pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict-edeb600b8a7cb7b8.pdf

This briefing by the Prairie Climate Centre examines strategies to enhance the climate resilience of urban electricity and information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, with a particular focus on Alberta, Canada. It advocates for the adoption of robustness, redundancy, and resourcefulness to mitigate risks from extreme weather and long-term climate trends.

• Climate change in Alberta is projected to increase mean annual temperatures by 2.0°C by the 2030s and 4.0°C by the 2060s compared to the 1990s, assuming current greenhouse gas emission rates continue. Precipitation is expected to increase in winter and decline in summer, while the primary risks stem from increased climate variability and extreme events like heat waves and heavy rainstorms.
• Climate change is expected to shift the energy load profile of cold-climate cities such as Calgary and Edmonton from a winter peak to a summer peak due to increased air conditioning loads and higher temperatures.
• To increase infrastructure robustness, the document recommends the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) protocol to identify climate vulnerabilities. Examples of robust design include burying electricity distribution cables underground—as Hydro-Québec has done for 11 per cent of its system—and using dry (air) cooling or wastewater effluent for thermal power plant cooling to avoid shutdowns during water shortages.
• Energy system redundancy can be achieved through decentralized renewable energy technologies (RETs) and distributed storage, such as solar panels and residential batteries. Smart grid technologies, including smart meters and products like the Tesla Power Wall-Solar Roof, enable households to remain powered independently or via 'daisy-chained' networks during grid failures.
• ICT infrastructure is naturally more resilient due to its modularity and redundant architectures, but can be further strengthened by diversifying Internet Service Providers (ISPs), utilizing mesh networking apps (e.g., MeshMe and Serval), and maintaining legacy landlines. Robustness in ICT also involves hardening cell towers against wind and ice and locating server farms on mid-floors to avoid flood risks.
• Resourcefulness in the energy sector is enabled by smart grids and time-of-use pricing to reduce peak demand. In the ICT sector, resourcefulness is improved by allowing emergency roaming across different mobile networks, as highlighted by the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which disabled 25 per cent of mobile phone masts across 10 states.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict-edeb600b8a7cb7b8.pdf. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict-edeb600b8a7cb7b8.pdf. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict-edeb600b8a7cb7b8.pdf |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndpccbriefclimateresilientcityelectricityictedeb600b8a7cb7b8pdf, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict-edeb600b8a7cb7b8.pdf}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-city-electricity-ict.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }