Montgomery County Maryland

submitted by Gordian Raacke

CLICK HERE - White House Council of Economic Advisors - Incorporating Renewables into the Grid: Expanding Opportunities for Smart Markets and Energy Storage (40 page .PDF report)

whitehouse.gov - June 16, 2016

. . The Administration is announcing new executive actions and 33 state and private sector commitments that will accelerate the grid integration of renewable energy and storage.  Together, these announcements are expected to result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of additional storage procurement or deployment in the next five years. .

           

Aerial view overlooking landscaping on April 4, 2015 in San Diego, California.  Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

by Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - April 25, 2016

The United States is on the verge of a national crisis that could mean the end of clean, cheap water.

Hundreds of cities and towns are at risk of sudden and severe shortages, either because available water is not safe to drink or because there simply isn’t enough of it.

The situation has grown so dire the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence now ranks water scarcity as a major threat to national security alongside terrorism.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Pew Research Center - America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas

latimes.com - by Don Lee - May 11, 2016

America's shrinking middle class, a growing concern for the economy and a central issue in the presidential race, cuts across virtually all communities from coast to coast, according to a study released Wednesday.

The report by Pew Research Center found that the share of the middle class fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined from 2000 to 2014, including major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which saw a relatively sharp drop in its middle class.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

                            

odi.org - Aditya Bahadur, Emma Lovell, Emily Wilkinson, Thomas Tanner - August 2015

CLICK HERE - Resilience in the SDGs - Developing an indicator for Target 1.5 that is fit for purpose (7 page .PDF file)

We outline a comprehensive approach for developing a cross-sectoral, multi-dimensional and dynamic understanding of resilience. This underpins the core message of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that development is multi-faceted and the achievement of many of the individual development goals is dependent on the accomplishment of other goals. It also acknowledges that shocks and stresses can reverse years of development gains and efforts to eradicate poverty by 2030. Crucially, this approach to understanding resilience draws on data that countries will collect for the SDGs anyway and entails only a small additional burden in this regard.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

USA TODAY  by John Bacon and Liz Sazbo                 March 16, 2015

An American health care worker being treated for Ebola has been deteriorated to critical condition, the National Institutes of Health said Monday.

The patient, who has not been identified, tested positive for Ebola virus while volunteering with Partners in Health at an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone. The patient was airlifted by private charter medevac Friday to the the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. The patient is the 11th person with Ebola to be treated in the USA.

On Sunday, 10 health care workers who came in contact with the patient in Sierra Leone were flown to the USA. All were staying near hospitals with high-level biocontainment units capable of treating Ebola, in case they became sick.

On Monday, one of these health workers was moved into the biocontainment unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha because of a change in symptoms, officials say. Hospital staff did not reveal what sort of symptoms the person experienced.
Read complete story.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/16/ebola-critical-condition/24852331/

In September of 2012, a 131-page comprehensive report was issued by the Grid Resiliency Task Force in Maryland. This task force was created in response to an executive order from Governor O'Malley in July 2012.  The goal was to obtain input and recommendations from experts on how to improve the resiliency and reliability of the Maryland electric distribution system.

The foundational principles that guided the Task Force recommendations included the following:

 The current level of reliability and resiliency during major storms is not acceptable.

 Increased reliability and resiliency during major storms is the goal of the Task Force and will inform the recommendations.

 Severe weather events resulting from climate change are likely to continue to occur. It is unacceptable for anyone involved in response efforts to continue to be surprised by the “worst storm” the system or the State has ever seen. Utilities, government and citizens must be prepared for severe weather events.

MEMA has incorporated a powerful new Web mapping application to provide valuable information to the public in the event of an emergency. This tool is OSPREY, Operational Situational Picture for Response to an Emergency. For more information about the application, CLICK HERE For full enlarged map view,CLICK HERE To view OSPREY dashboard,CLICK HERE