Framing Climate Change Implications for Infrastructures and Urban Systems - Climate Change and Infrastructure, Urban Systems, and Vulnerabilities - page 31

to diesel generators, and in oil supply backup systems, from oil reserves maintained by
industry to the national Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Particularly important for the National Climate Assessment are interactions between
energy and both water and land (see NCA Technical Report on Water/Energy/Land Use ,
2012) and between energy and urban areas, transportation, wastewater/drainage, infor-
mation, and health infrastructures. Experience with extreme weather events has shown
vividly, for example, how the loss of electricity supplies due to storms and floods can
disrupt communication and information services, which in turn complicates emergency
responses related to health and safety. Meanwhile, energy infrastructures - both supply
and demand - are increasingly reliant on communication and control systems that are
jeopardized if information systems are disrupted.
Other sectors
Illustrative examples of cross-sectoral interdependencies for other categories of infra-
structure include:
Water supply and wastewater/drainage management. Water and wastewater pumping and
treatment are major energy users. Transportation and communication networks are
needed to maintain and operate the infrastructures; and flood management infrastruc-
tures are often needed for protection. Both water and wastewater management are
closely linked with health infrastructures and usually nested in building infrastructures,
especially for end uses.
Health. Health assurance and health care infrastructures, from public health care sys-
tems to hospitals and nursing homes, are heavily reliant on energy, telecommunication,
and transportation infrastructures; and their effectiveness depends heavily on waste-
water and water infrastructures, as well as shelter as a buildings infrastructure service.
Telecommunications. Modern telecommunications depend uterly on energy sources,
nearly always electricity infrastructures - online or stored. Transmission lines are a
transportation infrastructure as well, and telecommunication infrastructures are firmly
connected with other infrastructures as users of their services.
Buildings. Modern buildings depend on energy services for climate conditioning, of-
fice equipment, elevators and escalators, and communications. Their occupants rely on
transportation infrastructures to connect homes with jobs and commercial needs. Their
suitability for occupancy depends on water, wastewater, and health infrastructures -
mutual dependencies in every case.
Others. Other examples could be added, including security/emergency preparedness
and banking/finance as categories of infrastructure.
2) FACTORS AFFECTING VULNERABILITIES, RISKS, DECISIONS,
AND RESILIENCE/ADAPTABILITY
Given uncertainties about not only future climate changes at a detailed scale but also
such other infrastructure design parameters as changes in demand and changes in the
policy environment, responses are most appropriately framed in terms of risk manage-
ment rather than optimization based on precise predictions of the future.