’ Let’s be practical about here we are, here’s what we have to work with. We can totally make this work without people getting hurt.”
