According to this article in SmartGridNews, Consolidated Edison, the power utility that serves New York City and the surrounding region, is in the process of spending $1 billion to upgrade its power delivery infrastructure to minimize outages in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“Sandy caused incredible damage to our energy delivery systems, disrupting the lives of millions of New Yorkers,” said Con Edison Chairman and CEO Kevin Burke. “While we recognize that these weather events represent a ‘new normal,’ our goal through our investments is to lessen the hardships that violent weather causes for our customers.”
I found it interesting that the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events and the climate change that is causing them are so openly acknowledged by captains of industry. It’s hard to understand how people of this stature can affirm the existence of an enormous threat, and bulk up on infrastructure to alleviate the symptoms, but not put a plan in place to deal with the problem itself. Are we going to put dikes around the 217,490 miles of the planet’s coast lines?
