Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Electricity system change, including smart grid, is a crucial component of both climate
mitigation and adaptation. A smarter grid has potential to simultaneously contribute to
mitigation, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the electric sector, and to
adaptation, by strengthening the resilience and robustness of electricity systems. By
allowing expansion of the proportion of electricity produced by low-carbon renewable
resources and enhancing efficiency, smart grid can contribute to climate change mitigation.
By strengthening resilience, smart grid can reduce electricity system disruptions during
extreme weather events, thus contributing to adaptation.
As we consider the many connections between smart grid and our impact on and
response to the Earth's changing climate, it is important to remember that many different
smart grid structures and architectures are possible. Some technological configurations of
smart grid will clearly contribute to confronting climate change, while other configurations
in some places may inadvertently increase climate vulnerabilities. How much a future
smart grid electricity system enables climate change mitigation and/or adaptation will
depend critically on which actors and public policy priorities shape the design and
operation of emerging systems.
This chapter explores how different smart grid configurations may contribute to climate
change mitigation and adaptation. We begin by reviewing the continuing societal struggle
on how to respond to climate change, including both mitigation and adaptation responses.
We then present the ironic possibility that a smarter grid could inadvertently increase,
rather than decrease, risks associated with climate change. We then discus two key tensions
in linkages between smart grid and climate change: (1) whether smart grid should
encourage a more centralized or more decentralized electricity system; (2) whether smart
grid should be envisioned as an incremental, evolutionary change or a more radical
revolutionary change. We conclude by suggesting strategies for aligning smart grid
development with climate change mitigation and adaptation.
8.2 Continuing Societal Struggles
Climate change is a growing threat to the stability of societies throughout the world
(IPCC
2014
). Although a coordinated international response to climate change remains
elusive, national, subnational, and local governments around the world are confronting
climate change in different ways, including responding to impacts of climate change and
creating policies and incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions causing climate
change. Despite limited climate policy action in the United States and a strong tendency
in U.S. federal politics to avoid the controversial issue of climate change, its realities are
becoming more obvious, especially with Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and other
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