Energy

2023 Was Hottest Year on Record by a Lot – The New York Times

2023 Was Hottest Year on Record by a Lot – The New York Times

The numbers are in, and scientists can now confirm what month after month of extraordinary heat worldwide began signaling long ago. Last year was Earth’s warmest by far in a century and a half.

Global temperatures started blowing past records midyear and didn’t stop. First, June was the planet’s warmest June on record. Then, July was the warmest July. And so on, all the way through December.

Averaged across last year, temperatures worldwide were 1.48 degrees Celsius, or 2.66 Fahrenheit, higher than they were in the second half of the 19th century, the European Union climate monitor announced on Tuesday. That is warmer by a sizable margin than 2016, the previous hottest year.

America’s Three Power Grids

America\'s Three Power Grids

America has three electrical grids that are not synchronized to each other, and can not move alternating current electricity between one and another.
 
Generally speaking, a power plant in Oklahoma can't send electricity to most of Texas or Colorado.
 
Each grid was built separately and are incompatible with each other, although a limited amount of electricity can be moved between the interconnections using AC to DC to AC conversion. But such conversion is complicated and expensive, and isn't as simple as stringing lines between the grids.