A Changing Climate and a Smarter Grid: Critical Linkages - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 203

8.2.2 Climate Change Adaptation
As more frequent and intense storms, droughts, and heat waves and other weather
anomalies occur with the changing climate, improving the resilience of electricity systems
to weather-related disruptions is another powerful motivator for developing smart grid.
The notion of climate change preparedness resonates widely as people around the world
and across the political spectrum are increasingly aware of the growing threats of and
vulnerabilities to climate change. A critical piece of climate change adaptation and
preparedness in the United States, at least, involves “system hardening” and resilience
by improving the processes and timeframes for recovery from inevitable power outages.
Advanced sensors, which detect fluctuations in power flows and identify system
irregularities, are a key part of the climate change adaptation component of smart grid
because these sensors enable enhanced management, minimize power outages, and help
with rapid system recovery.
The devastation and energy system disruptions of Superstorm Sandy demonstrated to
the United States, and the rest of the world, the vulnerability of electricity systems. As
we mentioned in the very first chapter of this topic, the electricity system disruption
from this extreme weather event impacted households and businesses across seventeen
states, including those as far west as Michigan. The storm left some without power for
weeks, and lower Manhattan was in the dark for several days, closing the New York Stock
Exchange for two days. Due to the tangible and near-term impacts of electricity system
disruptionssuchasthoseexperiencedafterSuperstormSandy,formanypeopletheneedfor
enhanced resilience offers more compelling justification to support smart grid innovation
and investments than does the need to reduce CO 2 emissions.
8.3 Ironic Linkages Between Smart Grid and Climate Change
An irony of the complex smart grid system change envisioned by some is that it is
possible that smart grid could exacerbate rather than ameliorate the risks of climate change.
Although unlikely, it is possible that a future, more sophisticated electricity system could
lead to greater consumption of high carbon-emission electricity. It is also possible to
envision a scenario where an efficient and convenient smart grid system might encourage
households and commercial customers to use more electric power. For example, some
smart grid configurations could result in the increased use of novel electric gadgets and
devices, and the increased use of electricity for transportation, including both personal
electric vehicles and public transit. This could result in a net increase in CO 2 emissions
depending on how much low-carbon electricity generation is integrated into that particular
system. If a smart grid system encouraged increased electrification, the increased use