Posts Tagged: meltdown

Electricity meltdowns: Texas can learn from SMUD, California

Headquarters of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, (Photo: Cassionhabib, via Shutterstock)

by SCOTT SORIANO posted 03.08.2021

In February, Texas experienced a freak weather event, a deep freeze that shut down its electrical  system, damaged its infrastructure and cost dozens of lives. The storm revealed the lack of preparation and investment by the Texas state government, the flaws of its system of deregulated privately-owned utilities, and the failures of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.  The latter is responsible for maintaining the state’s energy infrastructure.

The human side of California’s housing meltdown

Newly constructed homes waiting for owners. (Photo: Jennie Book, via Shutterstock)

by Barbara Harvey, Kristopher Hooks and Marivel Guzman posted 08.13.2018

Brianne Tufts is exhausted. This is the third place Tufts has lived in as many years, and she’s worried she’ll have to move again because her apartment complex might increase the rent now that her lease has expired. It’s just after 11 a.m. on a Sunday in April, and the 24-year-old mother of two sits on the balcony of her cramped 2-bedroom south Sacramento apartment watching intently as her daughters play in the living room.