Prof. Aseem Prakash and colleague Prof. Nives Dolšak in Forbes with the suggestion that our electrical supply transmission system should be buried, and the recent storm Helene is a timely case in point.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton remind us of electricity infrastructure’s vulnerability to extreme weather events. However, at least one Florida community, Babcock Ranch, managed to avoid electricity shutoffs from downed power lines. A newspaper story reported that “All the structures at Babcock Ranch are built to withstand more than 150-mile-per-hour hurricane force winds, and its 150-megawatt solar farms and underground transmission system means the community rarely loses electricity… After Hurricane Milton, the town saw some downed trees and traffic lights, but they never lost power.”
In addition to electricity outages, downed lines cause wildfires when live wires come in contact with vegetation. Investigators identified downed power lines as the cause of several devastating fires, including California’s 2017 Tubbs Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire, the 2023 Hawaii’s Maui Fire, and the 2024 Texas’ Smokehouse Creek Fire.
The good news is that individuals recognize that extreme weather events are disrupting their lives and investments, and are willing to bear additional costs to protect against such events. While our study was limited to one state and one issue, it raises the possibility that individuals might be willing to pay extra for other types of climate adaptation investments such as river embankments, tree cover, and improved water systems, as long as these investments are framed in terms of local benefits and not labeled as climate policies.
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