{"id":99940,"date":"2021-03-01T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=99940"},"modified":"2021-03-01T18:09:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T23:09:33","slug":"npr-its-not-just-texas-the-entire-energy-grid-needs-an-upgrade-for-extreme-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=99940","title":{"rendered":"(NPR) It’s Not Just Texas. The Entire Energy Grid Needs An Upgrade For Extreme Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas blackout<\/a> is another reminder that more frequent, climate-driven extreme weather puts stress on the country’s electricity grid. It came just months after outages in California<\/a> aimed at preventing wildfires.<\/p>\n

Compounding this, electricity likely will be even more important in coming years amid a push to electrify cars and homes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That has many grid experts saying it’s time to upgrade the country’s electricity infrastructure.<\/p>\n

That includes wires, power plants, big transmission towers and local utilities \u2013 everything that gets electricity to you. And much of that infrastructure was designed for a different era.<\/p>\n

“We planned this grid for Ozzie and Harriet<\/em> weather and we are now facing Mad Max<\/em>,” says energy consultant Alison Silverstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pop culture references are her way of saying that the grid was designed for technology and weather that existed in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Now, she says, it needs to be updated for a future that includes climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Texas blackout is a reminder that more frequent, climate-driven extreme weather will only mean more stress for the U.S. electricity infrastructure. "We planned this grid for Ozzie and Harriet weather and we are now facing Mad Max," says one consultanthttps:\/\/t.co\/kgOAHePHwk<\/a><\/p>\n

— NPR (@NPR) February 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n