Climate change will drive up energy use in Texas and beyond Posted By Amal Ahmed, The Texas Observer on Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 2:04 PM click to enlarge Wikimedia Commons / David R. Tribble Researchers estimate that climate change could drive up global energy demand by as much as 58 percent in the next 30 years. When the summer heat peaks in Texas, the familiar hum of air conditioners across the state grows a little louder, and the demand for electricity on the state’s grid shoots up. On Monday, as temperatures soared past 100 degrees across the state, the grid reached a new record demand: 74,531 megawatts of electricity in one hour. That beat last year’s record—which was set during the state’s fifth hottest summer on record—by 1,000 megawatts, the equivalent of powering 200,000 homes for the day.