In the article “Climate Change: How Heatwaves are Affecting Power Grids,” Sustainability Magazine (SM) claims that human-caused climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, which are allegedly placing a growing strain on power grids worldwide. [emphasis, links added]
This claim is at best highly misleading, and at worst, outright false. Data does not support the notion that heat waves are increasing in frequency or intensity on a global scale.
Evidence instead suggests that localized temperature increases, especially in urban areas where power grids are concentrated, are primarily driven by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, not global climate change.
Evidence also strongly suggests that, to the extent power grids are being stretched to the limits, it is due to the addition of intermittent power in the form of industrial wind and solar facilities to the grid.
“Human-caused climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of heatwaves since the 1950s and is set to continue to do so, according to the World Meteorological Organisation,” says SM. “As temperatures continue to stay hot, power grids and markets are facing strain.”
The narrative pushed by SM is belied by the fact that there is no long-term upward trend in heat wave frequency or intensity when global datasets are correctly adjusted for the UHI effect.
For example, Climate Realism carefully analyzed heat wave claims in several articles here, here, and here, which explain that despite fluctuations year to year, the occurrence of heat waves over the last century has not trended upward globally.
The hottest years in U.S. history for sustained heat waves remain in the 1930s, a period with significantly lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels than today.
It is critical to emphasize that heat waves are driven by weather patterns, particularly persistent high-pressure systems that block cooler air from moving into a region. These atmospheric-blocking patterns are not new, nor are they caused by minor increases in the global average temperature.
The distinction between weather and climate is often blurred in popular reporting, but they are fundamentally different. Weather is immediate and local; climate is long-term and regional or global. Heat waves are, and always have been, weather events.
The UHI effect is a well-documented phenomenon where cities experience significantly higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas due to heat retention by concrete, asphalt, and other man-made surfaces.
This UHI effect can elevate temperatures at the very locations where electrical infrastructure resides, potentially exacerbating stress on those systems.
However, this localized warming is often misinterpreted as evidence of widespread, climate-driven heat-wave intensification. In reality, it is a localized artifact of urbanization and poor siting of weather stations, not a signal of planetary-scale change.
The article’s claim that 2025 has already seen heat waves striking China, the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom is presented, as though this constituted evidence of a crisis.
Yet the historical record shows that heat waves have periodically occurred in these regions throughout history, long before the modern industrial era, sometimes simultaneously.
There is currently no sound data to support the idea that simultaneous heat waves in multiple countries are exclusively a modern phenomenon caused by fossil fuels. Heat waves are episodic weather events, not unprecedented crises.
Furthermore, the suggestion that the power grid is under exceptional strain due to climate-induced heat waves is a deflection from the real problem: energy policy failures.
As covered in detail on Watts Up With That in the articles “Media Chases ‘Climate Enhanced’ Heat Waves, Misses Data Showing They are Less Frequent” and “The Grid Speaks,” power grids in the U.S. and Europe are increasingly fragile because reliable baseload generation from coal and nuclear plants has been intentionally phased out in favor of intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar.
These renewable sources often underperform during peak demand events, including heat waves, exacerbating grid instability. Solar panels, for example, lose efficiency, meaning the power they generate declines during periods of high heat.
SM acknowledges that solar panel efficiency drops by up to 25% during heat waves without a hint of irony.
If hot weather undermines solar power output during periods of peak electricity demand, that is a glaring indictment of our growing dependence on solar energy, not a call to double down on it.
This vulnerability to heat is a well-known design flaw of solar panels, yet the article glosses over it in favor of advocating for more renewable energy.
Also, extended heatwaves are regularly accompanied by no or low wind currents, one reason heat domes or heat waves linger over multiple days. When that occurs, wind turbines aren’t generating power, either.
In “Powering through the heat: how 2024 heatwaves reshaped electricity demand, “ Ember’s analyst claims that higher air-conditioning use is causing grid stress, which conveniently ignores that robust grids with sufficient dispatchable power have historically handled peak loads without widespread blackouts.
The problem is not ramped-up air-conditioner use—it’s that grid operators in most western countries have been forced by politicians to heavily rely on solar and wind power sources that can’t always deliver power when it’s most needed, as seen in the figure below:
SM’s mention of power plants reducing output due to warm cooling water is also framed as though it’s a new, climate-driven problem.
In reality, power plants have always had to manage cooling limitations during hot weather, and operational procedures to address this have been in place for decades. This is not a new vulnerability, nor does it signify an accelerating climate crisis.
Heat waves are not a novel threat, nor are they becoming more dangerous due to a minor uptick in average global temperatures. They are part of natural weather variability and have occurred throughout history, including during periods when global temperatures were cooler than today.
For example, Climate Realism shows that heat waves in the 1930s were both longer and more severe than anything experienced in recent decades, even as carbon dioxide levels were far lower.
Blackouts during heat waves are dangerous, but blaming such failures on climate change instead of on poorly managed energy policies and fragile grids dominated by weather-dependent renewables is a complete abdication of responsibility.
In closing, SM should be ashamed of this sloppy, one-sided piece, which parrots climate-alarmist talking points without the slightest attempt to critically examine the underlying data or consider alternative explanations for increasingly stressed power grids.
This article reads less like journalism and more like advocacy masquerading as science. It is precisely this sort of lazy echo-chamber reporting that erodes public trust and undermines rational discourse on energy and climate.
If Sustainability Magazine wants to be taken seriously, it would do well to start by doing its homework.
Read more at Climate Realism
