Podcasts about america's power grid

Before you open your next electricity bill, you might want to brace yourself. PG&E is hiking their rates starting this month, and this one is historic. Bills for the average household are expected to jump $34.50 a month and there could be more rate hikes on the horizon. The increase will fund projects addressing wildfire mitigation, especially an unprecedented attempt to bury power lines in high-risk areas. After the new rate hike, PG&E rates will have doubled over the last 10 years. Is all the new work necessary? Is sticking ratepayers with the bill the only option? We'll talk with energy and utility experts about what this move means for PG&E and for the rest of us. Guests: Katherine Blunt, energy reporter, Wall Street Journal. Her recent book is "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America's Power Grid." Meredith Fowlie, professor, UC Berkeley Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics; faculty director at the Energy Institute at Haas Mark Toney, executive director, The Utility Reform Network

The 2018 Camp fire was the most destructive wildfire in California's history. By the time the smoke cleared, more than 150,000 acres had burned. Damages surpassed $16 billion. Dozens had died. Thousands more were displaced. So how did it all happen? The increasingly hot and dry conditions in the region coupled with the high Diablo winds turned the forest floor into a powder keg. Within hours, thousands of homes were destroyed in Butte County and the surrounding areas. Katherine Blunt was just a few days into her new role as a reporter covering renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal when the fire blew up.She chronicled how the blazed occurred and the aftermath for Pacific Gas & Electric — the utility whose equipment caused the fire — in her 2022 book “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid.” This week, Brad talks with Katherine about reporting on the Camp fire and its ramifications for the local community and PG&E, and what it all means for the utility industry.This podcast is produced by GridX. GridX is the Enterprise Rate Platform that modern utilities rely on to usher in our clean energy future.

In an Oxide and Friends tradition, Bryan and Adam invite the community to share book recommendations.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers on included Steve Klabnik, Tom Lyon, Ian Grunert, Owen Anderson, phillipov, makowski, and saethlin. (Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them: Elon Jet High Noon: The Inside Story of Scott McNealy and the Rise of Sun Microsystems by Southwick, Karen Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology by Paul Rabinow Sun Labs vs. SunSoft Water Fight 1992 Cyberville: Clicks, Culture, and the Creation of an Online Town Hardcover by Stacy Horn Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust Kindle Edition by Alan Payne A History of Silicon Valley - Vol 1: The 20th Century Paperback by Piero Scaruffi H-E-B Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Arion Press) A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future Hardcover by Jill Lepore UNIVAC and the 1952 Presidential Election NPR: The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting by Judith Brett Bryan had a reading list for his wedding?! (his wife confirms) The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes Harp in the South by Ruth Park Cloudstreet by Tim Winton Death of the Lucky Country by Donald Horne 30 Days in Sydney by Peter Carey Leviathan by John Birmingham The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes Barbarians Led by Bill Gates by Jennifer Edstrom and, Marlin Eller Murray Sargent's account of how his Scroll Screen Tracer got Windows to work in protected mode Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan DeviceScript Washington: A Life by Chernow California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein Acts of the Apostles: Mind over Matter: Volume Blue by John F.X. Sundman Thunder Below!: The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II by Eugene B. Fluckey Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman The Predictors: How a Band of Maverick Physicists Used Chaos Theory to Trade Their Way to a Fortune on Wall Street by Thomas A. Bass The Eudaemonic Pie: The Bizarre True Story of How a Band of Physicists and Computer Wizards Took On Las Vegas by Thomas A Bass Some of the other books mentioned in the Discord channel: Herr aller Dinge/Lord of All Things by Andreas Eschbach Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber The Sciences of the Artificial by Herbert A. Simon California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid by Katherine Blunt The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution Hardcover by Gregory Zuckerman The Predictors: How a Band of Maverick Physicists Used Chaos Theory to Trade Their Way to a Fortune on Wall Street by Thomas A. Bass The Eudaemonic Pie: The Bizarre True Story of How a Band of Physicists and Computer Wizards Took On Las Vegas by Thomas A Bass Models.Behaving.Badly.: Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life by Emanuel Derman It's a Nonlinear World by Richard H. Enns Not technically books, but suggested reading nonetheless by folks in Discord: The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President by Steve Henn, NPR How a brilliant debugger (Scroll Screen Tracer by Murray Sargent) turned Windows OS into the IBM OS/2 crusher and gave Microsoft its killer product. DeviceScript: TypeScript for Tiny IoT Devices Bob and Ray | Slow Talkers of America | Audio Recording (YouTube) Ursula K. Le Guin The Maintenance Race by Stewart Brand If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!

