You are here

Resilience

What One Devastated Community Can Teach The World About Mental Health

An aerial view of homes that were destroyed by the Tubbs Fire on October 11, 2017 in Santa Rosa, California. Twenty-one people have died in wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and destroyed over 3,000 homes and businesses in several Northen California counties. JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

Image: An aerial view of homes that were destroyed by the Tubbs Fire on October 11, 2017 in Santa Rosa, California. Twenty-one people have died in wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and destroyed over 3,000 homes and businesses in several Northen California counties. JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

wired.com - October 8th 2018 - Matt Simon

A YEAR AGO, while on a tourist visit to Latvia, Sharon Bard was awoken at 4 am by a buzzing alert from her phone. It was an email from a friend who’d been checking on her home in Santa Rosa, California. Given the alarming news, the email's phrasing was rather gentle: A fire had broken out in the area, officials had ordered evacuations, and Bard’s country house at the end of a road might be affected.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Mainland Miami Ponders Returning Neighborhoods to Nature In Order To Survive Rising Seas

           

The annual king tides are rising in South Florida, causing some flooding in coastal areas.  By Joey Flechas

miamiherald.com - by David Smiley - June 9, 2017

 . . . In order to save Shorecrest, where million-dollar homeowners mingle with middle-class families and blue-collar renters, government officials across the region are now asking whether it ought to be redesigned rather than simply reinforced. Where climate change poster child Miami Beach is investing $500 million in pumps, streets and sea walls in order to fight for every inch of dry land, municipalities on the mainland are exploring what some communities would look like if they were made to accommodate rising seas rather than simply fight them.

One idea likely to be both controversial and expensive: demolishing properties and returning developed areas back to nature.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Extreme Weather Events Intensify Economic And Social Risks

submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

           

Corporate sustainability teams could play an important role in building resilience to environmental risks.

bloomberg.com - June 4, 2018

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018, three of the top five threats in terms of likelihood are environmental: extreme weather, natural disasters and the failure of climate change mitigation . . . 

. . . The reason for the seismic potential of these environmental risks isn't just the risks themselves, but also their knock-on effects. In a global economy, every corporate executive has to consider the potential for cascading risks to threaten the systems that underpin our economy and society.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Tired of Waiting for Electricity in Puerto Rico, Man Builds His Own Solar Power System

           

Frank says his experience with electrical work helped him tackle the solar panel installation.

cnn.com - by Paul P. Murphy - April 19, 2018

Another day, another blackout in Puerto Rico; Wednesday's blackout was the latest to hit the island still recovering from Hurricane Maria. But one man beat the power outages and his troublesome gas generator by switching to solar power.

"As I'm typing this, we are in the middle of a blackout and my fridge, lights and fans are running worry free," a man named Frank told CNN.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Microgrids as Resilient Energy Infrastructure

           

Microgrid at Princeton University

utilitydive.com - March 20, 2018

The National Academy of Sciences defines “resilience” as the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.  Since the September 2017 DOE NOPR to FERC, the energy industry has been working overtime to better define resilience.  FERC unanimously set aside the “90 days on-site fuel storage” provision espoused by DOE and opened a new docket (AD18-7) to more fully examine the current state of grid resiliency, asking the nation’s seven RTO’s and ISO’s to provide their definition of resiliency relative to the bulk power system by March 9.  Those ISO/RTO comments reflected regional variances as expected while sharing a common thread of the paradigm shift underway from central station power plants to more distributed generation . . . 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems

submitted by John Cooper

                                     

cleanegroup.org

Summary:

Researchers from NREL and Clean Energy Group found that placing a monetary value on the ability of solar+storage to avoid losses during grid outages can significantly impact project economics and system design. Using data from Southern California Edison, researchers analyzed the economic case for solar+storage for three customer types (school, office building, and hotel) in Anaheim, California. In each case analyzed, larger PV and battery storage systems were found to be economical when the value of resilience is accounted for.

CLICK HERE - Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Trump-appointed regulators reject plan to rescue coal and nuclear plants

           

CLICK HERE - FERC rejects DOE NOPR, kicking resilience issue to grid operators

CLICK HERE - Order terminating rulemaking proceeding, initiating new proceedings, & establishing additional procedures re Grid Reliability & Resilience Pricing under RM18-1 et al. Commissioners LaFleur, Chatterjee, & Glick concurring statements attached.

washingtonpost.com - by Steven Mufson - January 8, 2018

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday unanimously rejected a proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry that would have propped up nuclear and coal power plants struggling in competitive electricity markets.

The independent five-member commission includes four people appointed by President Trump, three of them Republicans. Its decision is binding.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Puerto Rico's Storm of Misery

       
 
Devastation in Puerto Rico - CBS News
 
cbsnews.com - by Steve Kroft - November 5, 2017
 
Many Puerto Ricans have endured the longest blackout in American history following a direct hit from Hurricane Maria. Due to a multitude of factors, some say the lights won't be coming back on anytime soon.
 
It's safe to say that of all the places in the country, the one that is suffering the most right now is the hurricane-ravaged island of Puerto Rico . . . For the past 46 days, most of them have been without power, the longest blackout in American history. FEMA says it has distributed more food and water there than any disaster its ever been involved in.
 
 
Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Harvey’s Toll on Energy Industry Shows a Texas Vulnerability

A vessel, the Signet Enterprise, sinking on Saturday near Port Aransas, Tex.; its crew was rescued. The narrow shipping channel near Port Aransas may be the most threatened choke point on the Gulf Coast. Credit U.S. Coast Guard, via Getty Images

Image: A vessel, the Signet Enterprise, sinking on Saturday near Port Aransas, Tex.; its crew was rescued. The narrow shipping channel near Port Aransas may be the most threatened choke point on the Gulf Coast. Credit U.S. Coast Guard, via Getty Images

nytimes.com - Clifford Krauss and Hiroko Tabuchi - August 29th 2017

For years, much of the nation’s refinery capacity and chemical production have been concentrated along the swamps and narrow inlets of the Gulf of Mexico, risking devastation in a monster storm.

The pounding being endured by coastal Texas will probably be the biggest test of that risk so far, and energy experts say it raises questions about the area’s role as a hub for such crucial and environmentally sensitive industries.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Free Resources for Disaster Resilience

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

No person or place is immune from disasters or disaster-related losses, and recent events have proven that even prepared communities can be overwhelmed in a state of emergency. Our reports provide guidelines and targeted resources for all stakeholders in a disaster response, including state and local governments, emergency medical services and health care centers. Read these online for free.
CLICK HERE - Related Books

Pages

Subscribe to Resilience
howdy folks