Two rolling blackouts last week in parts of California—the first since March—were a bit unsettling, not due so much to the temporary inconvenience, but because they might be precursors to what’s in store as the weather gets warmer in the Golden State. Temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s prompted heavy use of air conditioners in some Northern California and Southland areas, putting a strain on the state’s power supply. This resulted in the pair of blackouts—one lasting an hour, the other about two hours—on the afternoons of May 7 and 8, respectively.
Power grid analysts speculate that scattered rolling blackouts could become more prevalent in the summer months. At press time, one estimate projected that there could be more than 30 blackouts in parts of California during the summer. Areas serviced by Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric are subject to hour-long rolling blackouts, as well as to significantly higher energy bills. These areas include parts of San Francisco, as well as Santa Monica and Culver City—communities that are home to numerous spot industry businesses, including post/ effects studios.
However, other areas with a concentration of commercialmaking companies—such as much of the City of Los Angeles, including Hollywood—aren’t impacted, in that they are serviced by the Department of Water and Power (DWP), which maintains an electricity surplus. In fact, the DWP has been selling excess power at relatively affordable rates to help energy-strapped areas served by other grids.
According to Eileen Kramer, Pacific Region director of the Association of Imaging Technology and Sound (ITS), a number of California post/effects facilities have expressed concern over the energy crisis. However, Kramer noted that those ITS member houses she spoke to didn’t experience any setbacks due to last week’s blackouts.
When contacted by SHOOT, many post/effects company executives were reluctant to talk publicly about their possible contingency plans and their takes on the energy situation. Off the record, several post and effects houses related that they are preparing flexible work schedules to adjust to any blackout scenario. Rolling blackouts generally last a maximum of one hour before power is restored in a given neighborhood. The power outage then moves on to another neighborhood, if necessary. Areas are put in a power-shutdown rotation so that a community won’t be hit repeatedly. In light of a blackout’s relatively brief duration, a couple of visual effects studio principals said they intend to ride out any temporary outage and have their infrastructures ready to power up and resume work as quickly as possible. However, up to this point, there’s usually been little warning, if any, before a rolling hour-long blackout hits. So it becomes incumbent on shops to continually save revisions as they’re being made on a project.
Other post/effects shops noted that they are exploring options such as backup generators for select suites, and accessing facilities in DWP-serviced areas in the event of a blackout.
"Running a major facility on alternate generator power is just not possible—logistically and in terms of it being cost prohibitive," observed Richard Cormier, managing director of visual effects/post studio R!OT, Santa Monica. "You might be able to have alternate power to run a single Flame suite. But when you get into six Infernos, multiple Spirits and so on, it becomes a complex proposition."
Cormier related that a rolling blackout, albeit brief, in March gave R!OT a taste of what could happen. "We were scrambling our schedules, shuffling projects around, calling places in Hollywood that had power—both our sister companies and competitors—so we could accommodate clients if necessary," he recalled.
"Sister companies" is a reference to the Livewire Television Group (LTG) family of studios, which includes R!OT and shops in assorted other markets such as Hollywood. (LTG’s parent company is LibertyLivewire Corporation.) "That’s an advantage—being able to access other resources within your own family," related Cormier. "But beyond that, there’s a sense of community and fraternity in this business. I try to help whomever is in need. Cooperatively working together, helping or getting help from competitors to take care of a client, is something we do. Yes, we compete fiercely every day. But at the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. If there’s a problem, we try to help each other out as part of a community."
Cormier also conjectured that perhaps "a bigger concern" is the prospect of escalating energy costs. "Electricity represents a significant line item in our monthly costs. … But at this point, I don’t think it will affect our rates [for services to clients]."
CONSERVATION
Acknowledging that there’s "not a whole lot" a shop can do to avert the rolling blackout situation, Michael Cunningham, president of San Francisco-based digital studio Western Images, nonetheless noted that his company has taken as proactive a stance as possible. "We’ve done quite a bit on the [energy] conservation side," he stated. "While that doesn’t eliminate rolling blackouts, it helps reduce them to some degree."
Western’s conservation initiative has been implemented over the past month. It includes raising the thermostat slowly over a period of time in heat-sensitive machine rooms to arrive at a temperature that won’t compromise the climate needs of that hardware; keeping doors closed so that air conditioning will operate at peak efficiency within given suites or rooms; and instituting an aggressive program of turning machines off and not firing them back up until shortly before they are needed again.
"As we’ve reduced our power consumption for running equipment, we’ve also saved on the energy needed to operate the air conditioning that helps dissipate heat from that equipment," said Cunningham. "What we’re saving in terms of electricity is helping the grid. But what we’re saving in terms of dollars is probably going to be offset by the [electricity] rate increases."
Cunningham noted that "the toughest aspect is when an interruption in power impacts time and materials scheduled for clients in suites. Clients know the boat we’re in. But as the summer wears on and if rolling blackouts become more frequent, pressure will mount to somehow maintain minimal capabilities." Cunningham said that Western is considering securing some portable auxiliary power to maintain limited services during outages.
Western has the advantage of being in a multimedia complex owned by a company that has several other large buildings in the area. With this leverage, the buildings’ owner has been able to get some advance notice—maybe a half-hour or so—that a possible outage could occur. "That can be quite valuable," said Cunningham. "It allows us to prepare, to save what we’re working on, and plan some non-technology activities during the blackout, like meetings, budgeting and pitching.
At press time, advance warnings of power shutdowns were starting to become more readily available to the public in some parts of the state. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle has launched an e-mail service that will notify subscribers as to what days rolling blackouts are likely and which areas or service blocks will probably be affected. (Pacific Gas & Electric customers can find their designated service block numbers on their bills.) Provided free of charge by the Chronicle, the service will send e-mail alerts to consumers regarding the block areas in which they work and/or reside. People can sign up for the service on the Web site www. sfgate.com, click on San Francisco Chronicle and then click on "newsletters."
While California has become the energy crisis poster child, the problem won’t necessarily be confined to that state. Several published accounts and analyses of the situation, including a recent Wall Street Journal story, have reported that many other states could face serious energy shortfalls this summer due to flawed, piecemeal utility deregulation.