The power grid in the United States is old and in need of a serious upgrade and it's capabilities will be seriously tested int he coming months as the summer descends in earnest. We've already seen rolling black outs in places like California and Texas and now there is a fear that those isolated incidents will become widespread.(commercial at 13:42)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/a-summer-of-blackouts-wheezing-power-grid-leaves-states-at-risk/ar-AAXZOTC?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f2dda24ef5df49ed96fa93167400ef55

P.M. Edition for Feb. 22. A confidential industry analysis viewed by the WSJ shows that physical attacks on the U.S. power grid were up 71% last year, as compared to 2021. Reporter Katherine Blunt, who covers renewables and utilities for the WSJ, joins host Annmarie Fertoli to discuss the analysis, and how experts are responding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we have a very special episode on Energy Unplugged where we focus the discussion around a book. Our Managing Director in APAC & California, Hugo Batten and Kimberly Liu, our Head of Research in California are delighted to be joined by Katherine Blunt, Energy Reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Katherine is the author of “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid”, a history of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), one of California's major utilities. Main topics include: • PG&E and its major challenges were over last 10-15 years • The future of PG&E and how do they resolve their current challenges • Regulation of transmission as one of the central challenges identified in the book • The challenges of regulating the energy transition

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-west

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Journalist Katherine Blunt, who writes about renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, talks about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. The book tells the fascinating story of how declining performance at an electrical utility eventually led to wildfires and staggering loss of human life. Blunt and Vinsel also talk about what this story means for the future of electricity utilities in the face of global climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Secret Service agent Tim Miller comes on the show to talk about the newest threat to National Security, attacks on the US Power Grid. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chuck-holton7/message

In this week's episode, host Daniel Raimi recaps 2022 with Catherine Wolfram, a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and member of the board of directors at Resources for the Future, and John Larsen, a partner at Rhodium Group. Wolfram and Larsen offer insights on the year's biggest stories in energy and environmental policy at the state, national, and international levels, including US climate legislation and how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has affected energy markets. They also look ahead to the developments in energy and environmental policy that are likely to become important in 2023. References and recommendations: “Catalyst with Shayle Kann” podcast from Canary Media; https://www.canarymedia.com/podcasts/catalyst-with-shayle-kann “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid” by Katherine Blunt; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670012/california-burning-by-katherine-blunt/

Thousands of central North Carolina residents spent much of last week in the dark following an attack on two electric substations. It follows years of warnings from the federal government that the power grid was an attractive target for extremists. We examine how this attack upended daily life and look at what can be done to protect the grid going forward. Guest: Whitney Wild, CNN Law Enforcement CorrespondentTo learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Thousands of central North Carolina residents spent much of last week in the dark following an attack on two electric substations. It follows years of warnings from the federal government that the power grid was an attractive target for extremists. We examine how this attack upended daily life and look at what can be done to protect the grid going forward.  Guest: Whitney Wild, CNN Law Enforcement CorrespondentTo learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Katherine Blunt covers renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal. Her team's reporting on PG&E has been honored with a Barlett & Steele award for business investigative journalism, the Thomas L. Stokes award for energy and environmental reporting, and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Her latest book is titled California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric- and What It Means for America's Power Grid.

A new DTE rate increase will go into effect, but it's not what was anticipated for consumers. DTE had wanted an additional $388 million — an increase of 8.8% for households — in annual revenue to maintain the energy grid. But they didn't get it. They were allowed a rate increase of less than 1 percent from a decision made by the Michigan Public Service Commission at a Friday meeting. That increase is the smallest approved for DTE in an electric rate case in at least a decade. The commission also directed DTE to offer more details about its low-income assistance program. Freelance reporter Tom Perkins joins the show to discuss what occurred, including why the service commission limited the rate increase suggested by DTE. Then, Katherine Blunt, a Wall Street Journal reporter and author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid," stops by to provide further insight into how state oversight of utility companies work, including how California's system could be informative for the energy climate in Michigan.

