US wildfire smoke blotted out the sun — and solar power
Global warming reveals a cruel irony: solar power used to stay off a grid that may be cut off during extreme temperatures — is cut off by the extreme temperature-caused fires that block the sun
12 September 2020 - 08:00
New York/Los Angeles — When deadly wildfires tinted Western skies a Martian hue this week, homeowners with their own rooftop solar systems were able to tell with great precision just how much useful sunlight reached them through the gloom: next to none.
Wednesday was “the worst generation day, ever”, said Mary Holstege, a retired software engineer in Cupertino, California, who went solar a year ago. Her system, which puts out 40kWh a day in the summer, barely dribbled out 1.65 — maybe enough to dry a load of laundry...
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