Our Changing Climate and Adaptation: The Energy Industry Perspective
September 22, 2010
9:00am-3:30pm
Please Note: This discussion is not about Global Climate Change; it is simply about changes in Wisconsin's climate and
implications for energy industry planning.
AGENDA
What should we know about the future that will help us plan for tomorrow? This session will examine what we know
today about the changing Wisconsin climate and will and what that might mean for future adaptation efforts. Our goal
is to help the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI)understand what might be of concern to the energy
industryTheir mission is to conduct their research and craft a final product that will be immediately useful for planning
purposes and risk assessment for multiple indsutries.
9:00 - Introductions
9:10 - Modeling Climate Change in Wisconsin
· Dan Vimont, UW-Madison
o Historical temperature and precipitation trends
o Projected changes to Wisconsin's future climate
o Using probability to assess risk
10:30 - Break
10:45 – We will lead off with a case study and the follow with informal brainstorming regarding the climate/energy
industry intersection of interests.
CASE STUDY: Climate Change and Wind Farms
· Tracey Holloway, UW-Madison
o Case study on how changes in climate could have affected the output of three wind farms
· Discussion Roundtable—What might the energy industry be interested in going forward regarding climate.
 Ross DePaolo—Consultant (Building Codes)
 Julia Currie – Johnson Controls (Building Performance)
 Ken Copp – ATC (Transmission)
 Nick Grossenbach – ATC (Transmission)
 Ankur Desai – University of Wisconsin (Renewables - Wind)
 Dave Jenkins – Office of Energy Independence (Renewables)
12:15 - Lunch
1:00 - Decision Making and Risk
· Commissioner Lauren Azar, Wisconsin Public Service Commission
. Dick Bratcher, Senior Principal in KEMA's Sustainable Generation Services and Climate Services
2:15 - Break
2:30 - Discussion: Getting the Perspective of the Energy Industry
· Open Discussion Flip Chart Work--We will work with four major areas for brainstorming: Land and Vegetation; Water;
Air Temperature; and Frequency and Intensity of Extreme Weather Events—what might they mean to the energy
industry.
3:30 - Adjourn
Mitigation vs. Adaptation
A key concept to understand for this program is the difference between climate change mitigation and adaptation. Most
discussions about climate change, especially in the context of energy utilities, deal with mitigation, which is reducing the
amount of greenhouse gases that reach the atmosphere from human activities. Adaptation, which is the focus of this
workshop, is about managing the negative impacts that climate change will have on humans in the future. The flow chart
below shows the chain of events that lead to climate change and where mitigation and adaptation fit in with respect to
reducing the harmful impacts of climate change.
Reproduced with permission from Gregory Nemet, University of Wisconsin-Madison