http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/12/nyregion/12generator.html?_r=1&oref=sloginAs searing heat stretched the New York metropolitan region’s electric grid to its limits last week, utilities and elected officials appealed for less power use, and it seemed to work. Industry officials reported that residents and businesses had curbed demand substantially, helping the system avoid major problems.
But it was not all about raised thermostats, doused lights and workers sent home early. Part of the apparent drop in power use was, in fact, no drop at all — just a shift to another, much dirtier source of electricity.
Hundreds of businesses and government agencies fired up diesel generators that produce much more pollution per watt of power output than power plants do. Air quality tends to be poorer in excessively hot weather, anyway, and the generators helped make it even more unhealthy for people across the metropolitan area to go outside and exercise, or even breathe the air for any length of time.
And that use of relatively small, very localized power sources — known as “distributed generation” — has become more common in recent years with the number of backup generators increasing sharply. Power companies and government agencies have encouraged their use in emergencies, which have become more frequent as surging demand tests the ability of power plants to produce enough electricity and the capacity of the wires to deliver it.
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