The cost of weather- and climate-related disasters in the US in 2011 could have paid for nearly one-and-a-half million Nissan Leafs, covered the price of solar panels on four million homes, provided weatherization assistance to eight million households or allowed the country to deliver broadband to unserved areas with billions to spare.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US this year saw $52 billion in weather- and climate-related disaster damages. It also set a new record in number of billion-dollar weather/climate disasters — 12 — breaking the previous record of nine billion-dollar disasters set in 2008. The year also saw a costly human toll, with more than 1,000 lives lost across all weather categories, according to the National Weather Service.

For the cost imposed by 2011′s disasters, the US could have instead paid for:

• 1,477,273 Nissan Leafs (MSRP of $35,200, not counting after-purchase tax benefits);
• The installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic systems on four million homes (based on costs calculated in a new study from Queen’s University in Canada);
• Weatherization assistance to eight million households (based on the current federal spending limit of $6,500 per household); or
• Delivery of broadband internet access to nearly 15.5 households, more than twice the 7 million currently believed to lack access in the US.

Any of those investments could have gone a long way toward helping the US cut its carbon emissions, reduce its dependence on imported oil and take cars off the road by enabling more telecommuting and virtual work. Instead, another $52 billion has gone down the climate-change drain, with not much hope for a better outcome next year, considering the lack of meaningful action at the latest round of international talks in Durban.

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