Air Conditioning Takes Center Stage
The fastest-growing use of electricity worldwide may be air conditioning. Global warming has made demand skyrocket. From Phoenix to Delhi, the number of days with temperatures above 100 degrees C has doubled over the past three decades.
One factor driving the growth of air conditioning is affordability. In Phoenix, a large part of the population can afford AC. However, among the poorest people, they either have to go without electricity or receive city assistance with their bills. A growing number of cities, such as Las Vegas, experience long periods of high temperatures. In all of these cases, the need for electricity spikes and can last for weeks. If data centers are on the same system, the shortage can become acute.
This AC and electricity demand problem has spread. Temperatures were rarely at the 100-degree level in Europe. That has changed in the last three years. Most of their utilities lack the necessary capacity.
India And Indonesia
The greatest need for AC is in large nations, which include India, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. Among them, they have a population of two billion. These nations lack both the grid and the generation capacity to handle high electricity demand. Infrastructure upgrades would cost into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Additionally, most of them lack the technological capacity to solve the issue, even if they have the necessary capital.
AC is the barely visible trigger for a massive surge in electricity demand.
More from Electricity Wars
- Electricity Gets Ugly
- Another New York City Blackout
- COP30 And The Rise Of Solar
- 20% Of American Electricity Will Go To Data Centers
