electricity

South Lake Tahoe, Calif. - Residents of South Lake Tahoe take pride in their city, its beauty, charm and recreational opportunities, and action during Tuesday's City Council gave people another reason to appreciate their community.

In honor of Earth Day, the City of South Lake Tahoe joined at least 26 other municipalities in the United States, and the latest in a growing coalition of mountain communities, to commit to 100 percent clean and renewable electricity by the year 2032.

There are now 27 cities in the United States committed to operating with 100 percent renewable energy, will South Lake Tahoe be #28?

Cities already on board include both large an small communities. Some of those are Madison, Wis.; San Diego, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Pueblo, Aspen and Boulder, Colo.; and Moab, Utah. Efforts are currently underway for Truckee to join that group. Even Las Vegas operates their municipal buildings and facilities with 100 percent renewable energy.

11:00 p.m. update - NV Energy was able to fix the problem at their substation in Truckee and all of Liberty Utilities customers should be back on line at this time.

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There has been a transmission problem from NV Energy to Liberty Utilities, resulting in power outages throughout the North Lake Tahoe area.

At their last update at 8:00 p.m., Liberty Utilities told customers in Northstar, Truckee and Glenshire to expect rotating outages throughout the night and into Wednesday morning. The problem is at the NV Energy North Truckee Substation that feeds Liberty's distribution lines.

The historic building that housed a liquor store and other businesses in South Lake Tahoe suffered significant damage after a heavy snow load contributed to the collapse of the building's roof early Monday morning.

5:30 p.m. update Thursday - The Tahoe Keys and Tahoe Mountain area has just lost power temporarily. The West Shore has been restored from Tahoe City South to Sugar Pine Rd. and HWY89 (735 Customers). South Shore crews are deployed and working on six primary wires serving multiple areas. Restoration times are estimated between 8:00 p.m. tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Tahoe Pines Area (Barker Pass Rd. to Cherry St.) has very heavy damage with multiple poles down that requires helicopter repair. Weather permitting, helicopter repair will start tomorrow.

2:00 p.m. update - Power has been restored to a majority of customers in the Northstar, Squaw, Olympic Valley, Alpine Meadows, Glenshire, Martis Camp and Truckee areas. Liberty Utilities anticipates customers in Kings Beach, Tahoe City and Portola/Loyalton will also be restored today, Wednesday.

There are still challenges to restoring power from Emerald Bay to south of Homewood.

No word on how many South Lake Tahoe customers are still without power, or how long to get it back on.

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Weather conditions are expected to worsen over the weekend and increased power outages are anticipated. Liberty Utilities is doing all possible for preventative measures, however they are urging their customers to be prepared.

The utility company has added additional line crews for the weekend in preparation and will address the most serious and potential safety situations in priority.

They are asking customers to only call in case of an emergency 1-844-245-6868.

The City of South Lake Tahoe’s Snow Removal crews have been working around the clock to clear snow on city roadways. The combination of the snow and rain mixture is casing roadways to flood. It is imperative to provide snow removal vehicles the right of way as they work to clear roadways as well as blocked drainage ways.

Follow these safety tips:
Do not drive through water that is too deep. “Turn around – don’t drown”

Do not try and cross the snow berm in the center lane. Wait until snow removal crews have cleared the center lane for crossing.

Update: Power lines back up and electricity was restored at 2:48 p.m. for the North Lake Tahoe customers affected by Wednesdays outage.

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Approximately 123 Liberty Utilities customers in the North Lake Tahoe area are experiencing an outage due to downed power line across Hwy 89 near Cabin Creek Road.

At this time there is no estimated time of restored power.

12:30 p.m. update: As of 12:00 p.m., all power has been restored to Liberty Utilities customers in South Lake Tahoe.

The driver of a Ford Explorer crashed into an electric pole near the corner of Pioneer Trail and Al Tahoe at approximately 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. The unidentified driver was extricated from his vehicle and flown to Renown Medican Center in Reno according to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

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10:45 p.m. ..Power has been restored in most areas.
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There is a widespread power outage on the South Shore tonight with reports of no electricity from Meyers to the Black Bart area, Highland Woods and Sierra Tract.

Liberty Utilities has crews responding.

