Heat wave wreaks havoc on California electrical grid

By Xeni Jardin at 7:28 am Monday, Jul 24

Watch California's electrical infrastructure melt in realtime on the internet! It's triple-digitastically hot here in Los Angeles, and has been so without relief for weeks. Jim Graham says,

California is facing rolling blackouts today [Ed note: AGAIN] as everyone returns to work from the blistering weekend. The California Independent Service Operator, which manages the state power grid, says people turning on “computers, coffee machines and fax machines” (what, no swamp coolers?) could potentially max out the available supply.

Monitor statewide power usage here. Of course, you'll need electricity to do that. Also, what's a a swamp cooler? Is that where you hire an out-of-work crocodile to fan you over a bed of cool green algae?

Reader comment: Oh, all right. Dave Stolte says,

A swamp cooler is one of those window-mounted air-conditioning boxes that pulls hot air through a water-filled cooling system.

Chris says,

Actually this isn’t really true. Most swamp coolers are placed on the flat roofs throughout the southwest. They can be installed on the side of the building but they certainly are not installed in windows. Here’s an article at Wikipedia.

Update: Breaking! Swamp cooler analysts from around the internets have been weighing in at BB headquarters throughout the day. Consensus seems to be that these systems can be installed in windows *or* on roofs, but the crocodile-driven units are harder to come by.