News and Articles | Energy Equality For All

12Jun 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Forecasters predict a near- or above-normal 2018 Atlantic hurricane season

Forecasters predict a 35 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 40 percent chance of a near-normal season, and a 25 percent chance of a below-normal season for the upcoming hurricane season, which extends from June 1 to November 30. “With the advances made in hardware and computing over the course of the last year, the ability of NOAA scientists to both predict the path of storms and warn Americans who may find themselves in harm’s way is unprecedented,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The devastating hurricane season of 2017 demonstrated the necessity for prompt and accurate hurricane forecasts.” NOAA’s forecasters predict a 70-percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 5 to 9 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or…

12Jun 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Puerto Rico seeks to delay releasing death records after hurricane; judge rejects motion

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San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told CNN last month that there would be "hell to pay" if officials withheld records related to Hurricane Maria. Yet his government filed a motion late Monday asking for permission to stall the delivery of death certificates and other data a judge had ordered to be released to CNN and the Center for Investigative Journalism, or CPI, after the organizations sued for access to those records. In response, the court said it would not lift its requirement that records be released to CNN and CPI by Tuesday. "This new delay tactic (speaks) to the Rosselló government's credibility," said Carla Minet, executive director of CPI. "The government didn't need seven days to hand in most of the information -- and yet…

12Jun 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Can off-grid renewables close the energy access gap?

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[caption id="attachment_487" align="aligncenter" width="720"] A solar off-grid energy setup in Rwanda. Photo by: Azuri Technologies / CC BY-NC-ND[/caption] BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Solar lightbulbs, mini power grids, and batteries could soon supply energy to disadvantaged, rural regions that old-fashioned transmission lines and centralized coal-fired generators will never reach. But while prices of renewables have tumbled, and some say the technology offers lower-income countries the chance to leapfrog over more cumbersome ways of delivering energy, significant challenges remain — particularly around how to finance energy access for the poor. Most of the world’s energy-poor populations live far from electricity networks. That includes about 57 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa, or 588 million, who remain without access to electricity according to the International Energy Agency; and just over 1 billion worldwide, the United Nations estimates. The U.N.’s seventh Sustainable Development…

23Jan 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Montecito braced for fire, but mud was a more stealthy, deadly threat

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When the Thomas fire swept down from the Los Padres National Forest and took aim at this coastal town in December, the looming disaster was impossible to miss. Powerful winds picked up, smoke shielded the sun and brought an eerie darkness to the landscape, and towers of flames could be seen in the distance. Thousands of residents fled as what would become the largest fire on record in California pushed to the Pacific Ocean. More than two dozen homes were lost or damaged in the area, but no one died in the town. The mudslides that followed the fire this week were a much more stealthy and ultimately lethal threat. Though residents had been warned about heavy rain and potential debris flows, many took the threat far less seriously than…

23Jan 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Officials Estimate It Will Be Another 10 Days Before Montecito Evacuees Can Go Home

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Highway 101 reopened as human remains-detection dog teams make big push looking for last two missing victims California Highway Patrol officers staff a checkpoint at East Valley Road and Sycamore Canyon Road. County officials said Sunday that it may be another 10 days before residents are allowed back into Montecito. Click to view larger California Highway Patrol officers staff a checkpoint at East Valley Road and Sycamore Canyon Road. County officials said Sunday that it may be another 10 days before residents are allowed back into Montecito. (Urban Hikers / Noozhawk photo) By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Managing Editor | @magnoli | updated logo 10:18 p.m. | January 21, 2018 | 8:45 p.m. Share on email Share on print 25 It likely will be another 10 days before authorities start allowing…

23Jan 2018 by Energy Equality No Comments

Portable Solar-Powered Generators Donated for First Responders

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By Samantha Silverman for Energy Equality for All | January 20, 2018 | 9:00 a.m. Energy Equality for All, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit, is supplying local emergency responders with portable solar-powered energy generators to support the ongoing recovery efforts in Montecito. “We are devastated by the damage and loss of life from the fires and mud-slides which hit our community. When disaster hits, we are all one community," said Mark Harris, president of Energy Equality For All. "Experts believe the increasing frequency and force of weather-related events globally is due in large part to climate change, caused by global warming. This is likely to be a continued trend in our futures, unless we address the issue straight-on,” he said. Energy Equality for All provides renewable energy generators and storage systems…

09Dec 2017 by Energy Equality No Comments

Should utilities turn off the electricity when wildfire risk is high?

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Credit: Mercury News With strong winds blowing and bone-dry conditions, utility officials in San Diego on Thursday began shutting off the power to thousands of people — a pre-emptive move to reduce the danger of power lines sparking wildfires.It’s a controversial approach that may soon become a growing trend across California. As huge fires continued to envelope parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, San Diego Gas & Electric cut electricity to 12,000 customers in San Diego County by Thursday afternoon, after Santa Ana winds reached 88 mph in some rural areas. Even though no fires were burning in San Diego County on Thursday morning, the utility notified up to 170,000 customers that they could have their power shut off by Saturday as a safety precaution, and that electricity in some affected communities wouldn’t…

07Dec 2017 by Energy Equality No Comments

Southern California Edison Addresses Massive Power Outage From Thomas Fire

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Southern California Edison Addresses Massive Power Outage From Thomas Fire By: Alys Martinez Posted: Dec 05, 2017 10:49 PM PST Thousands of people are still without power, one day after the Thomas Fire broke out in Ventura County. On Monday night, at the height of the outage, more than 200,000 people were in the dark. Power to most has been restored, but thousands are still without. "This isn't your local neighborhood power outage, that's not the problem. The highway, so to speak, for electric power is affected," said Southern California Edison public information officer David Song. There is essentially only one way in and one way out, according to Song. "The power delivery being affected right now is really kind of the freeways and highways of our system delivering volt power on a regional scale," he said.

24Sep 2017 by Energy Equality No Comments

In the Caribbean, colonialism and inequality mean hurricanes hit harder

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Hurricane Maria, the 15th tropical depression this season, is now battering the Caribbean, just two weeks after Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the region. The devastation in Dominica is “mind-boggling,” wrote the country’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, on Facebook just after midnight on September 19. The next day, in Puerto Rico, NPR reported via member station WRTU in San Juan that “Most of the island is without power…or water.” Among the Caribbean islands impacted by both deadly storms are Puerto Rico, St Kitts, Tortola and Barbuda. In this region, disaster damages are frequently amplified by needlessly protracted and incomplete recoveries. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan rolled roughshod through the Caribbean with wind speeds of 160 mph. The region’s economy took more than three years to recover. Grenada’s surplus of US$17 million…

24Sep 2017 by Energy Equality No Comments

Understanding the root causes of natural disasters

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Every year disasters take lives, cause significant damage, inhibit development and contribute to conflict and forced migration. Unfortunately, the trend is an upward one. In May 2017, policy-makers and disaster management experts from over 180 countries gathered in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss ways to counter this trend. In the middle of the Cancun summit, news arrived that large parts of Sri Lanka were devastated by floods and landslides, killing at least 150 and displacing almost half a million people. It was a stark reminder of the summit participants’ challenging task of paving the way towards reducing disaster losses “significantly” by the year 2030 based on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Adopted in 2015, the Sendai Framework outlines seven targets and four priorities for action to prevent new,…