The Power Grid: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as an entertaining primer on grid problems, and cited for aging equipment causing fires.
What it is
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on the state of the US power grid, why it needs fixing, and the risks of aging infrastructure.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends daly · 2021-11 · on “Scientists pour cold water on Bill Gates' nuclear plans”
You should probably watch John Oliver's Power Grid episode The Power Grid: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) [this video]
Cites soraminazuki · 2022-06 · on “Energy crunch concerns lead Japan’s government to call for reduced AC use”
Those two states are indeed what I had in mind. I was assuming that many other states are in a similar situation considering that the power grid is a frequent topic of US issues [1]. [1]: [this video]
Cites cassepipe · 2025-01 · on “Two fire experts interviewed about L.A. wildfires”
Bad forest management or ... bad electrical equipment ? This excerpt of the last week tonight show 90 year old electric line equipment responsible for fires : [this video] I don't pretend to know anything and I don't know how common this is but it is pretty concerning and I wonder if anything has been done about that.