Heat Deaths Jump in Southwest United States, Puzzling Officials

WASHINGTON — Heat-related deaths have increased sharply since 2014 in Nevada and Arizona, raising concerns that the hottest parts of the country are struggling to protect their most vulnerable residents from global warming. 

A morning walk at the South Mountain Preserve in
Phoenix last month. Afternoon highs in Phoenix last
summer averaged 106 degrees Fahrenheit, almost
3 degrees hotter than the average for the second half
 of the 20th century.

In Arizona, the annual number of deaths attributed to heat exposure more than tripled, from 76 deaths in 2014 to 235 in 2017, according to figures obtained from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heat-related deaths in Nevada rose almost fivefold during the same period, from 29 to 139. 

Read the story from The New York Times - “Heat Deaths Jump in Southwest United States, Puzzling Officials.

For Tesla's Elon Musk, one quest is proving trickier than he expected

Thirty kilometres outside the western US city of Reno, Nevada, where packs of wild mustangs roam free through the parched landscape, Tesla Gigafactory 1 sprawls near Interstate 80. It's a destination for engineers from all over the world, to which any Reno hotel clerk can give you precise, can't-miss-it directions.

Drive units for the Model X and Model S.

The Gigafactory, whose construction began in June 2014, is not only outrageously large but also on its way to becoming the biggest manufacturing plant on earth. Now 30 per cent complete, its square footage already equals about 35 Costco stores, and a small city of construction workers, machinery and storage containers has sprung up around it.

Perhaps the only thing as impressive as its size is its cloak of secrecy, which seems of a piece with Tesla's increasing tendency toward stealth, opacity and even paranoia. When I visited last September, a guard at the gate gave militaristic instructions on where to go. Turning to my driver, he said severely: "When you complete the drop-off, you are not to get out of the car. Under any circumstances. Turn around and leave. Immediately.”

Read Jon Gertner’s story in The Age - “For Tesla's Elon Musk, one quest is proving trickier than he expected.”

Buffett's Quieter Quest to Kill Solar in the West: Desmog Blog

Warren Buffett.

There are solar battles blazing all across the west right now, as utilities anchored to fossil fuel power plants strain to avoid the inevitable spread of solar across their areas of operation.

Not a month goes by without a story of some assault on solar-friendly policies by utilities, or by the Utility Commissions that are often in their pocket.

During the holidays at the end of 2015, it was Nevada’s utter dismembering of its net metering policy. Nevada is—or was—one of 42 states that offered net metering, a program through which customers with solar arrays are compensated for the energy they produce on their rooftops or in small installations connected to the electric grid.

Read the Desmog Blog story - “Warren Buffett's Quieter Quest to Kill Solar in the West.”