Showing results for "Gridlock" in Science

The grid is an accident of history and of culture, in no way intrinsic to how we produce, deliver and consume electrical power. Yet this is the system the United States ended up with, a jerry-built structure now so rickety and near collapse that a strong wind or a hot day can bring it to a grinding halt. The grid is now under threat from a new source: renewable and variable energy, which puts stress on its logics as much as its components.

Professor of environmental engineering Daniel Cohan argues that escaping the gravest perils of climate change will first require American diplomacy, technological innovation, and policy to catalyze decarbonization globally. Combining his own expertise along with insights from more than a hundred interviews with diplomats, scholars, and clean-technology pioneers, Cohan identifies flaws in previous efforts to combat climate change.

In early 2024, an unprecedented new policy championed as a potential lifeline for New York City’s strangled streets will launch despite years of political clashes: congestion pricing tolls charging drivers to enter Manhattan’s central business district. Designed to cut traffic congestion while boosting struggling mass transit finances, the controversial move will test global assumptions about curbing car dependency in major metros. If the ambitious scheme succeeds, it could inspire an urban mobility revolution across America. But skeptics question whether the complex, cumbersome system can...