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Energy Production and Use
Related Links
IPCC Working Group II, Fourth Assessment Report 
- Chapter 7, Industry, Settlement and Society (PDF, 34 pp., 719 kb, About PDF)
- Chapter 14, North America (PDF, 36 pp., 895 kb, About PDF)
- Chapter 18, Inter-Relationships Between Adaptation and Mitigation (PDF, 34 pp., 360 kb, About PDF)
Energy Use | Energy Production
Energy production and use are sensitive to changes in the climate. For example, increasing temperatures will reduce consumption of energy for heating but increase energy used for cooling buildings. The implications of climate change for energy supply are less clear than for energy demand.
Climate change effects on energy supply and demand will depend not only on climatic factors, but also on patterns of economic growth, land use, population growth and distribution, technological change and social and cultural trends that shape individual and institutional actions.
To address this issue, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) commissioned an analysis on the Effects of Climate Change on Energy Production and Use in the United States. The analysis was led by the U.S. Department of Energy and was published in October 2007.
Energy Use
Changes in temperature due to climate change could affect our demand for energy. For example, rising air temperatures will likely lead to substantial increases in energy demand for air conditioning in most North American cities (IPCC, 2007). On the other hand, energy needed for space-heating may decrease. The net effects of these changes on energy production, use and utility bills, will vary by region and by season.
There may also be changes in energy consumed for other climate-sensitive processes, such as pumping water for irrigation in agriculture. Rising temperatures and associated increases in evaporation may increase energy needs for irrigation, particularly in dry regions across the Western U.S.
Depending on the magnitude of these possible energy consumption changes, it may be necessary to consider changes in energy supply or conservation practices to balance demand. Many other factors (e.g., population growth, economic growth, energy efficiency changes and technological change) will also affect the timing and size of future changes in the capacity of energy systems (IPCC, 2007).
Energy Production
To date, less research has been undertaken on how climate change may affect energy production. Some of the possible effects are discussed below.
- Hydropower generation is the energy source that is likely to be most directly affected by climate change because it is sensitive to the amount, timing and geographical pattern of precipitation and temperature. Furthermore, hydropower needs may increasingly conflict with other priorities, such as salmon restoration goals in the Pacific Northwest (IPCC, 2007). However, changes in precipitation are difficult to project at the regional scale, which means that climate change will affect hydropower either positively and negatively, depending on the region.
- Infrastructure for energy production, transmission and distribution could be affected by climate change. For example, if a warmer climate is characterized by more extreme weather events such as windstorms, ice storms, floods, tornadoes and hail, the transmission systems of electric utilities may experience a higher rate of failure, with attendant costs (IPCC, 2007).
- Power plant operations can be affected by extreme heat waves. For example, intake water that is normally used to cool power plants become warm enough during extreme heat events that it compromises power plant operations.
- Finally, some renewable sources of energy could be affected by climate change, although these changes are very difficult to predict. If climate change leads to increased cloudiness, solar energy production could be reduced. Wind energy production would be reduced if wind speeds increase above or fall below the acceptable operating range of the technology. Changes in growing conditions could affect biomass production, a transportation and power plant fuel source that is starting to receive more attention (IPCC, 2007).
References
- IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Parry, Martin L., Canziani, Osvaldo F., Palutikof, Jean P., van der Linden, Paul J., and Hanson, Clair E. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1000 pp.