Electricity is an essential part of modern life and important to many basic services, including healthcare, transportation and even water. But as climate change accelerates, the electrical system in the United States will face more frequent extreme weather events that could cause outdated infrastructure to fail, potentially leaving millions of people without heat and other essentials in life-threatening conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past three decades, extreme weather events such as hurricanes, ice storms, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires have becomemore common and costly<\/a> in the U.S. \u2014 a shift that\u2019s attributed to the changing climate. Unfortunately, at the same time, the nation\u2019s electrical system has become increasingly susceptible to damage caused by these events, according to Jordan Kern, an assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State\u2019s College of Natural Resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe grid is kind of old, and weather is arguably getting more extreme, so it’s becoming more vulnerable to weather impacts of different types because of that,\u201d Kern said. <\/p>\n\n\n