The impact of climate change on Europe's electricity demand

The EU ADAM project has analysed the expected changes in electricity demand due to climate change. This study has estimated that over the next 100 years, climate change could cause up to a 20 per cent decrease in demand for electricity for heating in Northern Europe and up to a 20 per cent increase in demand for electricity for cooling in Southern Europe. The results indicated that an increase in temperature has an impact on electricity consumption four times the size of the equivalent decrease in temperature. This could be because cooling requires more energy than a 'similar' amount of heating. In particular, Greece's consumption was estimated to rise by 10 per cent and Turkey’s by 18.6 per cent. In the Northern countries it is estimated that there will be a fall in consumption. For example, Latvia would reduce its consumption by 19.5 per cent and Lithuania by 20.8 per cent. For central Europeans, the increases in summer temperatures and reductions in winter temperatures come fairly close to levelling out over the year.