Report: Climate imperils energy

Institutions urged to adapt

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Climate change and extreme weather are likely to worsen and disrupt the U. S. energy supply, the government says in a new report.

The U. S. Department of Energy report released Thursday says blackouts and other problems caused by Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events are likely to be repeated across the country as an aging energy infrastructure struggles to adapt to rising seas, higher storm surges and increased flooding.

The report comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s new plan to combat global warming. Obama disclosed in June a proposal to limit carbon pollution from new and existing power plants as well as boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.

On Thursday, the U. S. Energy Department’s report pointed out climaterelated disasters have costs tens of billions of dollars. Costs could grow exponentially unless a more comprehensive and accelerated response is adopted, the report says.

On the Gulf Coast, for instance, the report cites a study by an energy company and wetland foundation projecting that by 2030, nearly $1 trillion in energy assets in the region will be at risk from rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes.

The report urges private companies, governments and research institutions to take action to further understand the risks of climate change and reduce them. The report does not offer immediate

recommendations, but says power plants and oil companies should use less water and recycle what they use.

Electricity providers should harden transmission grids and build emergency backup systems, the report says, and operators of hydroelectric dams should improve turbine efficiency. The report also recommends that governments and utilities work together to reduce demand for electricity.

“Water is obviously the big question,” said Jonathan Pershing, deputy assistant secretary of Energy for climate change policy and technology, who oversaw the report. “In drought you don’t have enough water. As seas rise, you have too much.”

Both coal-f ired and nuclear power plants, for instance, need large volumes of water for cooling. As temperatures rise, that becomes more difficult.

The report cites several examples from 2012, the hottest year in the United States since record-keep- ing began in 1895:

In August, a nuclear power station in Connecticut shut down one reactor because the temperature of the intake cooling water, withdrawn from Long Island Sound, was too high. The two-week shutdown resulted in the loss of 255,000 megawatt-hours of power, worth several million dollars, the report said.

In t he Midwest, drought and low river water depths disrupted the transportation of commodities including petroleum and coal barged along the Mississippi River.

In California, reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains limited hydroelectric power generation capacity by about 8 percent.

“Costs are already happening, and it’s getting worse,” Pershing said. “We are seeing damages across all parts of the energy sector.”

Rising heat in Western states will drive a steep increase in demand for air conditioning, requiring 100 new power plants by 2050, the U. S. energy agency says.