Subscribe to Charles' Alpha Investor newsletter today: https://pro.banyanhill.com/m/2054150For 100 years, a metal hook held up wires and insulators along the Feather River Canyon, California. After a century's worth of wind, rain and snow wearing it down, it eventually broke in half.When the live wire fell, it ignited the dry brush below, setting off a huge wildfire. The fire spread with a speed that was absolutely impossible to contain, killing more than 100 people. And the fire razed hundreds of thousands of acres of vineyards and forest. In her latest book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid, author Katherine Blunt shared with me the high human cost of our energy grid. Topics Discussed:An Introduction to Katherine Blunt (00:00:00)A Single Fire that Destroyed a California Town. (00:02:38)Huge Part of the Story: Climate Change (00:10:21)The Most Chilling 911 Call (00:15:14)Was There A Smoking Gun — A Warning Sign — That the Companies Ignored? (00:19:48)PGE Bankruptcy Times Two! (00:30:03)Guest Bio:Katherine is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She has written about utilities and renewable energy for the Journal since 2018.Her latest book is California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid.In the book, Katherine explores the decline of California's largest utility company that led to countless wildfires — including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise — and the human cost of infrastructure failure.Resources Mentioned: California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power GridTranscript: https://charlesmizrahi.com/podcast/ Don't Forget To... • Subscribe to my podcast! • Download this episode to save for later • Liked this episode? Leave a kind review!

On this episode of Free Range, Mike Livermore interviews Katherine Blunt, a journalist at the Wall Street Journal and the recent author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid. The conversation begins with the book's narrative of criminal charges, with Blunt briefly describing the cast of characters and situations in the book that led to prosecutions for a violation of the Federal Pipeline Safety Act and 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter. The latter was one of the first situations in history in which a company was charged with homicide. (0:32-7:06) Even with these successful criminal prosecutions, many were left with a sense of dissatisfaction. (7:07-10:30) Livermore and Blunt discuss some of the moral complexities of collective criminal liability. (10:31 - 17:45) Blunt highlights the fact that the victims compensation fund is tied to the future stock price of the company; different types of penalties have the potential to weigh on the company's share price. The two also discuss the difficulty of recruiting new talent to work at a corporation when criminal liability may be at stake. (17:46 - 28:49) The two move to discuss broader policy issues, including how regulated utilities receive returns on capital but not operating and maintenance (O&M) expenses. Blunt believes that the company had significantly underspent on O&M with serious negative consequences. (28:50 - 33:59) Blunt discusses possibility that the charge given to PG&E — delivering safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy — might be an impossible task. (34:00 - 41:21) The two shift to the topic of renewable energy. Blunt describes California's ambitious targets for carbon reduction. California's early investments in wind and solar helped create the economies of scale which made these forms of energy are affordable, but California's ratepayers paid billions of dollars for this power. (41:22 - 45:25) Livermore asks how people in California should feel about how this has all played out. Blunt responds that California's contribution to reducing carbon emissions is rightfully a point of pride. But as a leader in climate change efforts, California has incurred a real cost. (45:26- 49:29) Blunt then discusses the broader implications of the PG&E story. Utilities everywhere are going to have to confront new risks as a result of climate change. PG&E's story demonstrates that if any company has a narrative of mismanaging risk, it's going to be very challenging to get ahead of things. The consequences of the failure of the electric system are becoming greater, in both an acute and a broader sense. There are lessons here for every region of the country. (49:30 - 52:10) A question that comes out of the book is how bad PG&E's risk management practices were compared to other utilities in California. Blunt highlights the inherent tension between private interests and public good, which is present in every utility company. PG&E is hardly the only utility to mismanage that. Historically, PG&E's mismanagement has been more acute than others and the consequences have been much greater. (52:11 - 55:55) Blunt then turns to bigger picture questions of centralized versus distributed energy. In her view, distributed technology will play a role in how we generate and consume power and it has the potential to reduce the amount of large centralized infrastructure in the future. But, it is hard for her to foresee a future without a need for centralized generation and transmission carried over large distances. The model has a lot of challenges which are becoming more acute, but there is no great solution for a substantially different model. The only solution is to work within the parameters of what we have and make it better. (55:56 - 1:01:00)

This was a great discussion with Kathrine Blunt, WSJ Energy Author's new book about the Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid. Kathrine's book is extremely well written and is a must for anybody wanting to understand the energy markets in California.We can learn a lot from the past; to do that, we must have more investigative reporters like Kathrine. Please buy the book "California Burning" and prepare her possible book on the Texas freeze.Katherine Blunt covers renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal. Her team's reporting on PG&E has been honored with a Barlett & Steele award for business investigative journalism, the Thomas L. Stokes award for energy and environmental reporting,

