[MCN] Insurance Journal: Report: Climate Change May Pose Threat to Nation’s Electric Grid

[Lance Olsen]

Report: Climate Change May Pose Threat to Nation’s Electric Grid
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/459196.htm <http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/459196.htm>

Excerpt: 

“Lights out: The risks of climate and natural disaster related disruption to the electric grid” is the fourth report on which the university and international reinsurer have partnered.

Last year the collaborative produced a report on the impact of climate change on the spread of pandemics, which was covered by Insurance Journal <http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/06/09/416507.htm>. Previous reports produced by Johns Hopkins and Swiss Re were on climate and wildfire risk <http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/2.%09http:/www.swissre.com/library/Fueling_resilience__Climate_and_Wildfire_Risk_in_the_United_States.html> in the U.S., and on resiliency in the Columbia River <http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/3.%09http:/www.swissre.com/library/expertise-publication/Own_your_risk_reframing_risk_and_resiliency_in_the_Columbia_River_Basin.html> basin.

The latest report <http://www.swissre.com/library/archive/lights_out_the_risks_of_climate_and_natural_disaster_related_disruption_to_the_electric_grid.html> calls attention to the risk of climate change creating more frequent extreme weather events.

The report states that climate change “presents epistemic risks beyond predictable, ordinary weather-related risks to the electric grid,” which could put the structural integrity of the nation’s ageing electric infrastructure under greater strain.

“A combination of higher average temperatures, more destructive storms and hurricanes, and increased risk of wildfire will ultimately worsen risk exposure for utilities,” the report states.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/459196.htm <http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/07/27/459196.htm>

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“… the serious meaning in a concept lies in the difference it will make to someone if it is true.”

William James (1842 –1910)
Pragmatism. Meridian Books, 1955

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