Hurricane Sandy left over eight million people along the East Coast without power. More than a week later, nearly two million are still in the dark. With a warming planet, it’s likely there will be more Sandy-strength storms in the years to come. At a press conference last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the city needs to “not only rebuild, but rebuild stronger and smarter.”
So how should the nation prepare? Weather isn’t the only reason to update the grid. Power outages cost the nation between $80 billion and $180 billion each year, according to research by Massoud Amin, a senior member of Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. And they’re getting worse. The number of major outages has doubled in the last 10 years.