Author Katherine Blunt provides what is being called a "revelatory, urgent narrative with national implications," exploring the decline of California's largest utility company that led to countless wildfires—including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise—and the human cost of infrastructure failure Pacific Gas and Electric was a legacy company built by innovators and visionaries, establishing California as a desirable home and economic powerhouse. In California Burning, Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer finalist Katherine Blunt examines how that legacy fell apart—unraveling a long history of deadly failures in which PG&E endangered millions of Northern Californians, through criminal neglect of its infrastructure. She says that as PG&E prioritized profits and politics, power lines went unchecked—until a rusted hook purchased for 56 cents in 1921 split in two, sparking the deadliest wildfire in California history. Beginning with PG&E's public reckoning after the Paradise fire, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&E's shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. Following key players through pivotal decisions and legal battles, California Burning reveals the forces Blunt says shaped the plight of PG&E: deregulation and market-gaming led by Enron Corp., an unyielding push for renewable energy, and a swift increase in wildfire risk throughout the West, while regulators and lawmakers pushed their own agendas. MLF ORGANIZER Andrew Dudley NOTES SPEAKERS Katherine Blunt Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Finalist, 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting; Recipient, Gerald Loeb Award Andrew Dudley Co-Host and Producer, Earth Live; Chair, People & Nature Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator We are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded live on September 12th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt discusses her new book “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America's Power Grid.” We'll also hear from New York Times reporter John Branch about the uncertain future of San Francisco's fog and learn about the Oakland International Film Festival.

Author and Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt discusses her new book “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America's Power Grid.” We'll also hear from New York Times reporter John Branch about the uncertain future of San Francisco's fog and learn about the Oakland International Film Festival.

On this week's Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Dr. Jeffrey Cleland, the President & CEO of Ashvattha Therapeutics, about their drug development efforts to treat Long Covid. Then Dr. Greg Frost, the Chair and CEO of Exuma Biotech, tells us about their work to speed up CAR-T – from 4-6 weeks to just a few hours, and a second delivery method – programming a virus to produce the treatment protein needed. Just a simple injection under the skin. Finally, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt with “California Burning … The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric – and What It Means for America's Power Grid”. What's causing many of those California wildfires? Aging Technology.

Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt has been covering Pacific Gas and Electric and California's wildfires since 2018, and her reporting on the story has received numerous awards. In her new book: "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric And What It Means for America's Power Grid," Blunt expands on her investigative work to expose how PG&E endangered the lives of millions of Californians.

Reporter Katherine Blunt was still new to The Wall Street Journal when 2018's devastating Camp Fire broke out in California and she was swept into the biggest story of her career. Alongside colleagues Russell Gold and Rebecca Smith, she wrote a series of pieces on the ongoing travails of Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, the utility whose power lines had started at the Camp Fire.The Journal's coverage was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, and Blunt has now expanded it into a new book: California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas & Electric — and What It Means for America's Power Grid. It is a rollicking tour through PG&E's decades-long series of disasters and their roots in the early 20th century.I am a longtime critic of utilities, but even I was stunned to see all of PG&E's incompetence and malfeasance gathered together in one place, alongside its well-meaning but serially failed attempts to put things right. It's a story of failure and redemption, except the redemption keeps being interrupted by more failure. I couldn't put the book down, so I am eager to talk to Blunt about how the utility's travails began, why is has struggled so mightily to take control of its fate, and what might come next for the electricity sector's favorite punching bag. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

Today on Cool Science Radio hosts John Wells and Lynn Ware Peek's guests include:(0:56) Michael Kim, Chief Information Officer at a company called MultiPlan that develops artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to lower healthcare costs by reducing out-of-network claims and cost burdens.Then Pulitzer Prize finalist (26:00) Katherine Blunt who has written California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric -and what it means for America's Power Grid. In the book she adresses Pacific Gas & Electric's Infrastructure failure and the connection to California fires.

