© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Listener Picks: The electric grid and climate change

Electrical lines running through a neighborhood in Austin, Texas.
Electrical lines running through a neighborhood in Austin, Texas.

As the country becomes increasingly dependent on electricity – from heating our homes to powering our cars – power utilities are moving away from coal and natural gas power plants and embracing renewable energy sources like hydro, wind, and solar.

But it’s a slow turnaround. In the meantime, the nation’s aging electric infrastructure isn’t equipped to meet this new demand or withstand the effects of severe weather.

As floods, droughts, freezes, and heatwaves become more prevalent in the face of climate change, they’re adding further stress to the already-fragile power grid.

What does the power grid of the future look like? We convene a panel of experts to talk about it.

Copyright 2023 WAMU 88.5

Tags
Lauren Hamilton
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.