Grid Resilience Requires Grid Accountability

Elizabeth J. Wilson; Seth Blumsack; Kate Konschnik; Stephanie Lenhart

Grid Resilience Requires Grid Accountability

Elizabeth J. Wilson, Seth Blumsack, Kate Konschnik, Stephanie Lenhart

Public Policy and Administration Department

Research output: Other contribution

Abstract

   Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. 
 
 Most Americans don’t think much about electricity – where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances. It’s only when the power is gone, and we are sitting in the dark, without charged cell phones and with food starting to spoil, that we start to wonder about what it takes to keep the lights on. And so it is with the disastrous events in Texas last month, for just a moment, all eyes are on the grid. As important as it is to assess the physical infrastructure that failed Texas –, nearly half of the state’s generating capacity went offline – we also must examine the decisions that govern those plants and wires. 

Original language	American English
State	Published - 24 Mar 2021

EGS Disciplines

Environmental Studies
Energy Policy

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Cite this

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title = "Grid Resilience Requires Grid Accountability",

abstract = " Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. Most Americans don{\textquoteright}t think much about electricity – where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances. It{\textquoteright}s only when the power is gone, and we are sitting in the dark, without charged cell phones and with food starting to spoil, that we start to wonder about what it takes to keep the lights on. And so it is with the disastrous events in Texas last month, for just a moment, all eyes are on the grid. As important as it is to assess the physical infrastructure that failed Texas –, nearly half of the state{\textquoteright}s generating capacity went offline – we also must examine the decisions that govern those plants and wires. ",

author = "Wilson, {Elizabeth J.} and Seth Blumsack and Kate Konschnik and Stephanie Lenhart",

note = "Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. Most Americans don't think much about electricity - where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances.",

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type = "Other",

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T1 - Grid Resilience Requires Grid Accountability

AU - Wilson, Elizabeth J.

AU - Blumsack, Seth

AU - Konschnik, Kate

AU - Lenhart, Stephanie

N1 - Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. Most Americans don't think much about electricity - where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances.

PY - 2021/3/24

Y1 - 2021/3/24

N2 - Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. Most Americans don’t think much about electricity – where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances. It’s only when the power is gone, and we are sitting in the dark, without charged cell phones and with food starting to spoil, that we start to wonder about what it takes to keep the lights on. And so it is with the disastrous events in Texas last month, for just a moment, all eyes are on the grid. As important as it is to assess the physical infrastructure that failed Texas –, nearly half of the state’s generating capacity went offline – we also must examine the decisions that govern those plants and wires.

AB - Our current electricity governance structure provides neither. Most Americans don’t think much about electricity – where it comes from, how it is made, and what it takes to keep the lights on. We flip a switch and expect light, warmth, and working appliances. It’s only when the power is gone, and we are sitting in the dark, without charged cell phones and with food starting to spoil, that we start to wonder about what it takes to keep the lights on. And so it is with the disastrous events in Texas last month, for just a moment, all eyes are on the grid. As important as it is to assess the physical infrastructure that failed Texas –, nearly half of the state’s generating capacity went offline – we also must examine the decisions that govern those plants and wires.

UR - https://www.niskanencenter.org/grid-resilience-requires-grid-accountability/

M3 - Other contribution

ER -

Grid Resilience Requires Grid Accountability

Abstract

EGS Disciplines

UN SDGs

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