US White House Advisor Highlights Energy 'Innovation' Amid Texas Power Outage Crisis

[Image source= AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Liz Sherwood-Randall, White House Homeland Security Advisor, emphasized the innovation of U.S. energy policy while referring to the large-scale power outage in Texas. This is interpreted as a determination to accelerate President Joe Biden's eco-friendly energy policy.

According to Bloomberg on the 18th (local time), Sherwood-Randall held a press conference at the White House regarding the large-scale power outage in Texas. She expressed her stance on the energy policy controversy sparked by the Texas blackout.

The power outages across the U.S. caused by the severe cold wave that hit Texas intensified the debate over energy policy. The two sides clashed: one advocating continued use of fossil fuels such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas, and the other urging increased use of eco-friendly energy like solar and wind power.

The former argues that fossil fuels must continue to be used due to concerns about whether sufficient power can be secured with eco-friendly energy. On the other hand, the latter emphasizes that since this incident is due to climate change, the transition to eco-friendly energy policies must be expedited.

Regarding this controversy, Sherwood-Randall expressed her intention to accelerate eco-friendly energy policies.

Sherwood-Randall said, "The extreme weather we experienced across the U.S. this week is the reality of climate change happening now and shows that we are not yet adequately prepared for climate change," adding, "This incident proved the need to build infrastructure to respond to climate change."

She continued, "The Texas power grid was overloaded and could not withstand the extreme conditions," emphasizing, "The government will build strong and resilient infrastructure that can endure extreme situations."

Sherwood-Randall did not specify the exact methods to strengthen energy infrastructure. However, she stressed, "To have energy infrastructure capable of responding to crises, technology, innovation, and collaboration are necessary," emphasizing the use of emerging eco-friendly technologies to address climate change.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.