Justine Calma

Bitcoin mining eats up a lot of electricity, which can put a lot of pressure on power grids. During heatwaves, mining companies can earn energy credits from the Texas grid operator for powering down. That’s supposed to help prevent blackouts when energy demand rises for air conditioning. After the price of Bitcoin crashed, Bitcoin miner Riot is depending on those credits to keep itself afloat, CNBC reports.

The last three months have been the hottest on record for the planet, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Heatwaves in North America and Europe in July (the hottest month on record) would have been virtually impossible without climate change, research found. The extreme heat stressed power grids across the world and led to spikes in emergency room visits in the US and heat-related deaths in India.

Cable TV and telephone lines overburdened poles, causing them to lean or snap, lawyers allege. Residents affected by the historic fires last month and Maui County have already filed lawsuits against utility Hawaiian Electric, saying downed power lines caused the fires. Now, lawyers for Maui residents want to add telecommunications companies as defendants. “Our investigation thus far shows a constellation of many serious failures that together led to this horrible tragedy,” attorney MaryBeth LippSmith told the Associated Press.

Google announced that it would the service in the US and parts of Europe earlier this year. Now the alerts are available in some 200 countries, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The company worked with extreme weather and public health experts to share important information with Google Search users about heatwaves in their area and steps they can take to avoid heat-related illness.

Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau authorized grid operator Luma to build the new Virtual Power Plant (VPP), Electrek reports. A VPP harnesses the collective strength of a fleet of batteries, usually from electric vehicles or residential solar setups. Together, they can act as a backup power source during an emergency or energy shortage — problems Puerto Rico is no stranger to, especially after Hurricane Maria decimated its power grid.