Keeping the lights on
Imagine working late at city hall one night and the lights begin to flicker. Next, only a few city buildings and key public gathering places remain lit. The rest of the region surrounding your city sits in total darkness.
The power is out for two days, yet the city continues to operate with minimal disruption. It was spared from the worst effects of a power outage because a couple of years ago it became involved in energy assurance or energy security planning.
Today, more local governments are paying attention to energy security issues, which means they are concerned about their ability to maintain essential community services in the face of an energy disruption. And rightfully so: many essential local governments services fall into jeopardy when the power goes out. Local governments are apprehensive about the spate of energy outages because basic economic activity can be adversely affected without power, even for a short time.
Although local government energy security planning includes three steps (preparedness and investment, response and restoration), most communities have not completed the first step: pre-event energy outage preparedness and investment.
Read the entire story from American City & County, our sister publication.
George Burmeister is a strategic advisor to the Public Technology Institute and president of the Boulder, Colo.-based Colorado Energy Group, Inc. Steve Foute, Ph.D. also is a strategic advisor to Public Technology Institute and a former environmental manager for the City and County of Denver.
