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Climate Change


Climate Impacts on Energy


Climate Impacts on Energy

Key Points
  • Climate change is likely to both increase electricity demand for cooling in the summer and decrease electricity, natural gas, heating oil, and wood demand for heating in the winter. New infrastructure investments may be necessary to meet increased energy demand, especially peak demand during heat waves.
  • Climate change could affect the amount of water available to produce electricity or extract fuel. In areas where water is already scarce, competition for water between energy production and other uses could increase.
  • Sea level rise and more frequent intense storms could disrupt energy production and delivery by damaging electricity infrastructure, fuel delivery infrastructure and equipment, power plants, or storage facilities.

Changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level, and the frequency and severity of extreme events will likely affect how much energy is produced, delivered, and consumed in the United States.


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Temperature, Energy Demand, and Energy Supply

Increases in temperature will likely change how much energy we consume, as well as our ability to produce electricity and deliver it reliably.

  • In a warmer climate, Americans would use more electricity for air conditioning and less natural gas, oil, and wood for heating. If the nation's climate warms by 1.8°F, the demand for energy used for cooling would increase by about 5-20%, while the demand for energy used for heating would decrease by about 3-15%. [2] Heating demand would decrease the most in the northern United States, and cooling demand would increase the most in the southern United States. It is unclear how these changes would affect consumer utility bills averaged over the year, especially because significant changes in demand could require infrastructure investments or lead to reliability problems. [3] Changes in energy demand will likely affect greenhouse gas emissions, but the net effect depends on which energy sources are used for electricity and heating.
  • Warming is likely to increase summer peak electricity demand in most regions of the United States. [2] Meeting increases in this peak demand could require investments in new energy infrastructure. [2] For example, based on a 6.3 to 9°F temperature increase, climate change could increase the need for additional electric generating capacity by roughly 10-20% by 2050. This would require hundreds of billions of dollars in additional investment. [3]
Bar graph that shows the cooling and heating degree days in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Under both the lower and higher emissions scenarios, all four cities show projections of increases in the cooling degree days and decreases in the heating degree days. In New York and Chicago, the decrease in heating degree days is more significant than in the cities in southern latitudes. Similarly, the increase in cooling degree days for Dallas and Los Angeles are larger than the same change for the northern cities. The increases and decreases are larger for the higher emissions scenarios than for the lower emissions scenarios.

Energy demand is expected to shift by the end of the century. The number of "degree days" refers to the sum of the number of degrees that the day's average temperature is hotter or colder than 65°F over the course of a year. The number of heating degree days is expected to decrease while the number of cooling degree days is projected to increase by 2080-2099. Source: USGCRP (2009)

Energy Use, Energy Production, and Climate Change

The U.S. Department of Energy led the development of a report published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program that investigates the impact of climate change on energy production and use in the United States.

The report summarizes the ways climate change will affect how Americans produce and use energy. It highlights the importance of adapting our energy systems to the projected impacts of climate change, but emphasizes that more research is needed to inform these adaptation decisions.

For more information on options for adapting the energy sector to climate change, see the Energy Impacts & Adaptation page.

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Water Availability and Energy

Diagram that illustrates water and energy flows in a community with a dam, power plant and housing. View enlarged image

Water and energy flows. Source: U.S. DOE (PDF)


Changes in precipitation, increased risk of drought, reduced snowpack, and changes in the timing of snowmelt in spring will likely influence our patterns of energy and water use. For example:

  • Power plants can require large amounts of water for cooling. On average, a kilowatt-hour of electricity (enough power to run 400 typical compact-fluorescent light bulbs for an hour) requires 25 gallons of water to be withdrawn from rivers or lakes. [3] Parts of the Southeast and Southwest face increased competition for water to meet the demands of population and economic growth while also protecting natural ecosystems. Consequently, these regions are already slowing or stopping plans for new power plants that require large withdrawals of water due to concerns about adequate availability of cooling water. [2] A few power plants rely mainly on air for cooling, but that technology is often more expensive and uses more energy than water-cooled plants.
  • More frequent and severe heat waves will likely increase the demand for electricity in the Southeast and Southwest. At the same time, these areas are likely to experience reduced water supplies due to decreased rain and/or increased temperature and evaporation. Since water is necessary for electricity production, these combined effects could stress water resources. For more information about climate change impacts in the Southeast and Southwest, please visit the Southeast Impacts & Adaptation and Southwest Impacts & Adaptation pages.
  • Hydroelectric power plants are sensitive to the volume and timing of stream flows. Along the Colorado River, a 1% reduction in stream flow can reduce electricity output by roughly 3%, since water flows through multiple power plants in the river basin. [3] In some regions, especially during times of increased rainfall, dams may have to modify their operations to prevent downstream flooding. [3] Maintaining stream flow for hydroelectric dams could present conflicts with other activities, such as salmon habitat restoration in the Pacific Northwest. [4]

For more information about the impacts of climate change on water resources, please visit the Water Impacts & Adaptation page.

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Sea Level Rise, Storm Surge, and Extreme Events

Two photographs of an oil platform. One appears to be functioning properly and the second shows a damaged platform.


Map that shows the locations and operating capacity of power plants in Florida. The map illustrates three potential sea level rise scenarios that highlight which power plants could be impacted by sea level rise. A six meter rise in sea level could impact 11.3 percent of the operating plant capacity of U.S. plants that produced more than 200 MW. View enlarged image

Power plants susceptible to sea level rise in Florida. The bar graph shows the percent of operating plant capacity potentially impacted by several sea level rise scenarios. Source: CCSP (2008) (PDF)


Disruptions to energy supply due to compromised infrastructure can affect many activities, depending on the destination and final use of the fuel. Coal is used primarily to generate electricity, so disruptions in coal supplies could affect the supply of electricity. Disruptions in the supply of oil would affect the production of transportation fuels. Disruptions in natural gas supply could affect electricity generation, residential and commercial heating, and industrial processes. There are many examples of at-risk energy infrastructure in the United States.

  • Several coastal power plants in the United States are less than three feet above sea level. One third of U.S. refining and gas processing capacity lies on the coastal plains next to the Gulf of Mexico. Facilities that import or export coal, gas, and oil are located in coastal regions. [2] Sea level rise and more intense storms and hurricanes in coastal areas could increase the risk of energy supply disruptions.
  • Several thousand oil drilling platforms offshore of the Gulf Coast are vulnerable to extreme weather events. For example, Hurricane Ivan in 2004 damaged 24 platforms and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged more than 100 in 2005. [2]

For more information about the impacts of climate change on coastal areas, please visit the Coastal Impacts & Adaptation page.

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Wind Speed, Cloud Cover, and Renewable Energy

Climate change could impact wind and solar power, but there is little research in this area. Impacts will depend on how wind and cloud cover patterns change, which are very difficult to project using current climate models.

Renewable Biofuels


To learn more about how we can adapt our energy production and use to climate change, please see the Energy Adaptation section.


1. EPA (2010). Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2008 (PDF). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).



4. IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability . Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel. Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson (eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.


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