{"id":26403,"date":"2017-10-02T13:08:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T18:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=26403"},"modified":"2017-10-02T13:08:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T18:08:36","slug":"in-marias-wake-could-puerto-rico-go-totally-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=26403","title":{"rendered":"In Maria\u2019s Wake, Could Puerto Rico Go Totally Green?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Maria\u2019s Wake, Could Puerto Rico Go Totally Green?<\/a><\/h3>\n
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The ecological and humanitarian destruction of Puerto Rico has left the world aghast. But there is a hopeful green-powered opportunity in this disaster that could vastly improve the island\u2019s future while offering the world a critical showcase for a sane energy future.<\/p>\n

By all accounts Hurricane Maria has leveled much of the island, and literally left it in the dark. Puerto Rico\u2019s electrical grid has been\u00a0extensively<\/a>\u00a0damaged, with no prospects for a return to conventionally generated and distributed power for months to come.<\/p>\n

In response Donald Trump has\u00a0scolded<\/a>\u00a0the island for it\u2019s massive debt, and waited\u00a0a full week\u00a0<\/a>after the storm hit to lift a\u00a0shipping restriction<\/a>\u00a0requiring all incoming goods to be carried on US-flagged ships. (That restriction\u00a0is largely responsible<\/a>\u00a0for the island\u2019s economic problems in the first place.)<\/p>\n

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is a state-owned operation that hosts a number of solar and wind farms, as well as a network of hydroelectric dams. But the bulk of its energy supply has come from heavy industrial oil, diesel and gas burners. It also burns coal imported from Colombia at a\u00a0plant in Guyama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fossil burners themselves apparently were left mostly undamaged by Maria. But the delivery system, a traditional network of above-ground poles and wires, has essentially been obliterated. Power authority officials\u00a0say<\/a>\u00a0it could take at least 4-6 months to rebuild that network.<\/p>\n

And of course, there is no guaranteeing such a pole-and-wire set-up would not then be obliterated by the next storm.<\/p>\n

Among the most serious casualties have been the island\u2019s hospitals. According to reports, 58 of Puerto Rico\u2019s 69 medical facilities have been\u00a0blacked out<\/a>. At least two people died when intensive care units went dark.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Maria\u2019s Wake, Could Puerto Rico Go Totally Green? The ecological and humanitarian destruction of Puerto Rico has left the world aghast. But there is a hopeful green-powered opportunity in this disaster that could vastly improve the island\u2019s future while offering the world a critical showcase for a sane energy future. By all accounts Hurricane […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3930,8014,16263,16039,3824,1859,2654],"class_list":["post-26403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","tag-alternative-energy","tag-green","tag-harvey-wasserman","tag-hurricane-maria","tag-puerto-rico","tag-solar-power","tag-wind-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26404,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26403\/revisions\/26404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}