Aug 19, 2026 · 51 min · 13 segments
Europe has experienced more heatwaves this summer than in any previous year, and the energy system is struggling to cope. As the effects of climate change become more dramatic and damaging each year…
Ben WattsGuest
Sulaiman Ilyas-JarrettHost
We've had a bit of a, you know, whoa, [laughs] you know? Um, but that's something we can hopefully learn from and, like, you know, avoid those kind of ...
And you know, you- you've said that we'll come back maybe to the question of ...
Actually, no, let's talk about cooling now 'cause I'm sure lots of people will be asking about it, and then we can come back to some ...
Um, how, how much of a problem would it be if we had much more active cooling in, in the UK from a grid perspective? Like, is this a significant amount of demand, or big picture is it a relative drop in the ocean?
You're gonna have to assume that it probably is gonna cluster in particular places, right?
It's, it's probably not gonna be completely kind of, you know, uniform and, and predict- and, and, and predictable.
Um, like, the other thing is it's gonna cluster in, like, quite a short cooling season.
... you know, I think most people are gonna possibly think in a few years of getting some kind of heat pump, some type of air-to-air solution, and 90%, 80% of its work's probably gonna be heating, and then 10 or 20% of it's gonna be cooling.
Um, I mean, quite predictable in that, you know, weather forecasts for temperature are pretty good.
Um, but yeah, mapping that to solar and/or kind of the short-term battery storage-
... that you need to kind of bridge, like, from midday into the evening, um, it is a challenge, like, you know, y- for residential.
Um, obviously if you're thinking about, you know, "How do I keep my kid cool, um, cooled in school?" Um, you know, PV and solar replacing gas heating is, is a fantastic investment for, you know, government to make.
We've had a bit of a, you know, whoa, [laughs] you know? Um, but that's something we can hopefully learn from and, like, you know, avoid those kind of ...
And you know, you- you've said that we'll come back maybe to the question of ...
Actually, no, let's talk about cooling now 'cause I'm sure lots of people will be asking about it, and then we can come back to some ...
Um, how, how much of a problem would it be if we had much more active cooling in, in the UK from a grid perspective? Like, is this a significant amount of demand, or big picture is it a relative drop in the ocean?
You're gonna have to assume that it probably is gonna cluster in particular places, right?
It's, it's probably not gonna be completely kind of, you know, uniform and, and predict- and, and, and predictable.
Um, like, the other thing is it's gonna cluster in, like, quite a short cooling season.
... you know, I think most people are gonna possibly think in a few years of getting some kind of heat pump, some type of air-to-air solution, and 90%, 80% of its work's probably gonna be heating, and then 10 or 20% of it's gonna be cooling.
Um, I mean, quite predictable in that, you know, weather forecasts for temperature are pretty good.
Um, but yeah, mapping that to solar and/or kind of the short-term battery storage-
... that you need to kind of bridge, like, from midday into the evening, um, it is a challenge, like, you know, y- for residential.
Um, obviously if you're thinking about, you know, "How do I keep my kid cool, um, cooled in school?" Um, you know, PV and solar replacing gas heating is, is a fantastic investment for, you know, government to make.
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