A Changing Climate and a Smarter Grid: Critical Linkages - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 202

anomalous weather such as the Texas, Midwest, and California droughts of 2013/2014; the
“Polar Vortex”; and the ice storms affecting the South and Midwest in winter 2013/2014.
The Third National Climate Assessment report released by the U.S. government in May
2014 provides detailed projections of continued trends of warming, heavier precipitation,
extreme heat events, more frequent and intense drought, decline in summer Arctic sea ice,
and sea-level rise (Walsh et al. 2014 ). The European Union has taken a more proactive
stance on climate change than the United States in terms of both incentivizing reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions and improving infrastructure to enhance climate resilience
(Biesbroek et al. 2010 ) . Yet major challenges and limited effectiveness of some EU climate
policies have resulted in much controversy and continuing societal struggles in Europe on
how to address climate change.
8.2.1 Climate Change Mitigation
One of the most prominent smart grid visions includes a massive scaling up of renewable
electricity generation to displace much of the CO 2 -emitting fossil fuel reliance so
embedded within current electricity systems. CO 2 is the dominant greenhouse gas
contributing to climate change, and electricity generation is the single largest source of
CO 2 emissions. In the United States, the electricity system emits roughly 40 percent of all
greenhouse gas emissions (U.S. EPA 2013 ) . The climate change mitigation-focused smart
grid vision includes CO 2 emissions reductions from enhancing systemwide efficiency
and reducing total generation through storage, grid-side management, and demand-side
management.Advancedsensors,asmentionedin Chapter2 areakeysmartgridtechnology
for climate change mitigation. These sensors can facilitate distributed generation with
two-way communication throughout the grids, linking local electricity supply and demand
response with new demand management tools and smart meters in homes and businesses,
and smart household appliances that automatically adjust electricity consumption. This
vision often includes more high-voltage transmission lines and energy storage technologies
that ease the integration of variable renewable sources by enabling electricity generated at
off-peak hours to be shared across broader regions (transmission) or stored for later use.
The mitigation potential of smart grid therefore relates in multiple ways to smart meter
installation and the better management of energy use ( Chapter 5 ), integration of renewable
energy including large-scale wind ( Chapter 6 ) , and small-scale community-based grid
innovation and microgrids for energy management ( Chapter 7 ). Climate change mitigation
is a powerful motivator for multiple smart grid technologies and actors.