But because of the pressing need for thousands of large generating stations that emit no carbon dioxide while providing electricity day and night, many technologists keep returning to potential improvements in nuclear power.
After spending 14 hours in darkness each day for a month -- as people did in the pre-electricity days -- study volunteers naturally began to sleep in two shifts of roughly four hours each, waking up in between for a one- to two-hour period of activity. .
One day last February, wind power produced almost a third of German electricity; four days later, nothing (it was a calm day).
Last year, Scottish MPs were deluged with constituents who had no electricity for days throughout the holiday period, and burst pipes for days after it.
Many people will be without electricity for days.
The main source for electricity these days are local neighborhood generators.
During a recent drought, Ms. Bousquet had to live without electricity three days a week -- so she and Candido played a lot of Scrabble.
The power lines here are usually dead, many residents said, but they had electricity these days thanks to the nearby games.
Though thousands of homes were without electricity for days, in some cases weeks, most large hotels and businesses never lost power.
Florence knocked out power to close to a million households in the Carolinas, with some areas not expecting to regain electricity for days.
