Series · Climate
Climate Basics
The essentials of energy and climate in five short reads: how forests store carbon, how solar farms reach the grid, why wind makes power cheap at some hours, why heatwaves bring power cuts and why sea levels rise unevenly.
5 parts23 min in totalBy Sana Qureshi
- 1
Part 1How forests store carbon, and how they lose itTrees pull carbon from the air as they grow, but fire and felling can release it again. - 2
Part 2How a solar farm sends power into the gridPanels make direct current; inverters, transformers and grid operators do the rest. - 3
Part 3Why electricity is cheaper at some hours when the wind blowsWhen wind is strong and demand is low, power prices can fall sharply — sometimes below zero. - 4
Part 4Why power cuts happen more on the hottest daysDemand spikes just as heat makes lines and transformers less able to cope. - 5
Part 5Why sea levels don't rise evenly around the worldGravity, currents and sinking land mean some coasts see far more change than others.
