(photo credit: Neil Tackaberry)
BLAM! From whitehouse.gov, in the announcement of the release of the initial installment of the first-ever Quadrennial Energy Review (QER):
Building on today’s announcement, and to help guide us down a secure, safe, resilient and clean energy pathway, the Administration is also unveiling two executive actions to modernize and enhance the resilience of our electric grid:
Partnership for Energy Sector Climate Resilience: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing a new Partnership for Energy Sector Climate Resilience that will improve U.S. energy infrastructure resilience against extreme weather and climate change impacts with the leading providers of electricity services. The partnership will begin with a convening at DOE with CEOs from the following 17 companies on April 30, 2015. The participating companies represent a broad array of investor-owned, Federal, municipal, and cooperative utilities, including:
Con Edison
Dominion Virginia Power
Entergy
Exelon
Great River Energy
Hoosier Energy
Iberdrola USA
National Grid
New York Power Authority
Pacific Gas and Electric
PEPCO Holdings
Public Service Electricity and Gas
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
San Diego Gas and Electric/Sempra
Seattle City Light
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Xcel Energy
https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Sounds like a smart move - providers of electricity services are more likely to see the writing on the wall than, say, Big Oil or Big Coal. We'll still need utilities long after wind and solar have replaced our reliance on fossil fuels.
Hold your ear up to any outlet in your home - if you listen carefully, you'll hear the Koch Brothers crying.