Phoenix is a sprawling city with a population of 1.6 million. The daily high temperature there has exceeded 43° C (110° F) for 25 consecutive days. For two weeks, the low has exceeded 32° C (90° F).
So, Phoenix is a glimpse into the hellish future we are sleep-walking into.
Like most American cities, Phoenix is addicted to cars. They've tried to make a lot of the highways concrete, which is whiter. But still, there's a lot of black asphalt. Now this asphalt routinely reaches 82° C (180° F), so it can burn the bottom of your feet - even when you're wearing shoes.
Outdoor jobs like construction work are no good when it gets this hot. So Phoenix is starting to try container storage housing, which can be built indoors in air-conditioned environments and then installed on site using a crane.
The mayor there says:
"Well, our priority is to get people into indoor shelter. Thanks to our partnership with the Biden administration, we now have hundreds of millions of dollars that we can put towards indoor, air-conditioned shelter. So that is our top priority."
Air conditioning. Lots of air conditioning! So lots of electricity. Last year 42% of the electric power in Arizona came from natural gas, 29% from nuclear power, 12% from coal, and 10% from solar, 5% from hydroelectric and 1% from wind.
I'm glad there's a lot of nuclear power. All of this comes from just one plant southwest of Phoenix, with three reactors and a capacity of 4 gigawatts. Imagine tripling this, and boosting solar too. This wouldn't save Arizona from global warming, but it would be a step in the right direction.
