Many cities nationwide have experienced record-high temperatures within just the first few weeks of summer, with the usual high-temperature months of July and August yet to come. The sudden, intense rise in temperature left many power grids nationally unprepared and overworked. With these record-breaking temperatures sweeping the nation, most reaching triple digits, cities face a pressing problem: how to cope with the surge in energy usage and prevent blackouts or power grid failures.
With entire cities running their air conditioners, fans, and other appliances while simultaneously keeping their lights on, relying on just coal or gas power is impossible. Grids are pushed to their limits by the reliance on energy to stay cool, especially in regions unaccustomed to extreme heat or those with aging infrastructure. Over 70% of the United States' power grid is over 25 years old, which only makes combating power usage surges more difficult to navigate. These outdated power grids are not built to supply power to the constantly growing national infrastructure and population.
Both solar and wind power were useful during this energy crisis. However, they were not always enough. On some days during the heatwave in parts of Texas, solar and wind power accounted for up to one-third of the grid's needs. These renewable energy sources proved useful in other parts of the country as well, such as California, which recently set records regarding its percentage of renewable energy used by its power grids. Although these methods proved useful, with rising temperatures globally, more solar panels and wind turbines need to be connected to power grids to prevent future blackouts or grid failures.
To ensure increased power grid resilience, power grids nationwide need to be updated. In the past 25 years, global temperatures have been consistently rising, with 2010-2020 being the warmest decade recorded. With most power grids being over 25 years old, they are not built to power the amount of cooling that the nation now needs. Installing more solar panels and wind turbines to power the grid would help build resilience and strengthen the power grid. In the past few years, programs to install solar panels in individuals' houses have launched in order to relieve the grid of some stress from individual houses or apartments. Increasing the reach and size of these programs would further build grid resilience and even decrease power costs for individuals, which can reach up to $2,400 per megawatt hour at peak energy usage times during heat waves.
In conjunction with installing more renewable energy sources and making them more accessible to the public, power grids or homes need to be outfitted with battery storage systems. These systems would both lower energy costs for individuals and allow for excess energy from lower consumption days to be stored and saved for days in which energy consumption is above average and the grid is strained. On top of these batteries, power companies offering rebates or discounts on individuals' power bills if they lower their energy consumption or install renewable energy sources or batteries in their residence would promote lower energy consumption and potentially motivate people more than increasing energy costs.
Although all of these methods would improve power grid resilience while making the cost of cooling off during heat waves lower for individuals, they do not address the root of the problem. Lowering fossil fuel emissions and other pollutants in the environment could potentially eliminate the need for implementing all of these power grid alterations. The abnormally increasing global temperatures are in part due to global pollutant emissions. Implementing new regulations and requiring renewable energy sources to be used for manufacturing and other big pollutant creators would prevent or slow global temperature increase, which would in turn eliminate the dire need to update power grids nationally.