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To Cool Tomorrow’s Buildings, Power Sector Must Grow
COLLEGE PARK, Md.-Temperatures are rising. Eight of the warmest 10 recorded years of globally averaged temperature have occurred after 1998. Coupled with that increase is a growing demand for electricity to cool buildings. A new study published recently in the journal Nature Communications projects that electricity demand tied to cooling U.S. buildings will grow as peak temperatures rise, and so too would the need for an expanded power sector.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that building new capacity in the U.S. to satisfy that projected demand in a warmer future could cost an additional $1 trillion spent by the end of the century. The research ties together interactions between sectors-electricity, water, agriculture, among others-to paint a picture of how electricity demand and the nation’s capacity to meet it may materialize in future climate scenar