We hope you had a safe and restful Labor Day weekend. For this week's COBT, we had the pleasure of hosting  Katherine Blunt, Renewables and Utilities Reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Author of recently-released "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid," published just last week. Katherine was quickly thrown into covering the PG&E story in 2018 as the Camp Fire erupted three days after she started. Since then, she has investigated PG&E's complete history to understand all the contributing factors to that tragic and devastating fire. It's a complicated story with serious consequences and her book is a straightforward and insightful examination of not only the fire, but America's power history. Her well-received new book also contains many implications for utilities across the country. In our discussion, we touch on key themes in "California Burning" including the formation of monopoly companies supplying power to California in the early 1900s, the lack of maintenance on nearly 100-year-old equipment which was the catalyst to the fire, the people and infrastructure involved in California's electric power system, PG&E's bankruptcy and restructuring program, the negotiated settlement for fire victims, public perceptions of PG&E, reactions to the book, the pressures utilities face to keep expenses low, PG&E's nuclear asset Diablo Canyon, and more. PG&E has declared the book will be required reading for employees, a promising declaration as they work to bury ten thousand miles of distribution lines and mitigate fire risk for the future. The book is very well written, Katherine was a fantastic guest, and we all feel much more informed. Thank you, Katherine!The Veriten team quickly hit a few key points to start the show:  Mike Bradley reported live from the Barclay's CEO Energy-Power Conference in New York and touched on early conference themes, market volatility, recent deal activity and news, and a recent California law on EV production and implications on power generation.  Colin Fenton flagged lithium prices, Russian gas flows into Europe, Iranian crude oil exports, and prepared us for the discussion with Katherine looking at California-Oregon border and Palo Verde power prices.  As always, thank you for your support and friendship!

Subscribe to The Realignment on Supercast to support the show and access all of our bonus content: https://realignment.supercast.com/.REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail us at: realignmentpod@gmail.comKatherine Blunt, Wall Street Journal reporter and author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric - and What It Means for America's Power Grid, joins The Realignment to discuss the challenge of fixing the nation's overstrained and outmoded power grid, the role of utilities in the wildfire epidemic, and the new energy challenges facing America in the 2020s.

Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt has been covering Pacific Gas and Electric and California's wildfires since 2018 and she tells the Morning Show with Nikki Medoro about her new book, "California Burning:The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--And What it Means for America's Power Grid". A discussion follows about the ability to transition to cleaner energy and if it's a realistic goal for everyone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt has been covering Pacific Gas and Electric and California's wildfires since 2018 and she tells the Morning Show with Nikki Medoro about her new book, "California Burning:The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--And What it Means for America's Power Grid". A discussion follows about the ability to transition to cleaner energy and if it's a realistic goal for everyone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It's hard to say exactly when PG&E Corporation began to fall,” writes Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt. But the deep decline of the state's largest utility was hardly more apparent than in the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, the blaze ignited by PG&E's deteriorated equipment that killed 85 people and destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Blunt's new book “California Burning” explains how the Camp Fire exposed the utility's systemic problems — including chronic mismanagement and criminal neglect of its infrastructure — and why PG&E's failures are not just a California story, but a cautionary tale for the entire nation's power grid. Guests: Katherine Blunt, energy reporter, Wall Street Journal; author, "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America's Power Grid"

2:00 Tucker Carlson mocks the Trump covid vaccine 08:00 The Trait That ‘Super Friends' Have in Common, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/08/making-keeping-friends-attachment-theory-styles/671222/ 19:00 The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=144737 32:00 Economic Freedom Fighters singing ‘Kill the Boer' ruled not hate speech, https://mg.co.za/top-six/2022-08-25-malema-economic-freedom-front-singing-kill-the-boer-ruled-not-hate-speech/ 38:00 Tucker Carlson talks to Andrew Tate 43:30 The Brain has a Mind of its Own: Attachment, Neurobiology and the New Science of Psychotherapy, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=144734 1:02:00 Nick Fuentes & Destiny Hangout IRL ft Wife Pt. 2 (Jewish Fan Shows Up) 1:38:00 Are Clown Candidates Ruining the GOP? 1:40:00 Inside the Investigation That Secured a Guilty Plea for 84 Wildfire Deaths, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-deadliest-wildfire-in-california-history-led-to-a-guilty-plea-from-pg-e-11661436002?mod=hp_lead_pos5 1:41:00 California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid, https://www.katherineblunt.com/articles https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/masking-and-endemic-covid/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/pension-funds-are-selling-their-office-buildings-11661381460?mod=hp_lead_pos13 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/style/bright-lights-big-city-niche-fame.html https://mg.co.za/top-six/2022-08-25-malema-economic-freedom-front-singing-kill-the-boer-ruled-not-hate-speech/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/technology/google-search-misinformation.html https://www.inverse.com/article/55503-where-serial-killers-and-psychopaths-work-top-10-types-of-careers https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/opinion/seattle-homeless-solutions.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/opinion/us-democracy-trump.html https://www.smerconish.com/exclusive-content/trump-was-a-symptom-not-the-disease-and-its-become-a-global-pandemic https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/alex-berenson-twitter-ban-lawsuit-covid-misinformation/671219/ How to Solve a Cold Case: And Everything Else You Wanted To Know About Catching Killers, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=144694 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/penn-medical-school-expands-minority-candidate-program-does-not-require-mcat Rigged by Mollie Hemingway, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=144576 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/us/politics/food-insecurity-biden-stimulus.html https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/mass-shootings-mental-illness.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/style/quitting-personal-finances.html https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/internet-cant-stop-talking-andrew-tate-tiktok-rcna42744 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/?itid=hp_temp3-ukraine https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bumbling-biden-fails-the-monkeypox-test-covid-trump-vaccines-jynneos-stockpile-rct-doses-smallpox-medicine-public-health-treatment-11661108794?mod=opinion_lead_pos5 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/?itid=hp_temp3-ukraine https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-supporters-detractors-are-mirror-images-mar-a-lago-search-fbi-investigations-law-personality-cult-candidates-complicity-11660919395?mod=opinion_lead_pos11 https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2022/08/08/is-the-lab-leak-conspiracy-theory-dead/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-22/coming-to-la-without-a-car https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/19/lisa-laflamme-canada-ctv-debate-sexism-ageism/

