-
Smart Inverters’ Vulnerability to Cyberattacks Needs to Be Identified and Countered
A survey of threats to microgrids from small power sources can help security experts develop solutions.
-
-
Using Blockchain to Increase Electric Grid Resiliency
Blockchain is best known for securing digital currency payments, but researchers are using it to track a different kind of exchange: It’s the first time blockchain has ever been used to validate communication among devices on the electric grid.
-
-
Probable Maximum Flood Events Will Significantly Increase Over Next Decades
The flood capacity of dams could be at greater risk of being exceeded due to out-of-date modelling for potential maximum rainfall. A new study concludes that the rainfall model that engineers use to help design critical infrastructure such as large dams and nuclear power plants need to be updated to account for climate change.
-
-
Improving Canada’s Resilience to Flooding
Climate change is having a direct impact on natural disasters, including flooding, increasing the scale, frequency, and unpredictability of these events. The government of Canada said that is why it is making investments to strengthen Canada’s resilience to climate change and reduce the impact of flooding on our communities.
-
-
Low-Cost Sensor Records the Level of Rivers
Researchers have developed a method that allows the water level of rivers to be monitored around the clock. The cost-effective sensor is for instance suitable for area-wide flood warning systems.
-
-
Simple Hardware to Defend Against Microgrid Attacks
An inexpensive piece of hardware integrated with solar panel controllers can protect isolated power networks from cyberattacks.
-
-
With Climate Impacts Growing, Insurance Companies Face Big Challenges
The impacts of climate change are all around us: sea level rise, severe heat waves, drought, extreme rainfall, more powerful storms. These impacts are making natural disasters more intense and more frequent. Losses from each disaster—drought and wildfires in the southwest, severe storms in the Midwest, flooding in Kentucky and Missouri, and hurricanes in the southeast—have exceeded $1 billion, with the cumulative cost of disasters over the last five years reaching $788.4 billion.
-
-
Examining Vulnerabilities of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
With electric vehicles becoming more common, the risks and hazards of a cyberattack on electric vehicle charging equipment and systems also increases. Reviewing the vulnerabilities of EV charging infrastructure would help prioritize grid protections and informs policy makers.
-
-
Maintaining Mountain Snowpacks Essential for Preserving Valuable Freshwater Resource
Snowcapped mountains generate mountain water runoff and snowmelt, which flow down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Around a quarter of the world depends on these natural “water towers” to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support. Carbon mitigation strategies are needed to maintain snowpack throughout the Americas.
-
-
Zaporizhzhia: What Would Be the Consequences of an Accident?
Although it’s impossible to say for sure what consequences an accident at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant might have on human health in the environment nearby, experts can make some predictions.
-
-
The Benefits of Integrating Electric Vehicles into Electricity Distribution Systems
As the cost of EVs continues to decrease, the industry matures, incentives grow, and charging infrastructure improves, EVs could make up the vast majority of vehicles on the road in 2050. Many studies have looked at how increased electricity demand will affect the bulk power system in the United States, but public analysis of the impacts on the distribution system has been less prevalent.
-
-
Fukushima Fears Notwithstanding, Japan Still Depends on Nuclear Power
The 2011 Fukushima disaster helped seal the fate of nuclear power in Japan, or so it seemed. Tokyo now plans to extend the life of its nuclear plants and is considering new smaller, safer reactors.
-
-
Fossil Fuel Past, Green Future: Abandoned Wells May Offer Geothermal Power
Tapping into abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania, products of the state’s long history of energy extraction — could provide a future source of affordable geothermal energy. Regulators estimate hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells have been drilled in the state, many before modern regulations, and lost over time in fields, forests and neighborhoods.
-
-
More Heat, Humidity as a Result of Climate Change Challenge Power Grid
Increasing heat and humidity, and the intensification of more-frequent extreme weather events, are a few of the challenges climate change poses for the nation’s power grid. A new study recommends adaptations to protect grid reliability, resiliency.
-
-
Sea-Level Rise “May Cross Two Meters by 2100”
Land subsidence could worsen sea-level rise effects in the Asia Pacific region. Most islands in the Pacific are subsiding, presenting a challenge to infrastructure. Pacific Island Countries have low adaptative capacity to climate change.
-
The long view
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
Trump Is Fast-Tracking New Coal Mines — Even When They Don’t Make Economic Sense
In Appalachian Tennessee, mines shut down and couldn’t pay their debts. Now a new one is opening under the guise of an “energy emergency.”
Smaller Nuclear Reactors Spark Renewed Interest in a Once-Shunned Energy Source
In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans.
Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
Model Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.