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Infrastructure for a Climate-Changing World

It's not hard to find examples of vulnerability in an energy infrastructure that was built for a different time. Power grid failures from fires, floods, and extreme weather are in the news regularly. As Jesse Jenkins, a speaker at the Irving Institute's New Energy series and assistant professor at Princeton University put it in a recent New York Times article,  "we're now in a world where, especially with climate change, the past is no longer a good guide to the future." 

The need to rethink how we're investing in and reimagining our energy systems — from generation to transmission and distribution — informed the the winter 2021 Dartmouth Energy Collaborative Energy Seminar Series. A key theme throughout the series was the need to prioritize equity as well as resilience as we invest, bolster, and rebuild our vulnerable infrastructure and the communities our infrastructure serves. Whether examining the issue through a policy, finance, technological, or industry lens, all of our speakers reiterated that now is not a time to perpetuate the policies and approaches that presumed a climate-stable world and ignored (and preyed upon) vulnerable communities. Instead, we must invest in climate-resilient energy systems that contribute to the health, productivity, and prosperity of all.

You can view all of our winter 2021 DEC energy seminars on our YouTube channel.