They don't have an estimate yet of when power will be restored or how many customers are affected.

Readers at the Y, Tahoe Kets, Bijou and Stateline all report having power.

NV Energy is proposing to replace the electrical transmission line that runs from Foothill Rad in the Carson Valley to Tramway Drive near Heavenly Mountain Resort, and a public comment period has been initiated.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is seeking public input on 634 Line Rebuild project. The draft Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the proposed replacement of the transmission line that serves the Kingsbury substation, which provides electricity to Heavenly Mountain Resort and the surrounding Kingsbury Grade area.

Construction at the Camp Richardson campsites will not be completed by June, 2016 which has led to the cancellation of the annual Renaissance Faire next summer.

Daylight saving time comes to an end on Sunday morning, November 1, at 2 a.m.

This is from CNN:

Ready or not, Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday.

Loved by some, loathed by many, our biannual clock twirling ritual has wide-ranging and often surprising implications.

From energy use to our very health, here's a look at some of the mythology and facts surrounding DST.

It doesn't seem to be a huge energy saver

Update: Power was been restored to the 35 businesses affected by Friday's power outage in the Bijou area at 3:25 p.m.

Liberty Utilities had originally said power would be back up at 5 p.m.

The cause has not been released as of yet but it had to do with underground wiring.

Pro-snowboarder, Mike Basich, tours his self-built 225 square foot home in the middle of his 40 acre property in Truckee, CA, and shows how being close to nature drives his most creative decisions.

Ten people had to find other accommodations Monday night after a suspicious fire started at the Tahoe Pines Lodge and destroyed three units.

The lodge in South Lake Tahoe is located behind the Sno-Flake Drive Inn and is used primarily as a residential motel. The American Red Cross gave the displaced residents rooms at the Howard Johnson Express Inn for three days.

Energy saving improvements at the Lake Tahoe Community College will soon pay off financially when Liberty Utilities presents a check for $17.085.85 to the LTCC board of directors on September 9.

The check represents all of the rebates the college was eligible for after the improvements were used on campus starting in 2013.

8:20 PM UPDATE:According to Liberty Energy, they are slowly getting power back on, starting up the grid with Glenbrook. It may take a few more hours to get the whole South Shore back up and running.

South Lake Tahoe is without power this afternoon due to a problem with NV Energy losing electricity. The region lost connection to both transformers coming out of Nevada.

Minden and Alpine County are also without power.

The energy company is working on the problem but repair time is unknown.

The Third Annual Lake Tahoe SummerFest returns to Incline Village for two weekends of classical music.

Concert goers will be treated to world class music under a tent near the lake at the Sierra Nevada College Campus August 1-3 and August 7-9.

The Lake Tahoe SummerFest orchestra is comprised of world renowned musicians representative of international symphonies including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, among others.

Most in the United States do this twice a year, but do many know why? We're talking daylight savings time beginning and ending, each resulting in the turn of the hour hand. 70 other countries also participate in daylight savings time though Hawaii and Arizona have opted out.

October is International Fair Trade Month, and Meyer's newest coffee shop, Freel Perk is playing along. Freel Perk carries only organic coffees; but what many don't know is that most of the coffee sold there is “fair trade” coffee from Alpen Sierra Roasting Company. That is, according to www.alpensierra.com, coffee that is purchased “direct from small growers, i.e. Direct-Trade, guaranteeing as much as possible, the conscientious and responsible functioning of the supply chain in maintaining a healthy and prosperous balance of social, environmental and economic capital.”

UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center will host the eighth-annual Science Expo, together with Tahoe Expedition Academy, other community partners, and with sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Tahoe-Incline.

The Science Expo is open to the general public on the evening of Wednesday, March 20 from 4 – 6 p.m. for children of all ages together with their families at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village. Ice cream will be provided by Susie Scoops of Incline Village. Admission is free.

UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, the Tahoe Expedition Academy, other community partners, and with sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Tahoe-Incline, will host the eighth annual Science Expo on March 18 - 21, 2013 for students from the region.

The Science Expo is open to the general public on the evening of Wednesday, March 20 from 4 – 6 p.m. for children of all ages together with their families at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village. Ice cream will be provided by Susie Scoops of Incline Village. Admission is free.