Thomas Bourgeois, deputy director of the Pace Energy & Climate
Center, on keeping power flowing to critical infrastructure in
the wake of natural disaster With utilities along the Eastern
Seaboard reporting more than three million customers still
without power as of Tuesday morning, many are questioning how we
can better prepare for future natural disasters—especially as
climate change causes increases in the number and severity of
extreme weather events. Experts at Pace Law School’s Energy &
Climate Center are available to speak to the media about keeping
power running to critical sites—such as hospitals, centers of
refuge, data centers, wastewater treatment plants, and chemical
storage facilities—when the grid is impaired in the wake of a
natural disaster. One measure that’s gaining ground recently is
on-site Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generators at critical
infrastructure sites. They can be configured to run independent
of the electrical grid, providing heating, cooling and power to
critical facilities