Weather-related power outages are getting worse. What will it take to keep the lights on as America’s grid gets thrashed?

5 comments

1. From 2000 to 2023, 80% of all major US power outages [were due to weather](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/31/weather/power-grid-outages-us-texas-climate/index.html), according to analysis by [Climate Central](https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/weather-related-power-outages-rising), a non-profit research group. The number of weather-related outages from 2014 to 2023 doubled compared to outages at the start of the century.

   Being without power is not only expensive – keeping people out of work and school, and keeping businesses closed – it’s dangerous. There doesn’t need to be a heat wave in Texas for summertime temperatures to soar to unhealthy levels. Heat is particularly dangerous without A/C at night, which is when the body needs to cool itself after a hot day.

   Experts say there could be ways to keep the lights on in the face of extreme conditions, even if there’s no single perfect solution.

   Power generation, transmission and distribution within the US happens on a power grid, an interconnected series of power plants, power lines and electrical substations. But the grid’s infrastructure is [aging fast and struggling to keep up](https://www.energy.gov/gdo/articles/what-does-it-take-modernize-us-electric-grid) with modern power demands, according to the US Department of Energy.

   It’s also struggling as extreme weather gets more intense as the planet warms.

   The White House on Tuesday announced steps to modernize America’s aging [electrical infrastructure](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/climate/energy-grid-modernization-biden/index.html).

2. The real question is how do you get for profit monopolies to upgrade infrastructure when it will cut into quarterly earnings and annual executive bonuses. 

3. More power lines underground

4. When power outage deaths start costing the state, perhaps climate change will be taken seriously.

   As for hurricane-related deaths and Florida…can the state be sued for denying climate change? I hope some thoughtful people are putting their minds toward this venture.

5. We could bury everything in conduit or something that won’t rust.