Experts say climate change may cause A/C usage to overwhelm the electric grid

Climate change may cause A/C use to overwhelm electric grid, experts say

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Experts warn that climate change will bring longer and hotter Summers to the United States. The grid’s capacity could be exceeded within a decade. Photo by Sumekler/Pixabay

Global warming will result in longer and hotter summers. A new study warns that turning on the air conditioner may not be an option.

The investigators discovered Climate Change could drive Americans’ demand for A/C to exceed the nation’s electricity-producing capacity within a decade.

The researchers recently reported that prolonged blackouts could occur during summer heat waves, putting many people at risk. The Future of Earth.

“It’s a pretty clear message to all of us that either we can’t continue doing what we’re doing or our energy system is going to collapse in the next few years, simply because of the summertime AC,” SusanneBenz, a Canadian geographer and climate scientist at Dalhousie University, stated in a news release by American Geophysical Union. She was not part of the new study.

According to the researchers, the global climate will heat up by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2030. This could cause an increase in summer air conditioning demand in the United States of between 8% to 13%.

The average American household could be without air conditioning for up to eight days during the summer. However, those living in Midwestern states could go without AC for as long as 12 days.

According to the study authors’ projections, they show what could happen to electricity production if it is not done to increase efficiency and fight climate change.

The researchers noted that the study only examined the effects of climate change and did NOT consider changes in wealth or behavior, which could have an impact on air conditioning demand.

“We tried to isolate the effect of climate change. If nothing changes, and if society refuses to adapt, what does that mean? Renee Obringer (environmental engineer at Penn State University) was the lead author of the study.

Obringer said, “We’ve seen it in California already — state electricity suppliers had to institute Blackouts because they couldn’t provide the required electricity.”

According to state data, this resulted in 599 heat-related death, though the actual number may have been closer at 3,900.

Obringer stated that those most vulnerable to losing air conditioning due to power outages are people with low incomes, non-whites, and older people.

Benz said that “When they tell you there’s going be two weeks where there’s no cooling on average,” in reality some people will have cooling. People with disabilities will experience less cooling.

More information

For more information on extreme heat, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention