Mitigation

As the temperatures continue to break long standing records the demand for electricity continues to rise. With the hotter temperatures air conditioning units require longer run-times to remove the heat within buildings and houses. Air conditioning units that usually required an hour to cool an interior environment will take several hours to achieve the same environmental temperatures. The longer run-times draw sustained current from the power grid; the sustained usage of higher current heats the wire the current travels through; but not only the wires. If the wires is over-heated, so will the wires in the generator or generation components producing the power. In the case of a nuclear power plant, the steam caused by a nuclear reaction is used to drive large turbine generators. The turbine itself causes a large component to rotate; this rotation eventually produces power which is then regulated and distributed through the power grid. The generation component of a power plant is the main component that can be vulnerable during high-use times.