Can you manage without charging your phone, turning on the lights, or refrigerating your food? It may be surprising to learn that climate change can affect your access to electricity. Severe weather events (heatwaves, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc.) can lead to disruptions in power supplies.
Climate change can indirectly cause transmission towers and powerlines to stop functioning. Heatwaves can force grids to overwork, reduce the capacity of transmission lines, and trigger power lines to expand. Expanded power lines can lengthen and sag resulting in short circuits. Worse, sagging powerlines can touch and ignite dry vegetation causing wildfires. Not only do wildfires cause devastation to people, property, and the environment, they damage lines, increase risks of power outages, and induce electrical equipment overheating.
Another side effect of climate change is increased energy consumption. Not surprisingly, heatwaves prompt people to incessantly run air conditioners and fans. Although global warming means less energy is required to heat homes during winter, this silver lining is outweighed by increased electricity usage during summer.
Climate change also affects nuclear energy production. Nuclear energy comprises approximately 20% of the electricity produced in the US. Nuclear reactors require water from freshwater bodies or oceans to cool down. Rising temperatures have made some nuclear power plants temporarily shut down to prevent overheating.
The examples outlined in this article are just a few of the results from climate change. Additional outcomes, including global warming and natural disasters, significantly compound the situation. Addressing the issues that contribute to climate change can hopefully mitigate such damaging consequences.
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