Preparing for the Storm: Minimizing Risk through Resilience | October 4 | 11 AM
As the frequency of extreme weather events is on the rise, existing buildings are vulnerable to power disruption, equipment failures, displacement of residents, and other costly damages. This webinar will feature tools and strategies to improve the resilience of existing buildings and community assets through building upgrades and microgrids. The webinar will include an overview of DNV GL’s B-READY building resilience tool, which helps building owners and managers translate climate-related, site-specific risks into actionable resilience strategies. DNV GL will share findings from real-world projects to demonstrate resilience in action, including Seattle City Light’s development of a microgrid at the urban Miller Community Center, designed to serve as a community hub during a grid outage.
For more on the B-Ready tool, check out: https://www.dnvgl.com/services/b-ready-106852
You are invited to join the Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition (LGSEC) for a one-day information and networking forum for California local government energy and climate professionals on Thursday, October 25th from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM at the Santa Rosa Veteran’s Memorial Center followed by a energy and resilience-focused tour on Friday October 26th!
With an emphasis on local government stakeholders, October’s forum will feature a discussion amongst California’s local leaders who will share experiences and lessons learned before, during, and after the firestorm of 2017. The forum will also provide a first-person perspective on the utility and local government interface – a critical component to effective emergency preparedness and disaster response.
The importance of energy resilience during a disaster
October’s meeting will focus on the issues raised by recent regulatory direction to the Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to de-energize electrical distribution lines, as well as the ongoing emergency preparedness and disaster recovery proceeding at the CPUC.
Energy systems are vulnerable to extreme weather events such as earthquakes, wildfires, winter storms and rising sea levels. When electricity infrastructure is damaged in the wake of natural disasters, it affects all walks of life. Essential recovery services suffer – hospitals are left unable to run life-saving equipment or preserve critical medication at the right temperatures, fire fighting and water supply can be interrupted, and markets have trouble preserving food. Many times, the occurrence of wildfires, storms and earthquakes are out of human control, but preparing for them and their aftermath, is not.
Through discussion, hands-on exercises and peer networking, forum participants will come away with information, tools, and resources they can contact for advice, and examples of energy resilience.
