(USA Today) – An upcoming heatwave could lead to power outages in the central and eastern U.S., including the major metropolitan areas of New York City, Washington and Chicago, experts say. As temperatures rise and more people turn to their air conditioners for relief from the heat, the demand for power can become overwhelming, according to Jay Apt, a professor and co-director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center. “There is always high demand in the summer – air conditioning is very power-intensive
and you will always have some failures of equipment,” Apt said. A widespread blackout in New York City on Saturday left much of Manhattan without electricity. That power outage was not caused by heat, but by a transformer fire, according to New York fire officials. Con Edison estimates that about 73,000 people were without power during the blackout Saturday. With temperatures forecast to reach 100 degrees in New York City by Saturday, according to the Weather Channel, a Con Edison spokesperson warned of additional blackouts, though on a smaller scale. READ MORE
