Before I speak to organizations about energy-efficient and disaster-resilient construction, I update the toll that recent storms and disasters have taken. This is an ever-increasing toll of financial, emotional, social and human costs. The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information estimates that in 2017 that cost exceeded $300 billion (ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/) and the cost for 2018 will be even higher as the cost for the western wildfires and Hurricane Florence are not available yet.
Even as we continue to experience increased fire damage in a drought-ravaged west; an inundation of storms and flooding along the coasts, and more frequent, shifting, and violent storm events across the Midwest and south, there may still be a silver lining to these dark times.