While temperatures up to around 85 F to 90 F (29 degrees Celsius to 32 degrees Celsius) can benefit crop growth, yields fall sharply when thermostats rise further. Some of the crops that can be hit hard by extreme heat include corn, soybeans and cotton.
These reductions in yields could be costly for US agriculture. For example, a recent study I conducted found that an additional 2 degrees Celsius of global warming would eliminate profits from an average acre (about 4050 sq m) of farmland in the eastern US.
A prominent example of this was the collapse of the Russian wheat harvest in response to the country’s 2010 heat wave, which raised wheat prices throughout the world.
3. ENERGY USE SOARS
Of course, when it’s hot, energy use goes up as people and businesses run their air conditioners and other cooling equipment at full blast.
A 2011 study found that just one extra day with temperatures above 90 F (32 degrees Celsius) increases annual household energy use by 0.4 per cent. More recent research shows that energy use increases the most in places that tend to be hotter, probably because more households have air conditioning.
This increase in electricity use on hot days stresses electric grids right when people depend on them most, as seen in California and Texas during past heatwaves.
Blackouts can be quite costly for the economy, as inventories of food and other goods can spoil and many businesses either have to run generators or shut down. For instance, the 2019 California blackouts cost an estimated US$10 billion.
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