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Aug. 31, 2021 01:01PM EST
Hurricane Ida exposes America's precarious energy infrastructure
The powerful hurricane that plunged New Orleans into darkness for what could be weeks is the latest sign that U.S. power systems are not ready for a warmer, more volatile world.
The big picture: “Our current infrastructure is not adequate when it comes to these kinds of weather extremes,” Joshua Rhodes, a University of Texas energy expert, tells Axios.
- Climate science studies show extreme weather events, from wildfires to stronger hurricanes, are expected to affect the U.S. with greater frequency and ferocity than in previous decades.
- There is also the risk of "compound events" with concurrent drought and fires in one part of the country and floods and hurricanes hitting another.
Catch up fast: Entergy, the utility that serves much of Louisiana, said Hurricane Ida's "catastrophic intensity" knocked out all eight transmission lines that serve New Orleans.
- As of Tuesday morning, more than 1 million customers were still without power in Louisiana, according to PowerOutage.us.
- "There are about 10 parishes that the electrical grids are completely collapsed and damaged, smashed, out — however you want to put it," Jefferson Parish Emergency Management director Joe Valiente tells NPR.
Why it matters: The last few years have brought clear signs that point toward the conclusion offered by Rhodes and other experts.
- In California, the dangerous combination of drought and high temperatures is worsening wildfires and straining the grid. Outdated transmission lines touched off California's deadliest fire on record.
- California power giant PG&E, in June, announced a multiyear plan to bury 10,000 miles of lines underground at a cost of $15 billion-$20 billion.
- Texas suffered deadly outages last winter when Arctic air barreled far southward. Judah Cohen, a meteorologist at AER in Massachusetts, tells Axios that event may have had ties to climate change based on how a rapidly warming Arctic is affecting the polar vortex.
What they're saying: WIRES, a power industry group pushing for modernized transmission, said Ida's damage "only reinforces the need for a more resilient grid."
- "Extreme weather events like Ida show the value of investment in local transmission projects to replace aging transmission infrastructure with stronger more resilient build out," said Larry Gasteiger, the group's executive director, in a statement.
- Rhodes, for his part, has emphasized the usefulness of placing transmission lines underground.
What we're watching: How power companies and policymakers do — or don't — respond at local, state and national levels.
- The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate earlier this month contains grid modernization and resilience funding, but is nowhere near the scale needed to fully address the challenge while building out new transmission, experts say.
- The bill's various provisions include directing the Energy Department to establish a $5 billion grant program for grid hardening to help reduce the impacts of extreme weather events.
The bottom line: Building resilience isn't cheap, even if it ultimately saves money and, more importantly, lives.
Go deeper: Climate change lurks behind Hurricane Ida's unnerving intensification rate
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Apr. 05, 2021 08:02PM EST
Retailers don't know whether the pandemic comfy era is ending
There are early signs that "sweatpants nation"is shrinking as Americans emerge from lockdown, but it's unclear how far back to normal the pendulum will swing.
Why it matters: Retailers don't know whether the pandemic comfy era has forever changed what we want to wear. Billions of dollars worth of retail inventory is on the line.
How it works: What's on the racks in the summer and the fall months is planned months in advance.
- There's always some uncertainty — but this year is beyond the norms, Sarah Wyeth a retail analyst at S&P Global Ratings, tells Axios.
- "Is it going to be more athleisure? Is it going to be dressy? Is it going to be business formal, business casual?"
One sign of a shift already in motion: Urban Outfitters said at the end of February seven out of 10 of its top selling items were dresses for its Anthropologie brand.
- "Up until that point over the past year, we were lucky if [top selling items] included one or two dresses ... We're beginning to see what I'm calling go-out fashion start to take hold," CEO Richard Hayne said in early March.
Flashback: Last year, fashion seasons were essentially traded for the "pandemic season." Retailers reined in other inventory at the onset of the pandemic and raced to meet the demand for comfort.
- A similar pivot could happen if they suss out a bigger "dress up" thirst, though fast-fashion retailers will be more nimble here than others.
How it's playing out: Retailers have been "extraordinarily cautious" with buying loads of inventory in light of the uncertainty, Jan Kniffen, a retail consultant to investment firms, tells Axios.
- "What that means is the consumer is going to go out to buy stuff that ain't there sometimes," Kniffen says.
- And there might be fewer deals, since the retailer won't have to use discounts to sell-through excess inventory.
Factors at play: The pace of vaccinations and the economic reopening. Both will lead people to do and socialize more — and potentially buy more clothes for the occasion.
- Plus: The sustained economic recovery (which has been uneven) propelling people to shop.
What's next: Winners of "the comfy era" are trying to keep their stronghold.
- "When [customers] shift back to more casual wear, they are going to be looking unique and different ... and some of the team is creating and building that," Lululemon's CEO Calvin McDonald told Wall Street last week.
The bottom line: "I think we're going to see a real trend toward Great Gatsby-ism," Kniffen says.
- "It will be a more casual dress up than 10 or 15 years ago — but it's still gonna be a hell of a lot dressier than it was for the last year."
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Dec. 10, 2024 10:12AM EST
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