As seen with Hurricane Sandy and the growing severity of adverse weather events, climate change has become one of the top causes of power outages in the U.S. The frequency and intensity of severe weather has prompted a call to improve grid resilience, according to a report released by the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the DOE. The push is supported by the report's analysis, which examines the impact of power outages caused by severe weather between 2003 and 2012. Key findings include: 1. Weather-related outages cost an estimated annual average of $18-33 billion (inflation adjusted). 2. Roughly 679 power outages occurred due to weather events, each affecting at least 50,000 customers. 3. In 2012, the United States suffered 11 weather disasters that cost over a billion.
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