Predictions of continued extreme weather events heighten the need to upgrade the United States’ electricity grid, a White House official said Tuesday.
John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said occurrences such as Hurricane Sandy underscore the vulnerability of the nation’s electricity delivery system.
Failing to strengthen the grid with new technology would continue to subject communities to prolonged power outages, Holdren said at the White House-hosted event.
By warning of scientists’ forecasts of more frequent extreme weather events, Holdren hinted at the connection President Obama made between such incidents and climate change during his January inaugural address.
White House official: Power grid upgrades needed to mitigate extreme weather – The Hill’s E2-Wire
NOAA declared that 2012 was the third most extreme year in history, based primarily on the fact that daytime and nighttime temperatures during the spring were much more comfortable than normal. Last year marked the quietest tornado year on record, and the longest spell since the Civil War without a major hurricane.
How exactly does mild weather threaten the electrical grid?
h/t to JunkScience.com
Mild is the new extreme
2003 and 2004 Florida hurricane seasons were nothing compared to SuperDuperStorm Sandy and its utter mass destruction of the east coast.
Are some people’s brains getting smaller?
I don’t think he thought it through that far…
The IPCC says that they can’t find evidence for increased extreme weather from global warming, so the science is settled. How dare Holdren argue against settled science!
What the IPCC concludes becomes unimportant when it reaches the wrong conclusion. When it reaches the right conclusion, however, it becomes infallible.
When has the IPCC ever reached a ‘right’ conclusion?
It’s rare but it does happen on occasion.
“Failing to strengthen the grid with new technology would continue to subject communities to prolonged power outages, Holdren said at the White House-hosted event.”
“The (new) technology’s central node is the smart electric meter, which gives consumers real-time electricity information with the intent of encouraging energy conservation.”
So energy conservation, by shutting everything off, is going to prevent you from being without power. And when the power goes off, they can call you and ask you to conserve more energy that you no longer have. What a clever solution. What genius came up with that one ?
Some parody here that would be funnier if it wasn’t so close to reality:
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-russian-meteor-and-global-warming.html
The vulnerability of the electrical infrastructure is due to poor upkeep and outdated methods of running power lines first world countries have abandoned in the 70s. The blame for that is at the feet of politicians, not weather.
“How exactly does mild weather threaten the electrical grid?”
The same way the Tea Party threatens democracy.