UC Berkeley Kicks Students Off Campus to Reduce Power Consumption

UC Berkeley campus
Justin Sullivan/Getty
Tom Ciccotta

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has urged UC Berkeley to reduce its power consumption during the afternoon to protect the state’s electrical grid. UC Berkeley officials have asked students to power down their residence halls and leave campus at 3:00 pm each day. Even the prestigious university’s science labs are being asked to delay work until after 8:00 pm due to the state’s power crisis.

According to a press release published on Wednesday, UC Berkeley students will be required to leave campus each day for several hours to protect the state’s vulnerable electrical grid.

Breitbart News reported this week that California has experienced rolling blackouts this week due to a surge in demand for power resources. The blackouts reportedly occurred after the state lost access to a 470-megawatt power plant and 1,000 megawatts of wind power.

Now, students at UC Berkeley will be required to leave campus for several hours each day to prevent further blackouts. “We ask that you make plans to leave campus by 3 pm today, and by 3 pm each day for the rest of the week to assist the campus in complying with this request,” the press release reads. “Please turn off lights, computers and other equipment, close fume hoods, etc. before you leave.”

In the press release, UC Berkeley officials even urged campus laboratories to delay their work until after 8:00 pm.  “We understand that many research laboratories operate around the clock, so please try to curtail activities from 3-8 pm and resume after 8 pm.”

California’s energy woes may not disappear soon. With the large Diablo Canyon Power Plant scheduled to close in 2024, California is scrambling to prevent future blackouts.

For now, the state is turning to alternative methods to generate power. The Bureau of Reclamation announced this week that it will release emergency flows from the Glen Canyon Dam to generate power for California.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

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