Air Conditioning Drives Rising Coal Use
As the world gets hotter, increasing the need for air conditioning, renewables have not been adopted enough to handle the capacity needed. That means utilities need to turn to the most polluting fossil fuel, coal. Ember posted the research in a report titled “Powering through the heat: how 2024 heatwaves reshaped electricity demand.”
China And India
The primary point of the new research is that “Extreme heatwaves in the world’s three largest electricity markets – China, the US and India, had a measurable impact on electricity demand, contributing to a surge in fossil generation.” A look at the electricity demand difference between August through September 2023 and the same period in 2024, shows that cooling accounted for 37% of the climb. The share of China’s annual coal generation growth in August and September, due to extreme cooling demand, was 59%.
The increase in coal use was especially high in China and India. However, the 2024 heat waves caused similar patterns in Japan, Australia, Mexico, Greece, and the UK. Heatwaves, caused by greenhouse gases, drive the additional need for fossil fuels.
Electricity And Coal
In China, in 2023, 61% of electricity was fueled by coal. The figure was 50% in India. Renewables will not come online fast enough to lower these numbers if rising heat levels continue.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration, “According to the most recent RECS, in 2020, electricity consumption for air conditioning accounted for about 19% (254 billion kilowatthours [kWh]) of electricity consumption in U.S. homes.”
And, summers are getting hotter almost every summer.
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