Climate and Energy

Last week at the annual meeting of the Southern Regional Science Association in Arlington, VA the Director of the National Climate Assessment, Kathy Jacobs, presented an interesting overview of the work being done on the project.  The National Climate Assessment provides a tool to observe changes in the climate, evaluate the current state of the climate, and to anticipate potential future changes in climate.

One of the areas examined specifically is energy supply and use.  The report provides the following key messages on the interaction between climate and energy supply and use.

1. Extreme weather events are affecting energy production and delivery facilities, causing supply disruptions of varying lengths and magnitudes and affecting other infrastructure that depends on energy supply. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are expected to increase.

2. Higher summer temperatures will increase electricity use, causing higher summer peak loads, while warmer winters will decrease energy demands for heating. Net energy use is projected to increase as rising demands for cooling outpace declining heating energy demands.

3. Both episodic and long-lasting changes in water availability will constrain different forms of energy production.

4. In the longer term, sea level rise will affect coastal facilities and infrastructure on which many energy systems, markets, and consumers depend.

5. As new investments in energy technologies occur, future energy systems will differ from today’s in uncertain ways – depending on the character of changes in the energy mix, climate change will introduce new risks as well as opportunities. 

Future posts will examine these impacts in more detail as they are likely to alter the ways in which we consume and produce energy.