Heat Wave Results in Highest U.S. Electricity Demand Since 2017

[alexilliamson]

Since 2017? It's only 2019. Am I missing something?

[repiret]

Amusingly the headline could also be written “2018 and 2019 electricity demand lower than 2017”

[hanoz]

> Am I missing something?

You may be. Firstly the interval size. Highest year since two years ago is unimpressive, highest day since two years ago is more (still not very) impressive.

Secondly this is coming from "Today in Energy" which appears to be a journal of the minutiae of energy production and consumption. I don't think the target audience is meant to be alarmed, just mildly interested.

[jbeales]

There was a big heatwave in 2017. I can't find documentation, but "highest since 2017" might actually mean "Second-Highest Ever"

[mempko]

It's getting much hotter every year and the likely hood of breaking a record increases. So don't be surprised to see the same story in 2020.

[irrational]

During the recent (ongoing?) European heat wave I read that AC is uncommon in Europe. I wonder if it will become more common now that heat waves are becoming more common?

[NKosmatos]

This is true, Europe is behind in AC installations. Here in Greece most houses have AC as well as other means of cooling (shades, heat shielding, natural means...) but this is not so in Central/Northern Europe. I’ve also heard about AC installation companies expanding business up north where demand is growing year by year. See below a small paragraph from [0]: “Europe accounts for just 6 percent of the global share of air-conditioners, compared with 23 percent for the United States and 35 percent for China, according to a 2018 report by the International Energy Agency. More than 90 percent of Japanese and American households have an air conditioning system; fewer than 10 percent of Europeans’ have one. In Germany, the figure is below 2 percent.“ [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/world/europe/heatwave-rec...

[nine_k]

I suspect that many European buildings have good passive thermal insulation, because of colder and longer winters than in most of the US. This must help get by with fewer active cooling devices.

Also, European side-opening windows make it much harder to install an AC unit than American slide-up windows; in many cases your only option is a split system.

[Zenst]

I tend to see more and more air-con hoses popping out of windows open enough to accomodate them whilst out and about during summers in the UK. Units get cheaper, demand increases. So I'd say yes.

For me, a two litter bottle of water, frozen and stood in a bowl in my bedroom with the window and door closed. Does wonders as draws out the water with condensation upon the bottle - lowering the humidity. Also cools the air.

Though I'm sure I'll get some form of aircon in the next few years.

[nstom]

I read that AC installation companies have been getting a lot of business in the past few weeks, and anecdotally I've heard from local businesses looking to install it as well. So I'd say yes, it'll definitely become more common.

[shados]

My neighbor is from France and always complain about people ruinning A/C because they hate the noise from hvacs. They basically never run theirs, even when its 100F+ outside. So story checks out.

[chiph]

ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), which operates the third grid in the US, has a page with realtime load data:

http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/real_time_system_condi...

[pier25]

AC is a positive feedback. The warmer the planet, the more AC is used, the more electricity is generated, the more GHG are emitted. Repeat.

Of course this cycle could be broken with renewables, but the vast majority of the world's electricity comes from fossil fuels.

[heymijo]

Very true and let me add a note. "Positive feedback" in everyday terms seems like a good thing. In systems speak:

> A positive feedback loop speeds up a process. [0]

So in this context, that is highly undesirable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_leverage_points

[frankbreetz]

It seems like energy demand created by heatwaves should be low hanging fruit for compensating with solar power. It seems the sun is usually shining during a heatwave. Am I oversimplifying or missing something here?

[hmd_imputer]

Why is this even news? What is next? The temperature is highest since the last week?