This week Chris and Johan are joined by Katherine Blunt, the author of California Burining: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid. In the book, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&E's shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. The three discuss the history of the PG&E company and how the company was somewhat accountable for the California Camp Fire incident. Listen in to hear more about the book and the less glorious parts of the energy industry.   To pre-order the book:  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670012/california-burning-by-katherine-blunt/  

How about America's Power Grid the movie is coming https://griddownpowerup.com/

Support Us Here! --> https://anchor.fm/politicana/support Hello and welcome to the Politicana Podcast, where Tyler, Prateek, and Nick discuss all things Politics! We hope you enjoy the episode. New episodes will be uploaded at the beginning of every week (Typically Monday), so stay tuned and follow on your favorite podcasting platform to be notified when new episodes are available. Please email Backofthemob@gmail.com with any comments, questions, or inquiries. -- Topics And Timestamps -- 1:30 - Hot Summer - is climate change to blame? Biden is going to make a climate address on Wednesday as dangerous heat grips the US, Europe, and the world. Thousands of Europeans died as a result of the heat wave (mostly in Spain and Portugal). Texas grid is asking people to reduce their power consumption. 17:30 - Biden Administration Announces $2.3 Billion for States and Tribes to Strengthen and Modernize America's Power Grids 26:30 - Voters say they aren't feeling the relief as inflation continually looms large, US jobless claims rise to the highest level since last November. Despite the national average for gas prices dropping to $4.52, which is still pretty high. 31:45 - What would have happened if Trump remained in office? Would Putin and Russia still have invaded Russia? 43:00 - Political Theory On Foreign Policy (Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism) 51:15 - President Joe Biden meets with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help lower oil prices and receives heavy criticism from his critics for bowing down to the nation that he once pledged to make a “pariah” over its human rights records And accepts Bin Salman's comments that he had nothing to do with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 55:00 - UK Prime Minister Race Gets Heated on Monday as it narrows down to three candidates among the Conservative Party to replace Boris Johnson. 56:15 - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi offers resignation after the leading coalition gets dismantled in the Italian Parliament. 58:15 - China warns of forceful measures if US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan 1:00:30 - US House to vote on Same-Sex Marriage Protections in response to Supreme Court's Roe v Wade Ruling --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicana/support

Representative Tonya Van Beber, Colorado Director of the EMP Task Force John Spence, Cybersecurity expert Dr. George Kondos, and Deputy National Director of the EMP Task Force David Pyne discuss the critical updates needed for America's power grid. Candidate interview with Ed Brady (running for Sheriff of Jefferson County). Bill of the Day is HB22-1282, The Innovative Housing Incentive Program.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that America's Power Grid is increasingly Unreliable. The rising rate of power outages, the strain on the system, and the closing of power plants across the US are just some of the symptoms. Is Your organization ready? Links:Website-https://www.titanhst.com/Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/TitanHST/Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/titanhst/Twitter-https://twitter.com/TitanHSTLinkedIn-https://www.linkedin.com/company/titan-health-&-security-technologies-inc-/

Markham interviews Jennie Jorgenson, energy systems engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and the principal researcher for the latest phase of the Storage Futures Study, which modelled the effects of large-scale adoption of storage technologies on power grids.

Understanding the Implications of President Trump's Two Recent Executive Orders Limiting the Purchase of Communications and Bulk Power Supply Equipment for U.S. Utilities from Countries Adverse to the U.S.