In the article “Climate Change: How Heat Waves Impact the Power Grid” Sustainability Magazine (SM) Climate change claimed to be artificially caused is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, which is said to increase the growth of the power grid worldwide. [emphasis, links added]
This statement is highly misleading at best and is completely false at worst. The data does not support the view that heat waves increase frequency or intensity on a global scale.
Instead, there is evidence that local temperature rises, especially in urban areas where power grids are concentrated, are driven primarily by urban heat island (UHI) effects rather than global climate change.
The evidence also strongly suggests that extending the grid to limits is due to the increased intermittent power in the form of industrial wind and solar facilities.
“Since the 1950s, artificially induced climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of heat waves and will continue to do so.” SM. “As the temperature continues to stay hot, the grid and the market are under pressure.”
The narrative is driven SM When the UHI effect is adjusted correctly, when the global dataset is adjusted correctly, there is no long-term upward trend to mask the heat wave frequency or intensity.
For example, Climate Realism A careful analysis of the heat wave claims in the articles here, here and here, these statements explain that despite the fluctuations in the year, the heat waves of the last century have not been presented globally.
The hottest period in American history was still in the 1930s, when carbon dioxide levels were significantly lower than today.
It is crucial to emphasize that heat waves are driven by weather patterns, especially continuous high-pressure systems that prevent colder air from entering the area. These atmospheric blocking patterns are nothing new, nor are they caused by a small increase in global average temperatures.
The difference between weather and climate is often blurred in popular reports, but they are fundamentally different. The weather is direct and local; the climate is long-term, regional or global. Heat waves have always been a weather event.
The UHI effect is a well-documented phenomenon, with cities significantly higher temperatures than those in surrounding rural areas due to the retention of concrete, asphalt and other artificial surfaces.
This UHI effect can raise temperatures where the electrical infrastructure resides, which may exacerbate pressure on these systems.
However, this local warming is often misunderstood as evidence of broad, climate-driven heat wave reinforcement. In fact, it is a localized artifact with poor urbanization and weather station locations, rather than a signal of changes in planetary scale.
The article says that in 2025, the heat waves that have been seen attacking China, the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, as if this constitutes evidence of the crisis.
However, historical records show that heat waves have occurred regularly throughout history, before the modern industrial age (sometimes simultaneously).
There is currently no sound data to support the idea that heat waves in multiple countries are a modern phenomenon caused by fossil fuels. Heat waves are plot weather events, not unprecedented crises.
Furthermore, the suggestion of the power grid under special pressure due to climate-induced heat waves is a deviation from the practical problem: energy strategy failure.
Detailed introduction watt In the article “The Climate-enhanced 'heat waves chased by the media, missed data shows they are less frequent” and “grid talk”, the grids in the United States and Europe are becoming increasingly fragile as they intentionally generate reliable base loads from coal and nuclear power plants, while intentionally phase out intermittent renewable energy sources such as Wind and Solar.
In peak demand events, these renewable energy sources often perform poorly, including heat waves, exacerbating the instability of the grid. For example, solar panels lose efficiency, which means that the power they generate during high heat decreases.
SM It is admitted that in the heat wave, solar panel efficiency has dropped by as much as 25% in a process without irony.
If hot weather destroys solar output during peak electricity demand, it is a clear prosecution of our growing dependence on solar energy rather than calling for redouble efforts.
This heat vulnerability is a well-known design flaw in solar panels, but the article obscures it in favor of advocating more renewable energy sources.
Likewise, extended heat waves are regularly accompanied by no or low wind currents because the heat dome or heat waves last for several days. When this happens, the wind turbine will not generate power either.
In “Powered by Heat: How Heat Waves Reshape Power Demand in 2024,” Ember analysts claim higher air conditioning use is causing grid pressure, which is convenient to ignore this A powerful mesh with sufficient adjustable power can historically handle peak loads without extensive power outages.
The problem is not to strengthen the use of air conditioners – most power grid operators in Western countries are forced by politicians to rely heavily on solar and wind sources that are always unable to provide electricity when they need it most, as shown in the following figure:
SM Referring to reduced production due to warm cooling water, power plants are also formed, as if this is a new, climate-driven issue.
In fact, power plants have had to manage cooling restrictions during hot weather, and the operating procedures to solve this problem have been around for decades. This is not a new vulnerability, nor does it mean an accelerated climate crisis.
Heat waves are not a new threat, and they won't become more dangerous either due to the smaller rise in global average temperatures. They are part of natural weather variability and have occurred throughout history, including during times when global temperatures are cooler than today.
For example, Climate Realism It shows that even if carbon dioxide levels are much lower, the heat waves in the 1930s were both longer and more severe than they have experienced in recent decades.
Power outages during heat waves are dangerous, but blaming such failures on climate change rather than poorly managed energy policies and a fragile grid dominated by weather-dependent renewable energy is a total abandonment of responsibility.
Finish, SM It should be ashamed of this hasty unilateral work, which exudes climatic alertness-based conversation points in a small amount of attempts to examine the underlying data or consider an alternative explanation of increasing pressure grids.
This article doesn’t read like journalism, but is advocated as a science. It is this lazy echo chamber report that erodes public trust and undermines rational discourse about energy and climate.
if Sustainability Magazine Want to take it seriously, starting with doing homework, it will be great.
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