To Reduce Electrical Grid Strain Amid Heat Wave, Data Centers Are Ordered to Use Backup Power

7 July 2026 at 06:36

As triple-digit temperatures engulf much of the United States, the Trump administration wants grid managers to require the use of backup power that often goes unused.

The energy secretary has asked grid managers to require data centers to use backup power when electrical systems are under strain during the heat wave.

Smoke, soot and toxic fumes: Nigerian families living in shadow of burning oil well six years after blowout

The Guardian - Energy

By: Valentine Benjamin in Awoye

6 July 2026 at 12:00

Villagers in Awoye in the Niger Delta say the ongoing pollution is causing sickness and environmental destruction, while pleas for help go unanswered

Perched on a narrow hospital cot across from her son, Bodunwa Orugbemi can hear the distant Atlantic Ocean and smell the stench of crude oil on the air drifting in from the shore. For days, her 21-year-old son has been lying in this hospital in the Niger Delta, swallowing small spoonfuls of food without being able to speak.

Seventy‑year‑old Orugbemi says Ijadopin started coughing one evening in May, inside their small wooden home in Awoye on Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline. After a few days his cough intensified, then he developed a skin irritation, followed by difficulty breathing.