Nope, it's not your imagination. Electrical outages are happening more often.
A combination of extreme weather events, record-setting summer temperatures, and already-aging infrastructure is putting strain on the U.S. power grid. In the past ten years, the country has seen 60 percent more weather-related outages than during the 2000s, according to work done by nonprofit Climate Central. And one in four U.S. households experiences a power outage annually.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working on technology they hope will help fix electric grids: drones. They're betting that 2-ft. large drones connected to "smart" electric grids are a cost-effective step to a more electrified future.
So how does a "smart" grid work? What makes power outages so tough to diagnose and fix? And when might sending a drone be a safer alternative than sending a utilities truck? Oak Ridge's Peter Fuhr and Short Wave host Regina Barber discuss all the details ... and whether these drones might be coming soon to a utility near you.
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This episode was produced by Jessica Yung, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.
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