Extreme heat is becoming increasingly common worldwide, threatening prolonged power outages that render air conditioning systems useless.
The demand for air conditioning is skyrocketing, expected to triple globally by 2050 as temperatures soar and incomes rise. The issue is that without electricity, people cannot utilize their air conditioning units. Many power grids are being pushed to their breaking points due to the growing prevalence of extreme weather.
For instance, when Hurricane Ida swept through Louisiana in August 2021 with strong winds and severe flooding, over a million people lost power. Following that was a heatwave, with temperatures rising above 32.2 degrees Celsius, endangering residents who could not turn on their air conditioning due to the prolonged power outage.
Air conditioning uses more electricity than any other household appliance. (Image: AKP Photos).
The combination of storms, extreme heat, and prolonged power outages is becoming a nightmare scenario, but this situation will increasingly become the norm as humans continue to warm the Earth, sparking extreme weather with devastating impacts. It also reveals an uncomfortable truth about air conditioning, which is supposed to protect people from the heat.
Weather accounted for 80% of major power outages in the United States from 2000 to 2023, according to a report from Climate Central, a nonprofit research organization. In the U.S., aging power grids are designed for past weather conditions rather than future ones, according to Michael Webber, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
The primary threat is storms, which can down power lines and topple utility poles. However, extreme heat also impacts the power grid. If it’s extremely hot outside, the system operates less efficiently. The power grid may also struggle to cope with the demand when everyone turns on their air conditioning at once to combat high temperatures.
The number of major power outages in the U.S. (affecting more than 50,000 customers and lasting at least one hour) doubled from 2017 to 2020, says Brian Stone Jr., a professor specializing in urban design planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology. According to him, most of the increases occurred during the summer months.
The surge in cooling demand during the heatwave in August 2020 in California prompted the state’s main grid operator to implement rolling blackouts for hundreds of thousands of households for the first time in 20 years. In 2021, during a scorching heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, electrical equipment was overloaded, leading to rolling blackouts affecting tens of thousands of households as temperatures soared above 37.8 degrees Celsius.
In June 2024, when temperatures in Southern Europe reached 40 degrees Celsius, many areas in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, and Montenegro experienced several hours of power outages due to a sudden spike in electricity demand. Even brief power outages can be extremely dangerous, according to Webber. Extreme heat can affect vital organs and lead to exhaustion, heat stroke, or even death. If the power goes out when it’s cold, people can simply wear more clothes, build a fire, and huddle together. In hot weather, the only way to cool down is to use electricity. The combination of extreme heat and power outages is the most dangerous climate-related event, according to Stone.
Stone and a group of scientists are exploring the potential impacts of extreme heat coupled with prolonged power outages due to extreme weather or cyberattacks. Focusing on Atlanta, Detroit, and Phoenix, they examined scenarios within people’s homes. The outlook is particularly grim for Phoenix. During a heatwave accompanied by power outages lasting 3 to 4 days, half of the city’s population (nearly 800,000 people) would require treatment for heat-related illnesses in hospitals. More than 13,000 people would die. According to Stone, the climate in the city is too extreme, and residents struggle to adapt. The reliance on air conditioning may make people less resilient as they become overly dependent on cooling systems at home and work.
Arizona Public Service, one of the electricity providers in Phoenix, has stated that they are planning to prevent large-scale power outages and regularly maintain the power grid. While the likelihood of prolonged outages during a heatwave in Phoenix is relatively low, it could occur and become more common as the climate crisis worsens. Reducing pollution to combat global warming is the best long-term solution to address extreme heat and weather, according to Stone.
